Promoting ownership in local community health promotion interventions

Abstract Background A prerequisite for successful and sustainable implementation of local community health interventions is strong community ownership. Ownership is related to the level of perceived control of an intervention and its program components. Facilitation of community ownership involves engagement of the stakeholders within the community, e.g. in deciding what the problem is to whom and how to solve it. Much is known about methods to facilitate community engagement at a continuum between informing the community and community control. However, less is known about how different methods for community engagement work to foster and sustain ownership among local stakeholders. Aim To generate knowledge about how ownership is fostered or hindered among stakeholders across three different communities in a local community intervention with whole-of-community characteristics implemented to reduce overweight among children. The study also explores how synergies of ownership between various types of stakeholders at different organizational levels influence overall ownership and implementation of the intervention. Methods The study is designed as a multiple case study based on Robert K. Yin’s principles for case study evaluation. The study takes place in three different Danish Municipalities with different local contextual conditions. Various data sources are collected including sources of qualitative data comprising document analysis, observations, and interviews with key stakeholders. Preliminary results An influential contextual factor on local ownership is that implementation of the intervention and commitment to this in 10 years is a top-down decision at the policy level. Local stakeholders find the goals of the intervention meaningful to their day-to-day practices. However, they also experience a shortage of resources for participating and lack trust in higher management stakeholders to take shared leadership when the implementation phase ends. Key messages • Ownership is influenced by the degree of engagement. • Ownership is influence by the synergy of ownership between different stakeholders.