Pandemics, substance abuse, natural disasters, obesity, and warfare: these are not only health crises but social crises as well. Now a panel of leaders in global health explores the vital but understudied social theories behind the practice of health promotion, including cultural capital, risk and causality, systems theory, and the dynamic between individual and community.

While research teams are producing relevant and valid knowledge for health promotion, there is not yet a structured manual and distinct field of health promotion research. This timely "state-of-the-art" handbook contributes to the structuring of such a field of research. This collection of original contributions explores the major epistemological, methodological, and ethical challenges facing health promotion research. It brings together experts from different "research traditions" that coexist in the field. The handbook covers the existing knowledge production and sharing practices to delineate the "discipline" and its agenda for future research. Ultimately, it contributes to the creation of a global community of health promotion researchers. The handbook is organized by four types of practices (what people actually do) studied in health promotion; the practices of: Individuals and populations in relation to their health and its determinants Professionals who intervene to improve population health Policy-makers and institutions involved in the advocacy, design, and implementation of policies and programs Researchers and innovators (academic scholars and global agencies) through which investment in research and production of evidence-based guidelines are made. Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 1: Mapping Health Promotion Research is a highly relevant reference tool for researchers and graduate students in health promotion, public health, education and socio-health sciences; practitioners in health, medical, and social sectors; policy-makers; and health research administrators.

While research teams are producing relevant and valid knowledge for health promotion, there is not yet a structured manual and distinct field of health promotion research. This timely "state-of-the-art" handbook contributes to the structuring of such a field of research.  This collection of original contributions explores the major epistemological, methodological, and ethical challenges facing health promotion research. It brings together experts from different "research traditions" that coexist in the field. The handbook covers the existing knowledge production and sharing practices to delineate the "discipline" and its agenda for future research. Ultimately, it contributes to the creation of a global community of health promotion researchers.  The handbook is organized by four types of practices (what people actually do) studied in health promotion; the practices of: Individuals and populations in relation to their health and its determinants Professionals who intervene to improve population health Policy-makers and institutions involved in the advocacy, design, and implementation of policies and programs Researchers and innovators (academic scholars and global agencies) through which investment in research and production of evidence-based guidelines are made. Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 1: Mapping Health Promotion Research is a highly relevant reference tool for researchers and graduate students in health promotion, public health, education and socio-health sciences; practitioners in health, medical, and social sectors; policy-makers; and health research administrators.

More and more, health promotion is a crucial component of public health, to the extent that public health interventions are called on to prove their effectiveness and appraised for scientific validity, a practice many in the field consider self-defeating. Health Promotion Evaluation Practices in the Americas cogently demonstrates that scientific rigor and the goals of health promotion are less in conflict than commonly thought, synthesizing multiple traditions from countries throughout North, Central, and South America (and across the developed-to-developing-world continuum) for a volume that is both diverse in scope and unified in purpose.

The book's examples-representing robust theoretical and practical literatures as well as initiatives from Rio de Janeiro to American Indian communities-explain why health promotion evaluation projects require different guidelines from mainstream evaluative work. The editors identify core humanitarian principles associated with health promotion (participation, empowerment, equity, sustainability, intersectoral action, multistrategy, and contextualism), while chapters highlight challenges that must be mastered to keep these principles and scientific objectives in sync, including: (1) Building health promotion values into evaluation research projects. (2) Expanding the use of evaluation in health promotion. (3) Developing meaningful evaluation questions. (4) Distinguishing between community-based participation research and evaluation-based participation. (5) Evaluating specifically for equity. (6) Designing initiatives to foster lasting social change.

The applied knowledge in Health Promotion Evaluation Practices in the Americas: Values and Research can bring the goals of intervention into sharper focus for practitioners, evaluators, and decision-makers and facilitate communication on all sides-necessary steps to progress from study findings to real-world action.

