Publications

The background of the study reported in this chapter was the growing number of chronically ill patients. The purpose was to explore patients’ perspectives on life with chronic illness and how it relates to healthcare practice. The research was conducted as an ethnographic field study. A conclusion of the study is that the disease-oriented healthcare system is not geared to deal with rehabilitation because of a narrow focus on disease and treatment, and the exclusion of patients’ knowledge. However, knowledge about patients’ everyday life and perspectives hold potentials for rehabilitative and health promotional professional interventions.

Background: Greenland struggles with a high prevalence of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse. In response to the increasing need for preventive initiatives, the first public health program Inuuneritta was introduced in 2007. Internationally, frameworks focus primarily on the implementation of a single, well-described intervention or program. However, with the increasing need and emergence of more holistic, integrated approaches, a need for research investigating the process of policy implementation from launch to action arises. This paper aims to augment the empirical evidence on the implementation of integrated health promotion programs within a governmental setting using the case of Inuuneritta II. In this study, the constraining and enabling determinants of the implementation processes within and across levels and sectors were examined.

Methods: Qualitative methods with a transdisciplinary approach were applied. Data collection consisted of six phases with different qualitative methods applied to gain a comprehensive overview and understanding of Inuuneritta II’s implementation process. These methods included: observations and focus group discussions at the community health worker (CHW) conference, telephone interviews, document analysis, and a workshop on results dissemination.

Results: Enabling determinants influencing the implementation process of Inuuneritta II positively were high motivation among adopters, local prevention committees supporting community health workers, and the initiation of the central prevention committee. In contrast, constraining determinants were ambiguous program aims, high turnovers, siloed budgets and work environments, and an inconsistent and neglected central prevention committee.

Conclusion: Inuuneritta II provided a substantial framework for an integrated health policy approach. However, having a holistic and comprehensive program enabling an integrated approach is not sufficient. Inuuneritta II’s integrated approach does not harmonise with the government’s inflexible organisational structure resulting in insufficient implementation.

Rapporten er en midtvejsevaluering af folkesundhedsprogrammet Inuuneritta II. Der er tale om en procesevaluering, der fokuserer på, hvordan det er gået med at føre programmet ud i praksis.

Formålet med rapporten er at give konstruktive input, mens det stadig er muligt at justere og tilpasse programmet. Ved udgangen af 2016 havde alle 4 programområder i Inuuneritta II haft hvert deres indsatsår, og alle områder bør derfor ifølge planen være overgået til drift. Det derfor et oplagt tidspunkt at gøre status på implementeringen af programmet fra 2013-2016, det vil sige de første 4 år af programmets levetid på i alt 7 år.