Contribution short abstract:

On the basis of experiences with community health centres and community research labs in Hamburg and Bochum, this presentation discusses the potential of community research in the context of new approaches to health care that focus on healthy living conditions as a common good.

Contribution long abstract:

Individualised health approaches are criticised in particular in the context of structurally induced inequalities for not addressing disease-causing conditions (Holst 2021). The setting-based prevention projects funded nationwide in Germany therefore represent an important paradigm shift in the medically dominated downstream approaches of the German health system. However, these projects, which are often limited in time and not directed against living conditions that cause illness. This lecture presents community research as a participatory approach that deals with the consideration of healthy living conditions as commons. The knowledge of residents for improving health and social care in their neighbourhoods is incorporated in close cooperation with solidary community health centres. The Poliklinik Veddel was set up in Hamburg in 2017 and has been cooperating with HAW Hamburg since 2022 to establish a community research lab that supports to reduce health inequity (Falge & Betscher 2024). In a somewhat reverse order, community researchers in Bochum, with years of experience with community research-based prevention projects and inspired by the Policlinic have been advocating for the establishment of a community health centre for several years. On the basis of the experiences of the two community health clinics and community research labs, this lecture discusses the potential of community research in the context of new approaches to living condition-oriented health care.