Background

The community engagement element of the Centre’s work seeks to engage directly with the people of Glasgow and establish an on-going conversation about the health of the city from the perspective of its citizens.

Integration of this programme of work into other GCPH programmes ensures that citizens' experience and perceptions are considered alongside the statistical data.   
 

Aims

• To engage directly with groups of people in Glasgow to inform the work of GCPH.

• To establish an on-going conversation about the health of the city from the perspective of its citizens.

Views of Health in Glasgow

To gain an insight into the health and culture of the city of Glasgow, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health asked some thought provoking questions. The questions were asked of both the public as well as experts in the field of health and health inequalities in Glasgow. The responses to the questions asked highlight a number of themes including: health inequalities in the city; the fast food culture; attitudes to excercise; concerns about safety; the changing nature of communities. 

The film stimulates thought and discussion around many of the major heath issues facing the city. Including the reality of health inequalities. 

The video is available in 3 individual chapters, each of which can be downloaded here:

(Please note all downloadable files are in MP4 format) 

The Civic Conversation

The Centre (in collaboration with the International Futures Forum) is calling for a 'Civic Conversation' around Glasgow's health, based on the publication of 'Let Glasgow Flourish' - the most comprehensive report on health and its determinants in Glasgow and West Central Scotland ever produced.

What might be possible in Glasgow, and what is the city's purpose is in the 21st century?

The Civic Conversation seeks to involve a wide range of stakeholders in exploring what might be done to support the flourishing of the city in the future.

Three main conversations were held (February, June and October '07) supported by a number of individual discussions and events with specific interest groups.

Click here to download a copy of the Civic Conversation final report. 

Glasgow 2020

GCPH was a partner in Glasgow 2020: a project which used innovative forms of engagement to collect together the imagination of the city to tell a new story about its future. Over 5,000 people were involved in one way or another with Glasgow 2020, raising important issues. More information is available on the Glasgow 2020 website.

Social capital

As a qualitative companion to the social capital report card (initiated by Scottish Enterprise Glasgow) the Centre explored the health consequences of new forms of spiritually based activity and networks. The aim was to look at emergent forms of participation in relation to spiritual and related activity and to investigate whether contemporary adaptations of spiritual collective practice can point to how successful participation should look in other realms. Eight focus groups were conducted, covering six varieties of spiritual or spiritual related activity.

Perceptions of cancer in Glasgow communities

In collaboration with the Cancer Care Research Centre at the University of Stirling, GCPH carried out a project looking at perceptions of cancer in Glasgow communities. Recognising that health messages are interpreted differently across socioeconomic groups, the project was designed to increase understanding of how people in poorer areas in Glasgow perceive cancer, health and health promotion activities. The project was carried out across three community sites and findings fed back to participants through a workshop.

Glasgow Public Involvement in Cancer final report

Community responses to Let Glasgow Flourish

Following the publication of Let Glasgow Flourish it was felt that it was important to assess the extent to which the findings and trends are recognisable to those who make up the communities they describe. In addition, this project seeks to explore whether there are elements of individual or community experience that the report data have missed, or that would shed light on our interpretation of public health priorities. The Scottish Poverty Information Unit is carrying out this research, which will begin in July and runs to November 2007.

Healthy Futures

In July 2006, working with Gorbals Healthy Living Centre, GCPH trained ten peer researchers in participatory research methods to explore health related issues in their own communities.  The aim was to pilot an approach that was truly empowering for the community participants, and which would inform GCPH about community perceptions of important public health issues for GCPH. The projects looked at young people and alcohol misuse, debt and consumerism, and the health needs of newcomers to the city.

Links

Civic conversation paper - Summary of lecture given by Ruben Nelson, titled

'Aligning Glasgow to the 21st Century: Learning from Alberta's experience'

Briefing paper - Community Engagement the Centre's Experiences and Outcomes

Briefing paper - New Forms of Spiritual Participation and Social Capital Generation in Glasgow

Briefing paper -

Perceptions of Cancer in Three Deprived Communities in Glasgow: Findings from the Glasgow Public Involvement in Cancer Project

Full report - Glasgow Public Involvement in Cancer (February 2007)

Contact 

For community engagement

Dr Pete Seaman
Public Health Research Specialist
Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Phone: 0141 287 6959

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For Glasgow 2020

Gerry Hassan

Head, Demos Scotland

Phone: 0141 423 3114

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For Civic Conversation

Dr Andrew Lyon

Converger

International Futures Forum and GCPH

Phone: 0141 287 6959 

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