Working in Health Promoting Ways
Planning checklist
Starting a health promotion project may appear daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.
This planning checklist for health and community services staff new to health promotion is intended to help
you to develop ideas about your project and keep it on track.
Health promotion is not intended to be a ‘one size fits all’ approach and it can apply to work you do as part
of your everyday role. However, before embarking on developing new programs or new ways of working,
spend some time talking with others and thinking through some important aspects of your planning.
Needs identification
☐ How do we know there is a need?
☐ Can we clearly define the identified need?
☐ Do we need to collect or find further information about needs?
☐ How will we involve partners, key stakeholders and communities in finding out about needs?
☐ What might be causing the issue in the local community?
Community participation
☐ How will we ensure our strategies are carried out by and with people, not on or to people’?
☐ How will we engage with communities in a meaningful way so people have ownership and involvement at
all stages of health promotion?
☐ Are there any factors that may hinder people’s involvement in the strategy (for example, timing, physical
access, English fluency, availability of and access to information, family and work commitments)? How will
we address these?
☐ What do those ‘in charge’ or in key leadership roles think about the issue?
Readiness
☐ Are the communities, groups or individuals we are working with ready for this strategy?
☐ Are there other factors that may be more important for people? What are their priorities?
☐ Are there underlying ‘causes of the causes’ (that is, the social conditions in which people grow, work, live
and age which affect health outcomes) that should be addressed first?
Who
☐ Who are we working with?
☐ Who are we not working with? Does our work miss certain groups?
☐ What do we need to do differently to ensure we engage with those that usually miss out and who may be
in need?
☐ What do we know about who we are working with? Think about culture, gender, age, ethnicity, religion
and language.
☐ How do we recognise diversity and ensure that we adapt our way of working to best meet the needs of
those we are working with?
Context
☐ How can we be sure that we are sensitive to the specific ‘context’ in which the issue occurs?
☐ What are some of the factors that might contribute to this (for example, relevant cultural and historical
factors or local political dynamics)?
Equity
☐ How will we ensure our approach to implementing the strategy is fair and just?
☐ Are we sure that this strategy won’t actually increase inequities?
☐ Is our service appropriate and accessible?
Ethics
☐ Will our approach cause harms or risks for practitioners, participants or community members?
☐ What do we need to do to ensure that it does not?
☐ What are the rights of the people participating in our project?
Goal and objectives
☐ What change are we seeking?
☐ Is it feasible given the resources we have available?
Capacity check
☐ Do all stakeholders have the capacity to implement the strategy?
☐ As health or community workers, do we have the appropriate skills to implement this strategy?
☐ What resources do we have available for the strategy?
☐ What are the opportunities to implement the strategy?
☐ What level of commitment is there to implement the strategy?
Communication and health literacy
☐ Do we really listen to the communities, groups or individuals we are working with?
☐ How will we communicate with our stakeholders? Will we use plain English, use images and adapt
communication styles?
☐ How will we share information about our health promotion practice?
☐ Will our strategies ensure that health literacy is addressed?
Using evidence
☐ What does the evidence tell us about using a particular strategy for this community?
☐ How does the evidence apply across different population groups, for example, culturally and linguistically
diverse groups, women, older people, those with disabilities or refugees?
Evaluation
☐ How will we know if we’ve made a difference with this strategy?
☐ What’s our evaluation plan and how will we build our plan into our health promotion practice?
☐ How can we tell others about what has worked and/or what hasn’t worked?
Partnerships
☐ Who else can we work with?
☐ How do we build effective relationships?
☐ Do we have the capacity to act or do we need partners to contribute to parts of this strategy?
☐ Who else is doing something that links with this strategy?
☐ Do all partners understand their role in implementing the strategy?
☐ Can we evaluate the partnership?
☐ How will you support clients or patients through referral pathways involving other organisations and
services?
Combining strategies
☐ A combination of strategies is usually more effective in health promotion. What other strategies will we
use?
☐ Is more than one approach needed to implement this strategy (for example, do wee need a combination
of community action and community education approaches)?
☐ Are we applying community development principles to this strategy, to help ensure we address equity in
health and support community ownership of their health and wellbeing?
☐ What strategies do the community think will work best?
Project management
☐ How will the strategy be managed?
☐ Will there be a collaborative reference group or steering committee?
☐ Will there be a project officer or will the work be done in-house?
☐ What governance arrangements are needed?
☐ How can we encourage others within our organisation to share in the responsibility for this strategy and
more generally for health promotion?
☐ What’s a realistic timeframe to implement the strategy?
Sustainability
☐ How will we ensure sustainable outcomes are achieved?
☐ How will we ensure that working in health promoting ways can be built into our practice in a sustainable
way?