Citation

Kailasam M, Hsann YM, Vankayalapati P, Yang KS. Health Promot. Int. 2019; 34(3): 447-453.

Affiliation

Department of Epidemiology, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, 1 Jurong East Street 21, Singapore 609606, Singapore.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/heapro/dax101

PMID

29294003

Abstract

Both living and working environments have a substantial influence on promoting healthy living habits. A holistic and accurate assessment of the community health-promoting practices is important to identify gaps and to make continuous, tangible improvements. The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of the Singapore community health-promoting practices. The community health-promoting practices in all residential zones of an electoral constituency were assessed based on a composite health promotion scoring system comprising of 44 measurable elements under the 5 domains of community support and resources; healthy behaviours; chronic conditions; mental health; and common medical emergencies. An alphabetical grading system was used based on the score ranges: grade 'A' (75% and above), grade 'B' (60% to below 75%), grade 'C' (50% to below 60%) and grade 'D' (below 50%). The community health-promoting practices were graded 'D' with an overall average score of 41%. The constituency achieved grade 'C' (59%) for mental health domain and grade 'B' (72%) for common medical emergencies. The health-promoting practices for the other domains were graded 'D' (<50%) except for healthy behaviour (physical activity) sub-domain which achieved grade 'B' (65%). Significant gaps were identified in the community health-promoting practices. The residential zones may benefit from the scoring system to identify gaps and prioritize high-impact strategies to improve their health practices.

© The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Language: en

Keywords

access; community health promotion; composite score; health-promoting environments; residential