yes, very likely. or a sociologist. both disciplines have a lot to offer from both, a theoretical and a methodological perspective in such projects where community participation is necessary.

yes, very likely. or a sociologist. both disciplines have a lot to offer from both, a theoretical and a methodological perspective in such projects where community participation is necessary.

Especially social-community psychologists. A lot of them have knowledge and experience in program evaluations and interventions, beside those qualities that Manfred explained in the previous comment. 

In my experience we have psicologysts working together with a social workers. Isnt 100%  eficiently , but  nowadays  the social workers are integrated more teams in the healthcare organizations.

I am working in a public health project in India in coordination with healthcare professionals and social workers, we still have some problem in making the community participate and utilize the public health facilities. Some of our interventions have brought about a significant level of change in community perception, however, these perceptions take time to develop and additionally people are influenced by the negative influences in the society against participation. I was wondering if including a social psychologist would help us in adding to the program design so that behavioural change, participation and utilization of resources could be accelerated even more?

yes, very likely.

Yes, I would certainly recommend this. Take a look at the Intervention Mapping Approach (http://www.interventionmapping.com/), which highly recommends interdisciplinary teams. Social health psychologists are behavior change experts, or should be, and could be of great value. 

(And I don't say this because I am one ;-) )

Absoulutely!!! A collaborative team of health care providers of all disciplines is a critically needed health care education approach to comprehend the implications, inequities, and disparities which exist among diverse public health communities of the 21st century world wide.  There are numerous peer reviewed research available to evidence and document both the oral systemic effects and psychological which affect  the present overall health and long term well being well of men women and children.

Yes.  I think the film documentary Hidden Pictures by physician Delaney Ruston  regarding mental health in India as well as other countries supports the need for social psychology. as a component of community planning for public health.

http://www.hiddenpicturesfilm.com/filmmaker/

Depending on the reasons of the under usage of the facilities, but most probably the answer is a sound yes.

I am researching in this topic (behavior-health), if you are interested, I can give you a deeper opinion/suggestions if you provided me with more circumstancial information.

Cheers!

Hi Salvador,

Our dilemma is basically at two stages. First is increasing the recruitment of the participants for the program: People of the community we are dealing with are extremely underprivileged. The housewives with whom we are dealing prefer to stay at home and do their household chores (leaving them for anything is socially as well as personally unacceptable for them - the only motivating factor seems to be some sort of reward - usually financial - something that we highly discourage.) Second is maintenance of behaviour change. The participants do well till action stage, however maintenance of new behaviour is still lacking in roughly 25% of the participants at maintenance stage.  This also leads to under utilization of health care facilities made available to them.

Because most of the public health problems are not just medical problem especially health problems of the modern world. These problems are multifactorial. Hence our approach should be multidiciplinary to address these problems.So when we plan or implement any public health programme, our approach should be holistic and we should coordinate with other experts as sociologist, economist, psychologist and medical anthropologist at the policy level. But the solution is not simply lies at the policy level, but there should be a coordination also at gross root level where these programmes are implemented.Sometime in spite of infrastructure and other resources are available, but poor utilization is due to certain socio cultural & economic factors, so these factors also kept in consideration for any public health programme

Ankur, I think the answer is largely in your question. You could use someone with a general background in the area, but that person needs to have specific knowledge and skills. The person should know the theories of health behavior change, should know applicable skills such as Intervention Mapping, noted above, and also have skills for assessing a community's views across time as an intervention is rolled out, supposedly affecting views. Also, program evaluation would be a good skill. Someone ought to be able to identify and understand any related programs that have already been done, and have been evaluated.

Typically, community health programs have very low impact. Someone needs to understand this, based on existing evidence, and help set everyone's expectations accordingly. Often, when reviewing evidence and getting pragmatic, groups will scale down their ambitions to a manageable scale.

Thanks for your views Paul. I agree with your view on need of a person with specific knowledge and skill in behaviour management and intervention mapping. We have devised a comprehensive evaluation system. Though, community health programs traditionally have a low impact, however designing high impact programs should be taken as an important task at hand rather than expecting a low impact. I feel a slow program implementation over time and staged implementation may help in increasing the program impact in a big way. 

@ Dr. Mohan Lal. Sir, I agree that grass root level implementation is necessary. I think that proper program evaluation as well as training may help a big way in this.

yes having a social psychologist is very useful in anything concerning community.

Because psychology is generally interested in individual health , and depends on various sciences there would be no conflict in the program.

In my experience conducting population-based health studies, the social-psychologist has been one of the most important team members! They are able to understand how the individual behaves in the context of a community, and how the community impacts the individual. They are able to guide the intervention in focusing on issues like behavior change at the individual level, as well as provide perspective and context for issues that impact health outside of the individual, such as socio-economic factors, etc.

yes I fullu enjoyed Social Psychology , Health policy and Health promotion.                 My interrests limited to periodontology and oral cancers.

I apply those into my clinic.

Yes, since the majority of community health centers are in low-income areas, which are subject to many social issues having a social psychologist available to help the staff and others of authority understand situations and perhaps have impact of positive change.

My answer results from my definition of health: J Publ Health Policy 35, 363-386, 2014. Most important is the development of the personality of those who seek health. Next, the relationship (and dialogue) of these individuals with the society needs to be cultivated. I wish good luck.

Remember one thing. There would not be further value addition to any public health program, even if you deploy sociologist or psychologist, if program is designed on the top only without having true participation from the community. What community wants or expects from such an initiative should be understood properly and taken care of while designing or planning a program. In this sense sociologist or psychologist may be helpful.

Thanks Dr. Johannes - Bircher. I completely agree with you about need to cultivate relationship and dialogue with the community. I believe that this may serve as an alternative for psychological interventions in community setting. It really makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your valuable feedback once again.

Paritosh I agree with you about community participation. It is really important. However, expectations of a community may not always be rational and they may have to be changed. Further, with changing social structure (increased individuality), the community leader's role in effectiveness of the program has diminished.

Yes i would agree with you. However, i think due to the less and limited number of social psychologist available in the community, the inclusion of social psychology subject and awareness courses should be given to all health provider especially to the medical and dental students as they are the frontier in providing the services in future. Early exposure to the medical/dental students perhaps will enhance the capability of these students in a broader perspectives when dealing with their patients later. Thanks...

Beautifully said, Norhasnida! I agree with you on capacity building for medical and dental students in social psychology. 

Most public health obstacles  are of diverse nature ( multifactorial). Hence the approach should be multidiciplinary to address these problems. Therefore it is adviceable to approach those challenges with a  holistic view. 

Check these studies about the social psychology or community psychlogy in primary health services (public health service) in Brasil. Maybe this can help. 

1. Community psychology and family health program: report of an internship experience.

2. Psychology Insertion in the Family Health Strategy in Sobral­ -CE (Experiment Report)

3. Role of Psychology in Family Health Strategy: the Experience of a Psychologist in

a Multidisciplinary Residency (look at the sixth paragraph)

Public health and epidemiological analysis of social issues such as child abuse, violence prevention, and behavioral issues affecting health can produce amazing results. Social psychology is an essential aspect of such studies. I have had major successes in child abuse prevention using such approaches.

Of course it will contribute towards better understanding and addressing the psycho-social perspective of health, i.e., the 2 out of 3 dimensions of health with significant influence on the 3rd or physical dimension as well.

Hi Fabien! Thanks for the help with techniques. It was really interesting and helpful.

Unfortunately, these ones are available only in portuguese. Try To surch on google the texts in english, but i think you will not find. Sorry ! 

yes