RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education

 

The Norwegian Health Promotion Research Programme 1989-96

Leif Edvard Aaro

Research Center for Health Promotion, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

In 1988 the Norwegian Research Council decided to start a programme for health promotion research. The programme aimed at strengthening research on strategies and tools for preventing disease and promoting health. Theory-based interventions were particularly emphasized. During the first phase of the programme (1989-92) the following issues were given top priority: (i) Research on injury prevention, (ii) community-based interventions, (iii) the promotion of psychosocial aspects of health and (iv) health promotion among school-aged children.

Towards the end of the second phase, it turns out that the correspondence between priorities set at the onset of the programme correspond surprisingly well with the focus of the research which has actually taken place.

53 projects have been funded. This includes 30 doctoral scholarships and 4 senior positions. Three research institutes, located in Bergen, Tromso and Oslo, have been particularly active in seeking support from the programme. The programme has been highly cross-disciplinary, and support has been provided to researchers and scholars from a number of professions and disciplines: Medicine, psychology, dentistry, sociology, political science, educational science, political science, and economy.

During the process of establishing research on health promotion, obstacles and barriers have been observed:

  1. Research on action requires close cooperation with administrators and practitioners. Problems with the implementation of action leads to delays and problems for researchers and scholars.

  2. Medicine and Health (a division within the Norwegian Research Council) was rather unfamiliar with this kind of research, and doubts regarding its usefulness and its scientific quality were frequently expressed.

  3. The cooperation between health professionals and the social and behavioural scientists was hampered by pronounced differences in theoretical and methodological orientation.

  4. The steering committee of the research programme has proposed that the programme is prolonged for another four years.

 


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Last modified: October 07, 2000

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