Abstract
The terms "health"and "well-being"are commonly used in health communication research. These terms, despite calls for a consensus definition, are rarely explicitly defined. We argue that, instead of imposing a universal definition of health or well-being, communities can be better served if we adopt a culture-centered approach (CCA) and listen to their local, contextualized definitions of health. To demonstrate community articulation of a definition of health, we offer an analysis of wall art created by and with a community and our service and research team. After understanding a definition offered by a rural community in Chaquizhca, Ecuador, we articulate how a community-based definition of health can become a culture-centered way to operationalize definitions offered by the World Health Organization in ways that better serve local communities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 00037 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Communication |
| Volume | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© Bates, Marvel, Nieto-Sanchez and Grijalva.
Funding
The Service Learning project from which this paper was derived was supported by Children’s HeartLink (Chagas Disease in Loja Ecuador), the Ohio University 1804 Fund for Undergraduate Education and the Center for Campus and Community Engagement (Undergraduate Service Learning Experience in Ecuador), and the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (J13049, K13023, K13037, L13225).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Center for Campus and Community Engagement | |
| Children’s Heartlink | |
| Ohio University | |
| Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador | K13023, K13037, J13049, L13225 |
Keywords
- Ecuador (country)
- asset based community development
- children
- definition of health
- service-learning (SL)