Resource Details
| Resource Name: | Community Health Systems as Complex Adaptive Systems: Ontology and Praxis Lessons from an Urban Health Experience with Demonstrated Sustainability |
| Link URL: | click to view: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11213-014-9329-9 |
| Resource Type: | Peer-reviewed publication |
| Short Desc: | The global health and development field, which has been reasonably dominated by linear models of planning, is witnessing increased interest in complexity, non-linear processes, and systems thinking. This welcome interest is challenged by both language and ability to discern whether complex development phenomena are discussed from the perspective of the nature of particular health systems (ontology), from the identification of more fitting intervention modalities (praxis), or from our approach to learning and evidence (epistemology). This article draws readers to the necessity for global community health planners and practitioners to (1) better understand the complexity of the context and issues they are facing, (2) make more reasonable assumptions about the ‘‘shock to the system’’ caused by projects both when they start and when they end, and (3) learn to balance strategic designs with respect for self-organization principles. |
| Resource Date: | 01-Aug-14 |
| Contact Person: | Eric Sarriot |
| Contact Email: | Eric.Sarriot@icfi.com |
| Related Topics: |
Track 1: Sustain. in Community Health Track 3: Complex Systems Community Capacity Complexity Global Development Health Outcomes Health systems strengthening Human Development Organizational Capacity Organizational Viability |