The capability approach as a bridging framework across health promotion settings: theoretical and empirical considerations.

Frahsa, Annika; Abel, Thomas; Gelius, Peter; Rütten, Alfred (2021). The capability approach as a bridging framework across health promotion settings: theoretical and empirical considerations. Health promotion international, 36(2), pp. 493-504. Oxford University Press 10.1093/heapro/daaa076

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Health promotion research has increasingly called for transdisciplinary approaches. Such calls ask for bridging frameworks that define comprehensive sets of health determinants and appropriately conceptualize the roles of population groups as well as other relevant actor groups in the co-production of health. This article aims to present the seminal capability approach by Sen and Nussbaum as a potentially suitable framework for such bridging endeavors to guide health promotion research. It highlights domains of the capability approach that appear to be particularly relevant to bridging diverse disciplines and settings. Such domains particularly refer to the agency of decisive actor groups (population groups, professionals, policymakers and researchers) as well as to the differentiation of personal, social and environmental conversion factors that disciplines define within their specific epistemologies and ontologies. The article uses empirical examples from a German research consortium that aimed to promote physical activity in five different settings while fostering cooperation and conceptual alignment between several academic disciplines and sub-disciplines to highlight benefits and challenges of using the capability approach as a bridging framework for transdisciplinary health promotion. We conclude that the capability approach might serve as bridging framework to guide future transdisciplinary research if partners involved continuously exchange to develop a shared understanding of the issues to be researched.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

UniBE Contributor:

Abel, Thomas

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

0957-4824

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

Language:

English

Submitter:

Andrea Flükiger-Flückiger

Date Deposited:

15 Oct 2020 19:43

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:40

Publisher DOI:

10.1093/heapro/daaa076

PubMed ID:

32989442

Uncontrolled Keywords:

bridging framework capability approach interdisciplinarity physical activity transdisciplinary

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.146814

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/146814

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