issn 1652-1153
isbn 978-91-7668-881-6 Örebro Studies in Care Sciences 40örebro 2012
Doctoral Dissertation
The Non-Governmental Organization
as a Health promoting Setting
Examples from Alcohol Prevention Projects conducted
in the Context of National Support to NGOs
Susanna Geidne
Medical Science with focus on Health- and Care Sciences
2012
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ÖREBRO STUDIES IN CaRE SCIENCES 40Susanna Geidne has worked at Örebro University
since 2003 with research and development of alcohol and drug prevention projects implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Sweden (Kraft och vilja: Praktiknära forskning om idéburna organisationernas ANDT-förebyggande arbete). She has a Bachelor of Education in Physical Education from 1997 and a Bachelor of Social Science in Education and Statistics from 2005. She has previously worked as a high school physical education and mathematics teacher and as a head coach at Örebro Badminton Club. Her main area of research is NGOs as a health promoting setting, which includes NGO-driven ANDT-prevention, youth leisure time, and sports clubs as health promoting settings.
Many people all over the world are involved with one or more of the plethora of different NGOs every day. They participate to different extents and for many different reasons, some having it as a paid job but most serving as volunteers. The general aim of this thesis is to explore the potential for NGOs to be a health promoting setting. Research on NGO-driven alcohol and drug prevention as well as on NGOs as a health promoting setting is scarce. This thesis has been written within the context of national support to NGOs in Sweden. It presents examples of alcohol prevention interventions designed, implemented, and run by NGOs with national support from the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (formerly the National Board of Health and Welfare) and from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (via the former Swedish Alcohol committee). Some of these organizations primarily deal with alcohol and drug issues, while others have a different core activity, such as sports. Both are important when viewing NGOs as a health promoting setting. The Swedish youth temperance organization UNF and youth sports clubs are examples of NGOs studied in this thesis. This thesis shows that NGOs have the potential to be a health promoting setting, though to achieve this some requirements need to be met, both by the government sector and by the NGOs themselves. Taking into account input from the NGOs, the government sector must create a support system that meets the needs of the whole range of NGOs, while the NGOs must be open to building partnerships both with other NGOs and with the public, private, and research sectors.
