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EcoHealth
Published in: EcoHealth 3/2011

01-09-2011 | Original Contribution

Incorporating Sustainability into Community-Based Healthcare Practice

Authors: Rebecca Patrick, Teresa Capetola, Mardie Townsend, Lisa Hanna

Published in: EcoHealth | Issue 3/2011

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Abstract

There is now irrefutable evidence that climate change and increasing environmental degradation negatively affect population health. Healthcare plays an important role in addressing these emerging environmental challenges, considering its core aim is to protect and promote health. Preliminary research in Victoria, Australia, suggests that healthcare practitioners are endeavouring to factor in environmental concerns into their practice. Health promotion, an integral part of the healthcare system, is considered an area of practice that can support action on sustainability. Based on five qualitative case studies and key stakeholder interviews, this article explores key barriers and facilitators to incorporating sustainability into community-based healthcare practice. The findings demonstrate that despite multiple barriers, including funding and lack of policy direction, health promotion principles and practices can enable action on sustainability.
Footnotes
1
Health promotion is ‘the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. (World Health Organization 1986, p. 1).
 
2
The terms ‘ecological sustainable development’, ‘environmental sustainability’ and ‘ecological sustainability’ are used interchangeably in the literature. Despite their differences in origin, they all stress the importance of valuing and maintaining the natural environment. Often, the term ‘sustainability’ is used as an all-encompassing term and will be treated as such in this article.
 
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Metadata
Title
Incorporating Sustainability into Community-Based Healthcare Practice
Authors
Rebecca Patrick
Teresa Capetola
Mardie Townsend
Lisa Hanna
Publication date
01-09-2011
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
EcoHealth / Issue 3/2011
Print ISSN: 1612-9202
Electronic ISSN: 1612-9210
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-011-0711-0

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