Helping people help themselves

With the growing consumer participation movement and the emphasis in health care shifting from hospital to community, the term community development is cropping up more and more. Yet the concept of community development has always been integral to public health nursing. Simply put, community development is a process by which a community identifies its needs and assumes ownership of decision-making and subsequent action surrounding those needs. By integrating community development principles into their work with two neighboring communities, nurses with Calgary Health Services facilitated the establishment of a much-needed parent support group.