Integrating values , research and knowledge developmentt through the use of participatory evaluation in community based health promotion

This paper argues that health promotion and within that health communication are themselves a particular type of social practice that attempt to disrupt day to day patterns of living to bring about change for better individual and collective health. Inherently relational and dialogical, they require a different approach to evaluation from the experimental approach commonly promulgated as the gold standard in the health sciences. At the centre of all research but particularly evaluation, lie a set of values and particular paradigm. The way any evaluation is done reflects and imposes a particular set of values and in doing so either recreates and reinforces a particular social world or makes a contribution to changing it.