82094 - Community-Based Health Promotion

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student:

- knows the main theoretical models and approaches to risk prevention and health promotion;

- knows the main methodologies for investigating health needs;

- is able to identify suitable methodologies for prevention and health promotion interventions;

- has acquired some skills in the planning and evaluation of prevention and health promotion interventions.

Course contents

The course aims to introduce students to some intervention strategies and methods that are part of the professional skills of psychologists who work in the field of prevention and health promotion in a variety of contexts (e.g. schools, health services, neighborhoods, media ).

It consists of two teaching modules taught by the following teachers:

Module 1 - Prof. Elvira Cicognani 

Topics covered:

Health psychology: origins, reference frameworks (public health psychology and community health psychology) and theoretical models, scientific and lay perspectives on health and disease. Health inequalities. 

Health promotion: approaches, models and contexts of health promotion

The analysis of health needs and the planning and evaluation of interventions. 

Module 2 Prof. Francesca Esposito 

Topics covered:

Health and power: critical health psychology and its main characteristics from the point of view of epistemological and methodological perspectives.

Health and migration; health and detention.

Participatory and creative action research methodologies aimed at promoting health and transformative change. Civil society activation processes to guarantee and affirm the right to health.

Readings/Bibliography

Module 1 Prof Cicognani

• Compulsory readings

Gremigni, P. & Gorini, A. (a cura di) (2022), Psicologia e salute, Carocci, Roma (Capitoli 1, 4, 5, 8, 18, 19, 21).

Green, L. W., Gielen, A. C., Ottoson, J. M., Peterson, D. V., e Kreuter, M. W. (a cura di). (2022). Health Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation: Creating Behavioral, Environmental, and Policy Change. Johns Hopkins University Press. (v. Chapter 2., Section 2. PRECEDE/PROCEED - Main Section | Community Tool Box [https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-contents/overview/other-models-promoting-community-health-and-development/preceder-proceder/main?utm_source=chatgpt.com] )

Additional readings:

Cicognani et al (2007). Criteria for the Allocation of Medical Resources: Citizens’ Perspectives Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 2007, 12, 1, pp. 13–34.

Cicognani et al (2019) Quality of collaboration within health promotion partnerships: Impact on sense of community, empowerment, and perceived projects’ outcomes. Community Psychol. 2020;48:323–336

Marks et al (2002). Freedom, Responsibility and Power: Contrasting Approaches to Health. Psychology. Journal of Health Psychology, Vol 7(1) 5–19

O’Mara-Eves, A., et al. (2015). “The effectiveness of community engagement in public health interventions for disadvantaged groups: a meta-analysis”. BMC Public Health, 15, 129.

Organizzazione mondiale della sanità (2025). World report on social determinants of health equity.

Trickett, E. J. (2009). “Community Psychology: Individuals and Interventions in Community Context”. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 395–419.

Tzankova, I.I.; O’Sullivan, C.; Facciuto, A.I.; Sacchetti, L.; Fini, F.; Cicognani, E.; Setti, A. (2023). Engagement with Nature and the Home Environment: Wellbeing and Proenvironmental Behavior among Irish and Italian University Students during the COVID-19 Emergency. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 6432.

Wallerstein, N. (2006). What is the evidence on effectiveness of empowerment to improve health? WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Wallerstein, N., e Duran, B. (2010). “Community-Based Participatory Research Contributions to Intervention Research: The Intersection of Science and Practice to Improve Health Equity”. American Journal of Public Health, 100(Suppl. 1), S40–S46.

 

Modulo 2 - Prof.ssa Esposito

• Testi principali (obbligatori):

Martín-Baró, I. (autore) Croce, M. e Di Lernia, F. (a cura di). (2018). Psicologia della Liberazione. Bordeaux edizioni.

Capitoli:

• Verso una Psicologia della Liberazione (pp. 69-92)
• Analisi della Violenza (pp. 147-201)
• Per una storia psicosociale della violenza (203-225)
• Guerra e salute mentale (227-247)
• Una analisi psicosociale del trauma (249-274)

Contestabile, G. (2024). Psicologia della resistenza: di salute mentale, cambiamento e lotta. Effequ. Nello specifico:

• Sezione 1 “Della salute” (pp. 11-51, ad eccezione del capitolo “Danzare nel buio”)
• Sezione 2 “Dello Sfruttamento” (solo i primi due capitoli, pp. 53-73)
• Sezione 4 “Della Resistenza” (solo ultimi due capitoli, pp. 175-190).

Jabr, S. (2021). Sumud. Resistere all’Oppressione. Sensibili alle Foglie. Capitolo: Sulla Salute Mentale (pp. 25-49).

