Integrated and comprehensive approaches to community health promotion for children: Study design and interdisciplinary integration of methods by the research consortium “Growing up healthy”

Background: Integrated and comprehensive community-based health promotion approaches aimed at children are systematically supported in North Rhine-Westphalia. The goal is a community-based approach that focuses on health promotion from the prenatal phase to career entry. Findings regarding the effects on health and the scope of this approach are lacking so far. Objectives: The main focus is on the analysis of community-based health promotion approaches in the pilot communities of Moers and Oberhausen with special attention given to the daycare center, primary school, and urban neighborhood settings. The implementation process, awareness, and utilization of health promotion measures by vulnerable families, and the links between utilization and child health will be investigated specifically. Methods and Materials: The research consortium “Growing up healthy” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has developed a joint study design that integrates different dimensions of child health (i.e., physical, mental, social, and behavioral) and key factors (urban neighborhood, daycare center/school, family). It is a hybrid research approach combining a nonrandomized cluster-controlled study design with qualitative investigations and participatory quality development. Results: The integrative study approach enables the examination of complex hypotheses regarding healthy child development and the links between different health dimensions, health promotion measures, and settings. Conclusion: The research consortium “Growing up healthy” contributes to the continued development and design of needs-based and comprehensive local interventions for children’s health promotion and primary prevention.