Competence Hub ‘Living Environments and Health: Participatory Methods

Project duration: 15.03.2019 to 14.06.2021

Project management: Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär

Members of the project team: Azize Kasberg

Cooperation partners:

• Center for Continuing Education at ASH Berlin
• PartKommPlus -- Research association for healthy communities (coordination office)
• Esslingen University of Applied Sciences
• Hamburg Working Group for Health Promotion e.V.
• Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Department of Nursing and Health
• Dr. Stefanie Kiwi Menrath, cultural anthropologist and freelance cultural mediator in transcultural and participatory cultural education projects

Summary:
Participation is considered a key strategy in community health promotion. This applies all the more to the promotion of equal health opportunities. This is where the KLuG project comes in, offering local actors both skills training and guided experience building. The aim of the project is to develop a curriculum for modular workshops. It is being developed together with experienced actors in municipal health promotion. This workshop format with embedded projects will be developed in three stages. Training materials will be developed and a decentralized network of trainers will be established. This will enable the offer to be rolled out nationwide.

You can find detailed information on the research projecthere.

Village exploratory: Capturing community capacity through participatory research

Project duration: 01.04.2021 to 30.09.2021

Project management: Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär together with Azize Kasberg M.Sc. PH

Project staff: Students of the theory-practice specialization "Community Health" in the BA Social Work

Cooperation partners in Heinersdorf: Praxisforschungsstelle, Denkmal-Kultur e.V., local council and members of the local council

Summary:
Heinersdorf (municipality of Steinhöfel) in Brandenburg has been pursuing the goal of enabling people to grow old well locally since 2014. At the beginning of 2021, a science-practice partnership was established between the Praxisforschungsstelle, Denkmal-Kultur e.V. and the Heinersdorf local council on the one hand and ASH Berlin on the other. In collaboration with students of social work, a survey on the topics of participation, village community, housing and mobility was jointly planned with the community capacity concept. Structured interview matrix and content analysis methods were used. 22 residents took part. The results showed that there are already many opportunities for participation. Development needs and further needs for action were identified for the topics surveyed. Finally, dialogue rounds with local stakeholders and regional decision-makers intensified network contacts and mobilized additional resources.

You can find detailed information on the research projecthere.

Evaluation "Network Healthy Children in Brandenburg"

Project duration: 01.11.2018 to 30.04.2019

Project management:Prof. Dr. Raimund Geene, Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär

Project staff: Ulrike von Haldenwang, Joachim Kuck, Quintus Sleumer, Katharina Lietz

Cooperation partner: Network Healthy Childrenhttps://www.netzwerk-gesunde-kinder.de/

Summary:
The aim of the research project is to evaluate the satisfaction of Brandenburg parents with the services offered by the Netzwerk Gesunde Kinder and the impact of the network on parents.

In close cooperation with the ministerial client and the state coordination of the network, field knowledge is collected as part of a rapid appraisal and access to the field is created. Interviews are conducted with both network families and non-beneficiary families. Results from the evaluated interviews will be reflected upon in focus groups and documented in the form of a final report, including conclusions and recommendations for action.

The results will provide information on the extent to which the right incentives are in place to encourage parents to participate in the network and the extent to which the network achieves the desired effect on the families/parents of the parents. In addition, supplementary needs and requirements for care structures and services are identified. To this extent, the evaluation can contribute to the further qualitative development of the Healthy Children Network.

You can find detailed information on the research projecthere.

Pilot study on the conception, production and evaluation of German-language videos on participatory methods in social and health research

Project duration: 15.03.2017 to 31.08.2018

Project management: Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär

Project team members: Silke Geers, Dr. Christine Clar

Cooperation partners:

• Paritätischer Gesamtverband Deutschland
• Health Berlin-Brandenburg
• University of Ottawa

Our aim is to scientifically substantiate the formats "learning video" and "how-to videos" for teaching the participatory method "focus group" for the German-speaking area. Two videos with different objectives will be produced and an existing English-language video will be subtitled for German-speaking countries. Finally, the project will be evaluated together with users of the videos.

You can find detailed information on the research projecthere.

