Towards Understanding Community: Developing Participatory Working

Abstract

This chapter suggests ways of making the rhetoric of community participation a reality in practice. It uses a hypothetical example drawn from practical experience in the fields of health and social care, and identifies the components and tools required to carry such work out in practice. It also touches on some of the theoretical concepts and values which underpin and validate such an approach, and makes some tentative comments regarding the implications for current policy. In so doing, it crosses the conceptual boundaries between public health, primary care and organisational development.