Historical overview of church involvement in health and wellbeing in Australia: implications for health promotion partnerships
Darshini Ayton A C , Gemma Carey B , Helen Keleher A and Ben Smith A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Health Social Science, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3145, Australia.
B Centre for Health and Society, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: darshini.ayton@monash.edu
Australian Journal of Primary Health 18(1) 4-10 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY11079
Submitted: 22 July 2011 Accepted: 17 November 2011 Published: 23 December 2011
Abstract
Health promotion practice requires partnerships with different sectors of society and at all levels of government to achieve health equity as the prerequisites for health include domains that exist outside of the health sphere. Therefore existing partnerships for health need to be strengthened and the potential for new partnerships must be considered in order to address health holistically. The literature base exploring the church as a partner and setting for health promotion is predominantly from the US and therefore there is a need for research exploring the opportunities and challenges of partnering with churches in the Australian context. This paper presents an historical overview of the involvement of churches and church affiliated organisations in health and welfare in Australia recognising that while some of the values, practices and beliefs of churches may have considerable synergies with health promotion, others may be sources of contention or difference.
Additional keyword: church affiliated organisations.
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