Jabr, S. (2026). Curare ai Tempi del Genocidio. In Samah Jabr e Maria Nadotti (Eds.), Trauma Infinito. Una psichiatra palestinese racconta. (pp. 265-316). Feltrinelli Editore.

Fine, M. (2016). Just methods in revolting times. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 13(4), 347–365. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2016.1219800

Podcast:“The Operative Word!”, Podcast of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology (edited by Dr Britta Wigginton, Dr Ally Gibson, and Dr Brett Scholz). In particolare ascoltare: Issue 3, Volume 1, on “Power”: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theoperativeword/episodes/Volume-1-Issue-3-Power-e2i6bi/a-a6bucd

• Letture di approfondimento (organizzate per temi trattati nel modulo):

Salute e potere: la psicologia della salute critica

Basaglia, F. e Basaglia Ongaro, F. (1975). Crimini di pace. Ricerche sugli intellettuali e sui tecnici come addetti all'oppressione. Giulio Einaudi editore.

Chamberlain, K. (2018). Poverty, health, and health psychology: A critical perspective. Psicologia della Salute, 1, 5-18. https://doi.org/10.3280/PDS2018-001001

Farmer, P. (1996). On Suffering and Structural Violence: A View from Below. Daedalus, 125(1), 261–283. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027362

Jackson, T., Mitchell, S. and Wright, M. (1989), The Community Development Continuum. Community Health Studies, 13, 66-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.1989.tb00178.x

Morison, T., Lyons, A.C., e Chamberlain, K. (2018). Critical health psychology: Applications for social action. In K O’Doherty & D Hodgetts (Eds.), SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology (pp. 215-231). London: Sage.

Popay, J., Whitehead, M., Ponsford, R., Egan, M., Mead, R. (2021). Power, control, communities and health inequalities I: theories, concepts and analytical frameworks, Health Promotion International, 36(5), 1253–1263. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaa133

Powell, K., Barnes, A., Anderson de Cuevas, R., Bambra, C., Halliday, E., Lewis, S., McGill, R., Orton, L., Ponsford, R., Salway, S., Townsend, A., Whitehead, M., & Popay, J. (2021). Power, control, communities and health inequalities III: participatory spaces-an English case. Health promotion international, 36(5), 1264–1274. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaa059

Ponsford, R., Collins, M., Egan, M., Halliday, E., Lewis, S., Orton, L., Powell, K., Barnes, A., Salway, S., Townsend, A., Whitehead, M., & Popay, J. (2021). Power, control, communities and health inequalities. Part II: measuring shifts in power. Health promotion international, 36(5), 1290–1299. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaa019

Prilleltensky I. (2012). Wellness as fairness. American Journal of Community Psychology, 49(1-2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9448-8

Riemer, M., Reich, S. M., Evans, S. D., Nelson, G., e Prilleltensky, I. (2020). Community psychology: In pursuit of liberation and well-being (3rd edition). Red Globe Press.

Stam, H. J.(2015). ‘A Critical History of Health Psychology and Its Relationship to Biomedicine’. In M Murray (Ed.), Critical Health Psychology (Second edition) (pp. 1-16). Bloomsbury.

Weis, L & Fine, M. (2012). Critical bifocality and circuits of privilege: expanding critical ethnographic theory and design. Harvard Educational Review, 82(2), pp. 173–201.

La psicologia della liberazione e approcci decoloniali alla promozione della salute

Arcidiacono, C., & Di Martino, S. (2012). Psicologia della liberazione e psicologia critica di comunità come conquista di felicità, libertà ed equità. Rivista di Psicologia di Comunità, 8(1), 67-80.

Dutta, U. (2018). Decolonising “community” in community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3–4), 272–282. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12281

Dutta, U. (2024). Dismantling the Master’s House: Toward Epistemologies of Resistance and Freedom Dreaming. PINS-Psychology in Society, 66(2), 3-25. https://doi.org/10.57157/pins2024Vol66iss2a6717

Fanon, F. (2015). Pelle nera, maschere bianche. Edizioni ETS. Capitolo IV - Sul presunto complesso di dipendenza del colonizzato (pp. 87-107).

Jabr, S. (2024). Il Tempo del Genocidio. Rendere Testimonianza di un anno in Palestina. Sensibili alle Foglie.

Lykes, M. B. (2000). Possible contributions of a psychology of liberation: Whither health and human rights? Journal of Health Psychology, 5(3), 383–397. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910530000500312

Makkawi, I. (2015). Community psychology enactments in Palestine: roots and current manifestations. Journal of Community Psychology, 43, 63-75. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21714

Ramugondo, E.L., & Emery-Whittington, I. (2022). A Decolonising Approach to Health Promotion. In S. Kessi, S. Suffla, M. Seedat (Eds.), Decolonial Enactments in Community Psychology (pp. 191-211). Community Psychology. Springer.

