DPU 2009 - Aarhus Universitet
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Transcript DPU 2009 - Aarhus Universitet
Role modalities in urban health
education
I M PA C T O N C H I L D R E N ’ S A N D A D O L E S C E N T ’ S
R I S K A N D H E A LT H
K A R E N W I S TO F T P H D A S S O C I AT E D P R O F E S S O R
D E PA R T M E N T O F E D U C AT I O N ( D P U )
AARHUS UNIVERSITY
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Introduction
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An important feature of contemporary welfare state
management is urban health education
Includes alliances and partnerships for developing public
health policies and educational practices that positively
impact on the health of people – here children and adolescents
Health promotion (in the traditional sense) has been replaced
by new managerial institutions and new cross-professional
partnerships
For children and young people, this managerial revolution has
meant new roles
The premises for their inclusion into health promotion have
changed
Role modalities
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This paper investigates
role expectations in
relation to urban
strategies of health
education and promotion
in Denmark
Research project ’Children at risk’ (1.9.2007-31.7.2010)
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Cooperative research funded by the Danish National
Research Council (FSE)
Researchers from two Danish research environments:
Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen
Business School (CBS)
Department of Education (DPU), Aarhus University
General objective:
To assess and compare tendencies in public health
management and health education aimed at children and
young people
Settings: the 98 Danish municipalities
Data collection - 4 separate studies
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I. Pilot study – in four selected municipalities: analyses of
their health policies, organizational diagrams and interviews
with their public health managers and coordinators (N=47)
II. Survey - telephone interviews with the health managers,
directors and leading health coordinators in the Danish
municipalities (N=72/98)
III. Focus group interviews with pupils aged 13-14, from 18
different school classes geographically spread across the
country (N=108)
IV. Comparative case study in five selected municipalities. The
comparisons are based on local health promotion programs
and focus group interviews with health professionals (N=36)
Combined empirical perspectives
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A. Health management perspective and a health-
pedagogical perspective: the interplay between the
political-administrative level and the professional
level.
B. Semantic perspective: concepts and meanings
embodied in the discourses that have an impact on
how children and adolescents’ health is put into words
C. Values perspective: the type of knowledge, values
and norms that are put into play through health
efforts for children and adolescents
This approach links a value-reflected interaction between health
professionals and children/adolescents (Wistoft 2009, 2010)
System theoretical framework
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In a system theoretical perspective the matter of
inclusion becomes a question of both the communication
about people as certain role bearers and a question of
the ways people as persons react towards generalised role
communications (Luhmann 1995; Stichweh 2005; Stäheli
2007).
Combined elements from system theory and health
education theory in order to grasp different semantic
modalities of inclusion of children and young people.
Empirical investigations
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In terms of making certain roles become popular
in urban health education - in order for children
and young people to become interested in
wearing the roles - and by wearing the roles they
are becoming recognisable and communicative
II. In terms of preparation for participation in
behavioural activities such as co-decision making,
different preventive initiatives and personal
reactions are becoming recognisable.
I.
Conclusion of the project
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A new kind of identity – ‘the risky child’ is
attributed to the children as they are involved
Being confronted with different risks of childhood
coming for example from eating fatty food,
drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or having
sexual relationships, the children are brought into a
moral, political and lifestyle oriented discourse on
risks
Information consumers
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In this discourse their identity (as children or
adolescents) is at stake as they are expected to
participate as ‘well-experienced information
consumers’
They are expected to be rational, qualified, and
future oriented participants
Often the health promotion information concerns a
distant future in which the children risk invisible
threats
Health two discourses on risk
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A. A ‘free-choose’ discourse/the ability to choose freely.
The individual children and adolescents chooses what is best for
him or her, and takes a, hopefully, well-informed risk (basically a
risk taking attitude)
B. A preventive discourse in which a opposite attitude is
suggested, namely, to avoid future risks
The two discourses are only seemingly in opposition
They both participate in identity constructions that turn
children into ‘risky people’, potentially risk bearers,
risk information consumers, risk prioritisers and
choosers
Risk reflexivity
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The paper concerns a thesis for further development,
that present urban health is accompanied by certain
requests concerning the use of health information:
To the individual, this means that the role as healthy
involves information processing and reflexive activities
modulating between being a risk-taker and risk avoider
Already in childhood, the risk-mode of relating to one
self is promoted. The role as healthy is also a role of
risk reflection – and the purpose of urban health
education
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Thank you for
your attention!
Karen Wistoft
Departement of
Education (DPU)
Faculty of Arts
Aarhus Universitet
Campus Emdrup
+45 2613 2653
[email protected]
www.dpu.dk/om/ka
wi