Conference to explore how asset based approaches can enhance health among communities

Health researchers from the University of Hertfordshire will host an international conference at the British Library next week (26-27 September), which will explore how asset based approaches can enhance health among communities.

A health asset is any factor or resource which enhances the ability of individuals, communities and populations to maintain and sustain health and well-being. The conference, Assets for Health and Wellbeing across the life course, will focus on methods identifying, measuring and evaluating assets for health and wellbeing.

"What we aim to do is push forward the argument for using asset-based approaches to health and wellbeing," said Dr Wendy Wills, one of the organizers at the University of Hertfordshire's Centre for Research into Primary and Community Care. "Asset-based approaches are important because they focus on the positive things that people are already doing to protect and promote their own health instead of continually looking at the negatives. We have around sixty speakers from around the world presenting at the conference so this gives us an ideal opportunity to share our research evidence and discuss best practice."

The conference will feature four distinguished keynote speakers. Michael Resnick, Professor of Paediatrics and Public Health, University of Minnesota will give the opening keynote, entitled Transforming the lives of young people: The dual strategy of risk reduction and enhancing protection. Sir Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, will present his keynote lecture, entitled The importance of early years in creating lifelong wellbeing on Monday afternoon.

The opening keynote lecture on day two of the conference will be given by Anja Baumann, Technical Officer at the WHO Office for Europe, entitled Empowerment as an asset for mental health. Mel Bartley, Professor of Medical Sociology at University College, London will give the closing keynote lecture on Resilience as an asset for health across the life course.

Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire will be among those presenting their findings at the conference. Key contributions include The contribution of a community food group to older people's  nutritional and social well-being in which Dr Angela Dickinson  will examine the role community food groups play in terms of nutritional and social support to older people; other Hertfordshire papers will explore the range of social determinants on adolescent health, propose an asset mapping process to facilitate the capturing of children's wellbeing, and assess the benefit of using Appreciative Enquiry to improve end of life care.