Sonn, C. C., Fernández, J. S., Ferreira Moura Jr, J., Eviandaru Madyaningrum, M., & Malherbe, N. (2024). Decolonisation in and Beyond Community Psychologies: A Transnational Plurilogue. In Handbook of Decolonial Community Psychology, pp. 1–23. Springer.

Watkins, M. (2021). Toward a Decolonial Approach to Psychosocial Accompaniment from the “Outside”. In: Stevens, G., Sonn, C.C. (eds) Decoloniality and Epistemic Justice in Contemporary Community Psychology. Community Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72220-3_6

Salute e migrazione/detenzione

Esposito, F., de Cordova, F., Manek, J., Buckingham, S., Ponti, C., Tommasi, F., & Olson, B. (2026). Immigration detention centers as torturing environments: Ethical reckonings, radical refusals, and implications for a psychology of resistance. American Journal of Community Psychology, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.70105

Numero 266-268 della Rivista di Medicina Democratica. Parte “Interventi & Esperienze” (dedicata alla salute nei CPR), da pag. 121 a pag. 152. Disponibile online: https://www.medicinademocratica.org/wp/?p=18329

Esposito, F., Caja, E., e Mattiello, G. (2022). Corpi reclusi in attesa di espulsione: La detenzione amministrativa in Europa al tempo della sindemia. SEB27.

Capitoli:

• Prefazione;
• Introduzione;
• Il confinamento della mobilità: Innovazioni e continuità nella storia della detenzione amministrativa in Italia;
• “Ormai non ci guarda più nessuno”: un confinamento nel confinamento;
• E dopo il lockdown, cosa?

Gookooluk, S. (2026). Diario di un invisibile. Nell'inferno di un centro di detenzione amministrativa italiano. Sensibili alle Foglie.

Prilleltensky I. (2008). Migrant well-being is a multilevel, dynamic, value dependent phenomenon. American journal of community psychology, 42(3-4), 359–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-008-9196-6

Podcast Unchained Collective: “Immigration Detention the Hidden Costs”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/immigration-detention-the-hidden-costs/id1731118109

Ricerca-azione partecipata per promuovere il diritto alla salute

Fernández, J. S., & Fine, M. (2025). Methodological retrospective: Critical participatory action research. Qualitative Psychology, 12(3), 377–394. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000321

Bodini C., Cavagnis S., Chierzi F., Da Mosto D., Di Pasquale M., Lucchi F., Mammana L., Marzaroli P., Menchetti M., Musti M.A., Negrogno L., Pandolfi P., Perlangeli V., Pollice G., Quaranta I., Stivanello E. (2024). Servizi di salute mentale e disuguaglianze: dalle evidenze epidemiologiche alle risposte dei servizi. Risultati di un’analisi multimetodologica. https://centri.unibo.it/csi/it/progetti/servizi-di-salute-mentale-e-disuguaglianze

Centro Studi e Ricerche in salute Internazionale e Interculturale, Università di Bologna (2023). L’equità nel diritto alla salute: il contrasto alle disuguaglianze nella città di Bologna. Disponibile presso: https://centri.unibo.it/csi/it/progetti/tutti-i-materiali-della-ricerca-l-equita-nel-diritto-alla-salute

Fals Borda, O. (1979). The problem of investigating reality in order to transform it. Dialectical Anthropology, 4, 33-56.

Fals Borda ,O. (2001). Participatory (action) Research in Social Theory: Origins, Challenges. In P. Reason, H. Bradbury (Eds), Handbook of Action Research, Participative Inquiry, Practice. Sage.

Liebenberg, L., Jefferies, T., Eboreime, E. (2025). The Role of Participatory Action Research and Photovoice in Global Mental Health Research and Promotion. In P. Liamputtong (Ed) Handbook of Concepts in Health, Health Behavior and Environmental Health (pp. 1-20). Springer.

Lykes, M.B. (1997), Activist Participatory Research Among the Maya of Guatemala: Constructing Meanings from Situated Knowledge. Journal of Social Issues, 53, 725-746. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1997.tb02458.x

Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonising methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Zed Books.