More and more, health promotion is a crucial component of public health, to the extent that public health interventions are called on to prove their effectiveness and appraised for scientific validity, a practice many in the field consider self-defeating. Health Promotion Evaluation Practices in the Americas cogently demonstrates that scientific rigor and the goals of health promotion are less in conflict than commonly thought, synthesizing multiple traditions from countries throughout North, Central, and South America (and across the developed-to-developing-world continuum) for a volume that is both diverse in scope and unified in purpose.

The book's examples-representing robust theoretical and practical literatures as well as initiatives from Rio de Janeiro to American Indian communities-explain why health promotion evaluation projects require different guidelines from mainstream evaluative work. The editors identify core humanitarian principles associated with health promotion (participation, empowerment, equity, sustainability, intersectoral action, multistrategy, and contextualism), while chapters highlight challenges that must be mastered to keep these principles and scientific objectives in sync, including: (1) Building health promotion values into evaluation research projects. (2) Expanding the use of evaluation in health promotion. (3) Developing meaningful evaluation questions. (4) Distinguishing between community-based participation research and evaluation-based participation. (5) Evaluating specifically for equity. (6) Designing initiatives to foster lasting social change.

The applied knowledge in Health Promotion Evaluation Practices in the Americas: Values and Research can bring the goals of intervention into sharper focus for practitioners, evaluators, and decision-makers and facilitate communication on all sides-necessary steps to progress from study findings to real-world action.

Pandemics, substance abuse, natural disasters, obesity, and warfare: these are not only health crises but social crises as well. Now a panel of leaders in global health explores the vital but understudied social theories behind the practice of health promotion, including cultural capital, risk and causality, systems theory, and the dynamic between individual and community.

While research teams are producing relevant and valid knowledge for health promotion, there is not yet a structured manual and distinct field of health promotion research. This timely "state-of-the-art" handbook contributes to structuring the field of health promotion research. This collection presents introductory-level methodological solutions to the major epistemological, methodological, and ethical challenges facing health promotion research. It brings together experts from different "research traditions" that coexist in the field. The handbook covers the existing knowledge production and sharing practices to delineate the "discipline" and its agenda for future research. Ultimately, it contributes to creating a global community of health promotion researchers. This volume concerns research practices relevant to the production and sharing of knowledge about health promotion practices. It is organized as follows: Part I presents some paradigms and approaches to knowledge production relevant to health promotion research. Parts II to V describe research designs and methods that specifically address health promotion research. Part VI includes an overview of the challenges facing health promotion research and suggests ways forward. Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 3: Doing Health Promotion Research is a highly relevant reference tool for researchers and graduate students in health promotion, public health, education, and socio-health sciences; practitioners in health, medical, and social sectors; policy-makers; and health research administrators.

Policy-makers, professionals of all kinds and the general public increasingly recognise social and economic factors as important determinants of health. Because health promotion approaches address these factors, they can play an increasingly valuable role in protecting and improving health. At the same time, funding sources increasingly demand evidence that initiatives give value for money. Health promotion initiatives need effective evaluation to realise their potential: both to prove their value as investments and to increase their effectiveness in achieving their aims. To help meet this need, the WHO European Working Group on Health Promotion Evaluation examined the current range of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods to provide guidance to policy-makers and practitioners. This book is the result. It comprises an extensive compilation and discussion of the theory, methodologies and practice of evaluating health promotion initiatives in Europe and the Americas. The book takes three perspectives in examining the issues. It includes a retrospective examination of the evolution of health promotion evaluation. This provides the context for assessing and understanding the current state of evaluations of initiatives addressing settings, polices and systems works for promoting health. Finally the chapter authors and the Working Group as a whole make many recommendations for improvement that provide a look into the future. This book shows how a health promotion approach offers a comprehensive framework for planning and implementing interventions that can effectively address today's major health-related problems. The authors describe how good evaluations assist initiatives in achieving their goals, provide a wealth of guidance on how to undertake them and call for greater investment in the evaluation of health promotion. The authors hope that their work will stimulate policy-makers and practitioners to invest in and undertake good evaluation for good health promotion. This is their commitment; they hope that readers share it.