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Building community power for health equity: A curated list

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Power imbalance is a root cause of health inequities. To develop interventions that intentionally shift power, public health practitioners need an understanding of power and be able to recognize how power and health equity outcomes are interrelated. Further, public health practitioners can use frameworks for conceptualizing power to analyze power dynamics related to specific issues, and then develop and implement strategies and tactics from that analysis.

This represents a transformative approach to public health, with the goal of shifting structures and systems while also addressing specific health and equity issues. This curated resource list can support public health practitioners on their journey to harnessing power to advance health equity.

Resources in this curated list explore:

  • health equity, determinants of health and power;
  • power and the history of the field of public health;
  • frameworks for understanding power;
  • power analysis;
  • community power building; and
  • Neoliberalism and power.

The resource list includes blogs, videos, podcasts, activity guides, academic papers, and books – a range of resources that introduce the topic of power and then an opportunity to dive deeper.

This curated list compliments the NCCDH’s Let’s Talk: Redistributing power to advance health equity, a foundational primer to the concept of power.

Use this resource to:

  • Increase your understanding of power and its different forms. 
  • Explore how public health practitioners can develop strategies to redistribute power based on frameworks for conceptualizing it.  
  • Consider how to apply concepts related to power in your work, with your team and in your organization

 

Related Resources:

Companion document: Let’s Talk: Redistributing power to advance health equity

Theory in Action: Public Health and Community Power Building for Health Equity

Power – a health and social justice issue

Power, control, communities and health inequalities I: Theories, concepts and analytical frameworks

 

See more resources on power, health, and equity.

See other curated reading lists.


Reference:

National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. (2023). Building community power for health equity: A curated list. Antigonish, NS: NCCDH, St. Francis Xavier University.  

Tags: Key concepts, Structural determinants, Power, Document, Curated Reading List