Project duration: 01.02.2018 to 31.01.2021

Project management: Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär

Project staff: Ina Schäfer, Azize Kasberg

Cooperation partners:

• Marzahn-Hellersdorf district of Berlin
• Jugendwerk Aufbau Ost JAO gGmbH

Description: ^ElfE2 is carried out by the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. The Marzahn-Hellersdorf district of Berlin and the Jugendwerk Aufbau Ost JAO gGmbH are involved as cooperation partners. The steering group also includes researching parents from the first support center as well as representatives of the municipal administration, local experts, parents' councils and other stakeholders relevant to the topic.

The following objectives are being pursued in three project modules

1. Further development of strategies and structures for the regular participation of parents in district planning processes
2. Development of an action guideline for the municipal anchoring of parental participation in district planning and development processes
3. Establishment of dialog formats in order to bring the results of the ElfE research from the first funding phase "into the area" and to use them for the further development of municipal/institutional structures.

You can find detailed information on the research projecthere.

Project duration: 01.02.2015 - 31.01.2018

Project manager: Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär, Prof. Dr. Theda Borde

Project staff: Ina Schäfer

Description: In the ElfE project, we, the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences and Gesundheit Berlin-Brandenburg, together with the municipalities of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin and Lauchhammer in Brandenburg, want to investigate and further develop the design options for successful transitions to daycare centers. ElfE is a partner in the research association PartKommPlus - Healthy Communities through Integrated, Participatory Strategies for Health Promotion. PartKommPlus is a project of the Participatory Health Research Network (PartNet) and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Here you can find detailed information on the research project.

Project duration: 15.06.2016 - 14.11.2016

Project management: Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär, Prof. Dr. Anja Voss

Project staff: Dr. Michael Noweski, Maria Ihm (M.A.), Laura Fricke

In health prevention, a standardization process of the quality of measures is currently taking place by setting new quality standards. The aim of the project is to analyze the prerequisites for an inter-agency agreement process on common standards in obesity prevention for children.
The project is based on the QuAK project (01.06.2015 - 31.01.2016), which compiled an inventory of existing standards. On the one hand, the QuAK project was able to identify a basic consensus between scientific publications and practice-relevant actors in quality assurance in the above-mentioned field of action, but on the other hand, there was still a need for development of existing criteria catalogs and a low level of reception among them.
The follow-up project PräKiT follows on from these results. The aim is to determine the necessary prerequisites for the targeted development of quality standards. In-depth knowledge of the problems, attitudes, needs and potential for action of the stakeholders is crucial, as their perspectives have a decisive influence on the field. As part of the project, the team conducts interviews with experts from relevant cost and measure providers. On the basis of these interviews, the PräKiT project analyses the attitudes and resources for action in the organizations and formulates recommendations for shaping the communication process. The focus is on questions regarding the conditions under which a standardization of quality standards is supported and how this consensus process could be shaped from the perspective of the stakeholders.

Project duration: 01.06.2015 - 31.01.2016

Project management: Prof. Dr. Gesine Bär, Prof. Dr. Anja Voss

Project staff: Dr. Michael Noweski, Maria Ihm

A standardization process of the quality of measures is currently taking place in health prevention by setting new quality standards. The aim of the project is to take stock of the current quality standards for primary obesity prevention measures for children. Data will be collected through a systematic literature search in relevant databases and search engines (Medline, Springer Link, Thieme Connect, Google Scholar), as well as an analysis of relevant documents from science and practice. Although various organizations and specialist disciplines are involved in the standardization of the quality of measures, it is expected that, in addition to different concepts, there will also be similarities in terms of content. The results of the inventory are intended to show ways of developing common standards that can be established as part of a nationwide consensus process.

Schaefer, I., Bär, G., & Co-Researcher from the ElfE-Project. (2019). The analysis of qualitative data with peer researchers: An example from participatory health research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-20.3.3350

Völter, B., & Bär, G. (2025). SAGE universities in the field of tension between system-relevant demands and paradoxical realities. In B. Völter, G. Bär, Z. Kappauf, J. Kuck, & müjgan şenel (Eds.), Academize, professionalize, transform: SAGE-Hochschulen im Strukturwandel am Beispiel der Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin (1st ed., pp. 39-66). Barbara Budrich Publishers. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.35679130.4 

Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. (2019). Using focus groups in participatory research: An instructional film [Film]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/367068638