Planning for Health Equity: How Municipal Strategic Documents and Project Plans Reflect Intentions Instructed by the Norwegian Public Health Act
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Regional and Local Implementation of Program for Public Health Work in Municipalities
- RQ1: Are the intentions included in municipal and project plans?
- RQ2: How are the intentions described (operationalized) and anchored in municipal and project plans, and are there differences across municipalities in this regard?
- RQ3: How is the relationship between process (knowledge-based approaches, cross-sectoral governance) and outcome (health equity) described in the documents?
1.2. Municipal Planning
2. Methodology
- 10-year national and regional plan (Central Norway) for Program for Public Health Work in Municipalities 2017–2027 (two documents).
- Applications and municipal project plans related to participation in Program for Public Health work in Municipalities (2017–2027): (eight documents).
2.1. Data Sources and Characteristics of Municipalities
2.2. Operationalisation and Analysis
2.2.1. Step 1
Operationalisation of the Themes for Document Search
Analysis
2.2.2. Step 2
Operationalization
Analysis
3. Results
3.1. RQ1: Are the Intentions Included in Municipal and Project Plans?
3.2. RQ2: How Are the Intentions Described (Operationalized) and Anchored in Municipal and Project Plans, and Are There Differences across Municipalities in This Regard?
“Constant new knowledge and large amounts of information place new demands on employees to keep professionally updated. A goal for all professional practice is that it must be based on the best available knowledge—so-called knowledge-based practice”.
“…it has been decided that the knowledge base on public health (the overview document on public health and influencing factors) shall be used as a basis for the formulation of goals and measures at all levels of the municipality’s planning”.
“In the preparation of this strategy, the public health profile has been an essential document, together with input from business managers and an appointed cross-sectoral administrative project group”.
“Giving children and young people good conditions for growing up will have good effects for decades to come. Child health centres, kindergartens, and schools have a special position in health promotion as they meet all children at an early stage”.
3.3. RQ3: How Is the Relationship between Process (Knowledge-Based Approaches, Cross-Sectoral Governance) and Outcome (Health Equity) Described in the Documents?
“The entire project is based on cross-sectoral collaboration and show priority areas to reduce inequalities in basic social conditions. Measures can provide great benefits here because they can have a positive effect on the entire causal chain—they target the ‘causes of the causes’”.
“Choosing specific measures on the basis of a broad and complex knowledge base is demanding and requires broad collaboration”.
4. Discussion
Methodological Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Municipalities | M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Population class pr. 1 January 2022 * | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Area class ** | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
Residents living in urban areas on 1 January 2022 (%) | 32 | 62 | 87 | 72 |
Centrality class *** | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
Average age per 1 January 2022 | 40.2 | 42.7 | 38.5 | 40.8 |
Population 0–17 years old 1 January 2022 (%) | 19 | 20 | 24 | 22 |
Population 80+ years old 1 January 2022 (%) | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
Population age 0–17 in persistently low income in the period 2018–2020 (%) | 7 | 8 | 5 | 11 |
Population age 16+ with secondary school or higher education 2021 (%) | 24 | 27 | 38 | 29 |
Population age 16+ with primary school as their highest education 2021 (%) | 33 | 26 | 21 | 24 |
Type of Document | Search Theme | ||
---|---|---|---|
Systematic Knowledge-Based | Cross-Sectoral Governance | Health Equity | |
Municipality I | |||
Application 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
Project plan | 6 | 3 | 4 |
MPS * | 10 | 0 | 0 |
MMP ** | 3 | 1 | 0 |
MAP *** | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Municipality II | |||
Application | 13 | 7 | 0 |
Project plan | 22 | 1 | 2 |
MPS * | 1 | 1 | 2 |
MMP ** | 3 | 2 | 0 |
MAP *** | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Municipality III | |||
Application | 5 | 2 | 1 |
Project plan | 10 | 2 | 2 |
MPS * | 20 | 2 | 2 |
MMP ** | 3 | 5 | 3 |
MAP *** | 36 | 6 | 4 |
Municipality IV | |||
Application | 37 | 4 | 0 |
Project plan | 24 | 1 | 0 |
MPS * | 7 | 2 | 0 |
MMP ** | 4 | 0 | 2 |
MAP *** | 10 | 3 | 23 |
Frequency across documents and municipalities | 219 | 47 | 46 |
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Share and Cite
Lillefjell, M.; Hope, S.; Anthun, K.S.; Hermansen, E.; Vik, J.T.; Sund, E.R.; Aasan, B.E.V.; Sylte, M.; Maass, R. Planning for Health Equity: How Municipal Strategic Documents and Project Plans Reflect Intentions Instructed by the Norwegian Public Health Act. Societies 2023, 13, 74. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13030074
Lillefjell M, Hope S, Anthun KS, Hermansen E, Vik JT, Sund ER, Aasan BEV, Sylte M, Maass R. Planning for Health Equity: How Municipal Strategic Documents and Project Plans Reflect Intentions Instructed by the Norwegian Public Health Act. Societies. 2023; 13(3):74. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13030074
Chicago/Turabian StyleLillefjell, Monica, Siren Hope, Kirsti Sarheim Anthun, Eirin Hermansen, John Tore Vik, Erik R. Sund, Bodil Elisabeth Valstad Aasan, Mari Sylte, and Ruca Maass. 2023. "Planning for Health Equity: How Municipal Strategic Documents and Project Plans Reflect Intentions Instructed by the Norwegian Public Health Act" Societies 13, no. 3: 74. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13030074