Community engagement for quality, people-centred health services

Overview

This brochure on community engagement for quality health services introduces core definitions and a conceptual framing to explain how and why community engagement works in the context of health care.  In traditional community engagement approaches, ‘community’ is often considered/defined in terms of a geographical location, or a group of people with lived experience of an issue; while the process of engagement has tended to focus on exchange of information and behaviour change.  

However, developments in scientific knowledge now suggest that the concept of ‘community’ needs to encompass the entire range of social connections – from early childhood attachment to ongoing social interactions throughout adolescence and into adulthood. This broader perspective acknowledges that people are inherently part of multiple, interconnected communities throughout their lives – each influencing their identities, emotions, decisions, behaviours and ultimately their health, also.  Likewise, the communities composed of health and care workers are also part of this larger context and these shape how health services are designed, delivered and experienced. Community engagement is, therefore, a shared responsibility across the health system.