While there are many similarities between the two approaches, a QOL approach
puts at the front and centre community members' perceptions of the
influences upon their lives of community and personal fators.  Healthy cities
emphasizes municipal policy to promote and influence the determinants of
health. You accurately note that they come from differing disciplines, the
former being primarily psychology and social indicators, the latter WHO
concepts of health and the determinants of health as developed by Hancock and
Kickbusch.

In our work, we use quality of life to draw upon our backgrounds in
psychology and to use humanistic psychological concepts such as Being,
Belonging, and Becoming to explin how the determinants of health impact
health and well-being.  You may wish to review the September, 1999 Issue of
Health Promotion International wherein there is an article by Raphael et al.,
that outlines the contributions of both disciplines to community health
promotion.

In the meantime, visit our www site below for more information on the
community qol approach which would be contained in our various reports and
papers located at www.utoronto.ca/qol/communit.html


Visit our Web Site for an Overview of ALL of our Quality of Life Projects!
http://www.utoronto.ca/qol

  ******************************************************************
 All children belong to society.
 But obviously society will have to be changed
   in order to make it treat its children better.

       -Halldor Laxness  "The Atom Station"
  ******************************************************************

Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Associate 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
voice:    (416) 978-7567
fax: (416) 978-2087
e-mail:   [log in to unmask]