Community participation within an Irish Health Board area

This article gives a brief analysis of the concept of community participation followed by an account of a small study exploring the views and practices of two populations. Public health nurses have implemented their 'community as client' role and under favourable conditions would wish to develop further this aspect of their work. Women in the community are aware of the primary healthcare services available to them and as demonstrated by their comments have a holistic understanding of health. The study shows that both public health nurses and women in the community are interested and willing to take part in actions to improve health and welfare. Before genuine community partnership is developed a more defined leadership role which incorporates the skills of both community empowerment and community organization is needed.