Definition of Community
The term community is easily understood in common parlance. But when it is used in the context of health practice or research, its varied meanings force the use of an operational definition, even though operational definitions of community are sure to bring simultaneous cries of “too restricting” and “lacks precision”! Community is defined in term of two characteristics : structure and function.
Structurally, a community is an area with geographic and often political boundaries that damarcate is as a district, county, metropolitan area, city, township, or neighborhood. Functionally, a community is a place where “members have a sense of identity and belonging, shared values, norms, communication, and helping patterns”. Effective community workers understand the dynamic social characteristics and the less dynamic cultural traditions of a community, and plan interventions with sensitivity to them. The structural aspect of the community delimits activity to a local focus, leaving the larger national, provincial, and state endeavors for consideration elsewhere. Even so, this definition leaves room to roam.
For instance, it is fair to ask, how formal are the political boundaries and what do you mean by a neighborhood? Clearly, the informal political forces often exert more influence on policy formulation and program implementation than the formal political structures usually associated with official boundaries. For example, it would be foolhardy to launch a health promotion program in the borough of Harlem, simply on the grounds that the mayor of New York City endorsed it, just as it would in London`s Lewisham area, based on the support of that great British city`s lord mayor.
Ultimately, the geopolitical scope of a program must be left to the prudent judgment and sensitive action of those working with the program, guided by the local people who know the culture and traditions of the community, and by PROCEED analyses of the resources available within the community and from other levels (state, provincial, or national) to support the program.
References :
B.A. Israel, “Social Networks and Social Support: Implications for Natural Helper and Community Level Interventions”, Health Education Quarterly 12, 1985.
L.W. Green, P.D. Mullen, and S. Maloney, “Large-Scale Health Education Campaigns”, Health Education Quarterly 11, 1984.
E.R. Brown, “Community Organization Influence on Local Public Health Care Policy: A General Research Model and Comparative Case Study”, Health Education Quarterly 10, 1984.
M. Pertschuk and W. Schaetzel, The People Rising : The Campaign Against the Bork Nomination, New York: Thunder`s Mouth Press, 1989.
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