Torre, S., Benegiamo, M., e Dal Gobbo, A. (2020). Il Pensiero Decoloniale: Dalle Radici del Dibattito ad una Proposta di Metodo. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 19(2), 448–468. https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v19i2.1946

Consulting “The Public Science project”: https://publicscienceproject.org/about/

I/Le non frequentanti possono scegliere un testo a scelta da portare all’orale tra i seguenti:

• Basaglia, F. e Basaglia Ongaro, F. (1975). Crimini di pace. Ricerche sugli intellettuali e sui tecnici come addetti all'oppressione. Giulio Einaudi editore. Saggio introduttivo “Crimini di pace”.
• Fernández, J. S., & Fine, M. (2025). Methodological retrospective: Critical participatory action research. Qualitative Psychology, 12(3), 377–394. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000321
• Lykes, M.B. (1997), Activist Participatory Research Among the Maya of Guatemala: Constructing Meanings from Situated Knowledge. Journal of Social Issues, 53, 725-746.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1997.tb02458.x
• Fanon, F. (2015). Pelle nera, maschere bianche. Edizioni ETS. Capitolo IV - Sul presunto complesso di dipendenza del colonizzato (pp. 87-107).
• Watkins, M. (2021). Toward a Decolonial Approach to Psychosocial Accompaniment from the “Outside”. In: Stevens, G., Sonn, C.C. (eds) Decoloniality and Epistemic Justice in Contemporary Community Psychology. Community Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72220-3_6
• Weis, L & Fine, M. (2012). Critical bifocality and circuits of privilege: expanding critical ethnographic theory and design.Harvard Educational Review, 82(2), pp. 173–201.
• Jabr, S. (2024). Il Tempo del Genocidio. Rendere Testimonianza di un anno in Palestina. Sensibili alle Foglie.

Teaching methods

• lectures and interactive sessions co-constructed through small-group work
• collaborative analysis and discussion of scientific articles and scholarly essays.

Assessment methods

The final assessment is designed to evaluate the knowledge and competencies acquired in relation to the topics covered throughout the course.

Part A (50% of the final grade)

Students will work in small groups to develop an analysis of an issue/problem assigned at the beginning of Module 1 (Prof. Cicognani), using the concepts and content progressively introduced during the course. The instructors will provide a list of topics/issues from which each group may choose. Based on a set of guiding questions, the analysis will be presented by each group at the end of Module 1 through a PowerPoint presentation delivered in class.

The analytical work will continue during Module 2 (Prof. Esposito), with additional guiding questions and inputs provided during the lectures. It will conclude with a second in-class PowerPoint presentation at the end of the module, following the same format.

Throughout the project, each group will keep a log diary documenting the group work process and collective reflection. The log diary, together with the PowerPoint presentations, will be submitted to the instructors for assessment. The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate students' ability to critically apply the theoretical models covered in both modules to a specific area of intervention in the field of community health promotion.

Part B (50% of the final grade)

At the end of both modules, students will take a written examination consisting of three open-ended questions: one covering the content of Module 1, one covering the content of Module 2, and one assessing aspects of the learning experience developed throughout the course.

Students who attend classes regularly may take the Part B examination on a date scheduled by the instructors after the end of the course, in addition to the official examination sessions.

During the course, students will be assigned readings to complete before class. These readings will serve as the basis for in-class activities.

At the discretion of each group, artificial intelligence (AI) may be used, in accordance with the University's AI guidelines, for literature/document searches, the production of summaries, as well as translation and proofreading of texts. The results generated with the support of AI must always be critically evaluated by students (Scenario 3).

The final grade, expressed on a 30-point scale, is calculated as the average of the grades obtained for the group project (Part A) and the individual final examination (Part B). The grade for the group project (Part A) will be the average of the assessments received for the work completed in Module 1 and Module 2.

The overall assessment will take into account the following criteria:
a) completeness of the responses;
b) ability to critically analyse the course content;
c) ability to establish connections between theoretical concepts and apply them to the analysis of real-world cases;
d) formal quality of the written examination.

Honours (cum laude) may be awarded to students who achieve an excellent performance across all of the above criteria.

 

Non-attending students

Students who do not attend classes regularly and therefore do not participate in the in-class group work will complete the final assessment as follows:

A. A written examination consisting of 6–8 open-ended questions covering the content of the entire course and the required readings for both Module 1 and Module 2.

B. An oral examination based on the readings included in the "optional reading" list.

To sit the examination, students must register through Studenti Online.

ERASMUS students may take the examination in English.

Students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) or temporary or permanent disabilities are strongly encouraged to contact the University's dedicated support office well in advance (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it ). The office will propose any appropriate accommodations for eligible students. Requests for accommodations must be submitted to the course instructor at least 15 days in advance for approval. The instructor will assess their suitability in relation to the intended learning outcomes of the course.

Teaching tools

slides (available on IOL online Platform), scientific papers, online bibliographic sources.

Office hours

See the website of Elvira Cicognani

See the website of Francesca Esposito