‘Wicked’ health issues and problems have recently become recognisable terms within the health promotion and health-related literature. Van Beurden and colleague suggest that they are providing an emerging discourse for health promotion and, subsequently, practitioners appear to be ‘poised at a significant learning threshold’ (van Beurden and Kia, 2011 p.83). Alongside the wicked literature, lies related health promotion literature addressing the emerging, yet more established, notion of ‘complexity’ and complex health problems. This state of affairs sits alongside the recent views of authors, such as Angeles et al. (2013) who identify that many health promotion programmes, by their nature, are highly complex interventions. Few would argue with the sentiment of Miles (2009 p.409) that:
…patients [and health professionals] become rapidly subject to the influence of a multiplicity of processes
and services as part of the healthcare system environment, few of which could be described as remotely
simple in their nature.’ Thus, we see human individuals, inherently complex in terms of their characteristics
of body, mind, spirit, and social context, entering an inherently complex and multi-faceted organisational
infrastructure.’
The short answer is no! Have you had a look at the work of David Snowden and the Cynefin framework? There's a nice exposition in Health Promotion International by Van Beurden et al 2011 Article Making Sense in a Complex Landscape: How the Cynefin Framewo...
Hi Michael,
Many thanks for getting back. I've written a manuscript and submitted it and the Snowden et al article is feature within it. It addresses some of the puzzle - but the pieces are not in place yet.
Best,
Dean
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