Fokhälsoarbete på kommunal nivå : En fokusgruppsstudie om kommunanställdas erfarenheter av folkhälsoarbete på kommunal nivå

Sammanfattning

The purpose of this thesis is to develop an in-depth understanding of municipal employees' experiences with public health initiatives at the local government level. This qualitative study gathereddata through four focus group sessions, involving 16 municipal employees working in public health across four different municipalities. The data is analyzed using a theoretical framework and discussed in relation to existing research. The findings indicate that participants describe their work in terms of the application of the public health concept, perspectives on public health, the prioritization of public health on various agendas, the structuring of public health efforts, and the roles they perceive themselves to play in their work. Additionally, participants identify both challenges and opportunities within these domains. The study concludes that public health work is often perceived as integrating public health efforts into other concepts or strategies, positioning public health issues on various agendas, and establishing structures to make public health concerns more visible. Furthermore, public health work involves collaboration, operates at multiple levels, and entails communicating with and educating diverse stakeholders. Ultimately, the study reveals that participants' experiences of public health work are closely linked to the organizational structure of municipal operations and the prevailing conceptual frameworks in the field.