Public Health Research v1(4) November 2013
- Results from 131 studies included in a meta-analysis indicate that:
- there is solid evidence that community engagement interventions have a positive impact on health behaviours, health consequences, self-efficacy and perceived social support outcomes, across various conditions.
- there is insufficient evidence – particularly for long-term outcomes and indirect beneficiaries – to determine whether one particular model of community engagement is likely to be more effective than any other.
- there are also insufficient data to test the effects on health inequalities, although there is some evidence to suggest that interventions that improve social inequalities (as measured by social support) also improve health behaviours.
- there is weak but inconsistent evidence that community engagement interventions are cost-effective
