[Evaluation and health promotion in Brittany]

A specific context combined with national devices and mechanisms, which are developed on a regional level, has proven to be favourable to the development of health promotion evaluation. The study presented here retraces the evolution of how this question has been approached in Brittany through a review of the regional literature. This work offered a means by which project funders, decision-makers and grass-roots workers and professionals in the field could obtain a better perception of what issues were at stake, the challenges posed and perspectives to which the process adheres within the timeframe of commitment. Certain steps mark this process: the difficulty in creating awareness of the need for evaluation of health promotion following the whims upon which the development and formulation of projects are based; projects coming forward slowly but surely in support of health promotion development, of its effectiveness and which support the regional health policy dynamic. The expression of strong expectations which have been incessantly repeated emphasises the necessity and readiness for action today, and above all a joint willingness and responsibility of the professionals on the ground along with the decision-makers.