Abstract
Schools are ideal settings for health promotion but are also challenging social environments from the viewpoint of conducting research. The knowledge generated in schools through research is multidisciplinary and based on various methodological approaches. This chapter describes the practices of a 2-year school intervention study in which an approach of a participatory action research (PAR) was applied. Four schools comprising grades 1–9 participated in the study. One cohort of pupils, starting at the beginning of grade 5 and ending at the end of grade 6, along with their parents and classroom teachers, was chosen as the target group. The study was intended to (1) examine the prevailing practices and experiences of collaboration between the home and school and in children’s health education, (2) investigate and develop practices related to collaboration in areas of children’s health learning and (3) evaluate the effects of a 2-year intervention. The importance of understanding the organizational, cultural and social contexts of the study environment was achieved through a PAR, which also enabled collective development of practices together with participants. Using mixed methods research enabled a rich and complementary picture of a school community.
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Sormunen, M. (2022). Developing School Health Promotion Through Research: An Example of a Participatory Action Research Project. In: Potvin, L., Jourdan, D. (eds) Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97212-7_22
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