Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > “I realised it weren't about spending the money...

Research

Associated organisational unit

Links

Text available via DOI:

Keywords

View graph of relations

“I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together": the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published

Standard

“I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together": the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing. / Townsend, A.; Abraham, C.; Barnes, A. et al.
In: Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 260, 113176, 01.09.2020.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Townsend, A, Abraham, C, Barnes, A, Collins, M, Halliday, E, Lewis, S, Orton, L, Ponsford, R, Salway, S, Whitehead, M & Popay, J 2020, '“I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together": the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 260, 113176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113176

APA

Townsend, A., Abraham, C., Barnes, A., Collins, M., Halliday, E., Lewis, S., Orton, L., Ponsford, R., Salway, S., Whitehead, M., & Popay, J. (2020). “I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together": the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing. Social Science and Medicine, 260, Article 113176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113176

Vancouver

Townsend A, Abraham C, Barnes A, Collins M, Halliday E, Lewis S et al. “I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together": the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing. Social Science and Medicine. 2020 Sept 1;260:113176. Epub 2020 Jul 9. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113176

Author

Townsend, A. ; Abraham, C. ; Barnes, A. et al. / “I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together" : the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing. In: Social Science and Medicine. 2020 ; Vol. 260.

Bibtex

@article{5c2f39235e714c75ad447596922b3710,
title = "“I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together{"}: the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing",
abstract = "Community initiatives aiming to reduce health inequalities are increasingly common in health policy. Though diverse many such initiatives aim to support residents of disadvantaged places to exercise greater collective control over decisions/actions that affect their lives - which research suggests is an important determinant of health – and some seek to achieve this by giving residents control over a budget. Informed by theoretical work in which community capabilities for collective control are conceptualised as different forms of power, and applying a relational lens, this paper presents findings on the potential role of money as a mechanism to enhance these capabilities from an on-going evaluation of a major place-based initiative being implemented in 150 neighbourhoods across England:The Big Local (BL). The research involved semi-structured interviews with 116 diverse stakeholders, including residents and participant observation in a diverse sample of 10 BL areas. We took a thematic constant comparative approach to the analysis of data from across the sites. The findings suggest that the money enabled the development of capabilities for collective control in these communities primarily by enhancing connectivity amongst residents and with external stakeholders. However, residents had to engage in significant {\textquoteleft}relational work{\textquoteright} to achieve these benefits and tensions around the money could hinder communities' {\textquoteleft}power to act{\textquoteright}. Greater social connectivity has been shown to directly affect individual and population health by increasing social cohesion and reducing loneliness. Additionally, supporting enhanced collective control of residents in these disadvantaged communities has the potential to improve population health and reduce health inequalities. {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors",
keywords = "Community empowerment, Health inequalities, Relational settings, Relational work, adult, article, controlled study, empowerment, England, human, loneliness, money, neighborhood, population health, resident, semi structured interview, tension, theoretical study, wellbeing",
author = "A. Townsend and C. Abraham and A. Barnes and M. Collins and E. Halliday and S. Lewis and L. Orton and R. Ponsford and S. Salway and M. Whitehead and J. Popay",
year = "2020",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113176",
language = "English",
volume = "260",
journal = "Social Science and Medicine",
issn = "0277-9536",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - “I realised it weren't about spending the money. It's about doing something together"

T2 - the role of money in a community empowerment initiative and the implications for health and wellbeing

AU - Townsend, A.

AU - Abraham, C.

AU - Barnes, A.

AU - Collins, M.

AU - Halliday, E.

AU - Lewis, S.

AU - Orton, L.

AU - Ponsford, R.

AU - Salway, S.

AU - Whitehead, M.

AU - Popay, J.

PY - 2020/9/1

Y1 - 2020/9/1

N2 - Community initiatives aiming to reduce health inequalities are increasingly common in health policy. Though diverse many such initiatives aim to support residents of disadvantaged places to exercise greater collective control over decisions/actions that affect their lives - which research suggests is an important determinant of health – and some seek to achieve this by giving residents control over a budget. Informed by theoretical work in which community capabilities for collective control are conceptualised as different forms of power, and applying a relational lens, this paper presents findings on the potential role of money as a mechanism to enhance these capabilities from an on-going evaluation of a major place-based initiative being implemented in 150 neighbourhoods across England:The Big Local (BL). The research involved semi-structured interviews with 116 diverse stakeholders, including residents and participant observation in a diverse sample of 10 BL areas. We took a thematic constant comparative approach to the analysis of data from across the sites. The findings suggest that the money enabled the development of capabilities for collective control in these communities primarily by enhancing connectivity amongst residents and with external stakeholders. However, residents had to engage in significant ‘relational work’ to achieve these benefits and tensions around the money could hinder communities' ‘power to act’. Greater social connectivity has been shown to directly affect individual and population health by increasing social cohesion and reducing loneliness. Additionally, supporting enhanced collective control of residents in these disadvantaged communities has the potential to improve population health and reduce health inequalities. © 2020 The Authors

AB - Community initiatives aiming to reduce health inequalities are increasingly common in health policy. Though diverse many such initiatives aim to support residents of disadvantaged places to exercise greater collective control over decisions/actions that affect their lives - which research suggests is an important determinant of health – and some seek to achieve this by giving residents control over a budget. Informed by theoretical work in which community capabilities for collective control are conceptualised as different forms of power, and applying a relational lens, this paper presents findings on the potential role of money as a mechanism to enhance these capabilities from an on-going evaluation of a major place-based initiative being implemented in 150 neighbourhoods across England:The Big Local (BL). The research involved semi-structured interviews with 116 diverse stakeholders, including residents and participant observation in a diverse sample of 10 BL areas. We took a thematic constant comparative approach to the analysis of data from across the sites. The findings suggest that the money enabled the development of capabilities for collective control in these communities primarily by enhancing connectivity amongst residents and with external stakeholders. However, residents had to engage in significant ‘relational work’ to achieve these benefits and tensions around the money could hinder communities' ‘power to act’. Greater social connectivity has been shown to directly affect individual and population health by increasing social cohesion and reducing loneliness. Additionally, supporting enhanced collective control of residents in these disadvantaged communities has the potential to improve population health and reduce health inequalities. © 2020 The Authors

KW - Community empowerment

KW - Health inequalities

KW - Relational settings

KW - Relational work

KW - adult

KW - article

KW - controlled study

KW - empowerment

KW - England

KW - human

KW - loneliness

KW - money

KW - neighborhood

KW - population health

KW - resident

KW - semi structured interview

KW - tension

KW - theoretical study

KW - wellbeing

U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113176

DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113176

M3 - Journal article

VL - 260

JO - Social Science and Medicine

JF - Social Science and Medicine

SN - 0277-9536

M1 - 113176

ER -