A health promoter carries out an intensive study of a community in a major
Ontarian city.  He interviews community residents, service providers, and
local elected representatives.

He comes to the conclusion that recent cutbacks to social assistance
recipients are causing hardship and distress to community members.  The
information from service providers indicates that cutbacks in funding are
putting the agency and the community it serves at risk. The views of the
political representatives are that social policy is being set back 50
years. Not a single person says that provincial policies are enhancing
health.

He does the following:

1) asks for a meeting with the Ontario Ministers of Health, Community and
Social Services, and Education to discuss the implications of these findings.
[possible outcome: increased funding for HP activities, changes in provincial
policies]

2) he asks for a meeting with opposition health, social services, and
education critics to discuss the implications of these findings. [potential
outcome: opposition press conference outlining provincial effects on the
fabric of Ontario civil society, followed by defeat of government in next
provincial election]

3) both 1 and 2 should be done.

4) none of the above options are correct.

Justify your choice in terms of what will be the most fruitful means of
improving the health of the particular community he has just studied.

Or just indicate your option!

  ***************************************************
  From new transmitters came the old stupidities.
  Wisdom was passed on from mouth to mouth.
            -Bertolt Brecht
  ***************************************************

Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Acting Director,
Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
Department of Public Health Sciences
Graduate Department of Community Health
University of Toronto
McMurrich Building, Room 101
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A8