Health Promotion Health Center Project: Populations at risk across the lifespan: Program evaluations

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: As part of a major government support for health promotion, a health promotion health center (HPHC) project was launched at the national level in Korea. The purpose of the study was to describe this 2-year HPHC project within the framework of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and to evaluate the preliminary outcomes of the community residents. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design was used. SAMPLE: A total of 2,261 community residents participated in the survey, with 792 in HPHC sites and 1,469 in non-HPHC sites. MEASUREMENT: The instrument included questions on participants' demographic characteristics, awareness, participation, health behavior (smoking, exercise, meat consumption, and blood pressure checkup), and satisfaction with the health promotion programs. RESULTS: The 5 main health promotion strategies of the Ottawa Charter were evident in the HPHCs. HPHCs were successful in enhancing awareness, participation, and satisfaction through their health promotion programs, although health behaviors were not significantly different between the 2 groups, except exercise. CONCLUSION: Ottawa Charter strategies embedded within the practice of the community health promotion activities were effective in increasing the short-term outcomes (awareness, participation, and satisfaction with health promotion programs), which is a promising finding for the development of health promotion behaviors in the future.