A questionnaire was completed by a number of households in the Tallaght area of varying means and socio-economic status, as part of the “Health Assets and Needs Assessment in Tallaght” study in 2014. As part of the questionnaire residents were asked to identify local health assets and also to rate their level of health.
This research project will analyse this data, seeking trends between self-rated good health and health assets, so as to identify a combination of health assets in the Tallaght community that are most likely to promote good health. A paper on the study and its results will then be drafted and published, highlighting and promoting these assets for the community and future health planners. A number of recent studies in the area of health needs and assets have highlighted the need for a means to identify health assets. In this project, the residents of Tallaght have identified what they believe to be the health assets in their community. Studies have also shown that involving a community in this way as co-producers of health can in itself promote good health in that community.
This project also addresses a need articulated by the World Health Organisation for a greater focus on health assets. A focus on assets can provide new ways of challenging health inequalities, improve health behaviours and outcomes, and reduce demand on services making them more efficient and effective by focusing on the assets most likely to promote good health, such as those identified during this project.
