• ‘Breaking Through – Healthy Living Centres: Removing the Barriers to Wellbeing’ was published in September 2009 and contains a series of excellent and engaging articles which highlight the work of Healthy Living Centres in Scotland.  HLCs demonstrate that one of the most effective ways of addressing health inequalities and increasing the health and wellbeing of a community is to listen and act on needs identified by the communities themselves.  Download ‘Breaking Through’ by clicking here. Hard copies are available on request. (PDF, 1.6MB)

• 'Healthy Living Centres in Scotland: Lessons for Policy and Practice' was published in 2008 and shares the learning from the evaluations undertaken by the University of Edinburgh’s Research Unit (RUHBC) of part of the Healthy Living Centre (HLCs) Programme in Scotland.

The report offers valuable insights into the unique role HLCs have played in shaping and delivering health improvement strategies and activity across Scotland.

Achieving and assessing health improvement outcomes, tackling inequalities, developing community involvement, partnership working and sustainability are all addressed through the experiences of these community health organisations.  To download the report, click here. (PDF, 0.8MB)

• ‘Supporting and sustaining the HLC approach to tackling health inequalities in our communities….what now?’ was presented at a Roundtable Discussion held in Glasgow in September 2007.  The purpose of the paper was to provide an up-to-date picture of the funding situation with HLCs across Scotland and highlight the critical circumstances that many were facing at that time.  To download, click here. (Word doc, 30KB)

• This Final Report was compiled at the request of the West Dunbartonshire HLII Board after the decision to close the project was made in July 2007. The report looks at how the project was originally set up and makes some observations on how the project worked in practice. It includes lessons learned by the staff and Board which they would like to pass on to other projects. The report also notes the WDHLI’s position within the wider context of other Healthy Living projects across Scotland and the current struggle for sustainability.

The Board made the decision to close the project reluctantly, and this report lays out some of the reasoning behind that decision. The Board also wanted to record the ‘closure with dignity’ strategy which they adopted, and the effect this had on the final stages of the project.  To download, click here.  (PDF, 0.9MB)

• This is the second and final report on the evaluation of the Healthy Living Centre (HLC) Programme in Scotland. To evaluate the success of the programme, a series of national, regional and local evaluations of HLCs was commissioned. In Scotland, a longitudinal process evaluation of the HLC programme was conducted using a case study design over two phases.  To download, click here. (PDF, 0.8MB)

• This newsletter will look at the experience of Building Healthy Communities (BHC) in Dumfries and Galloway, The Annexe Healthy Living Centre, Glasgow and Community Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP) East Ayrshire, in sustaining their work beyond Big Lottery Funding (BLF) and highlight some of the common factors in their sustainability approach. We will look in detail at 4 aspects of sustainability which are common amongst the Healthy Living Centres (HLCs). To download, click here. (PDF, 0.5MB)

• This report will summarise the presentations from the Healthy Living Centre Conference - Nov. 2006, provide an insight into the discussions that took place in the various workshops and review delegate’s responses from the evaluation forms and ‘Option Finder’ technology (a digital voting system which allows delegates to register their opinion). Eighty Five delegates attended the event from a diverse range of organisations including agencies such as Health Scotland, local authorities, HLCs and community health partnerships.  To download, click here.  (PDF, 1MB)

• The HLC Evidence Summary Paper is intended for a wide range of agencies and organisations who have a focus on Health and Wellbeing.  The document highlights how the HLC approach impacts on health improvement priorities such as mental health, cancer, coronary heart disease, strokes and sexual health through partnership working, community development and service user involvement.  To download, click here. (PDF, 2.52MB)

• The Sustainability Workshops 2006:  These are the reports on a series of regional workshops developed by The HLC Support Programme and CHEX. 
  Largs - to download, click here. (Word doc, 0.4MB)
  Aberdeen - to download, click here. (Word doc, 0.4MB)
  Edinburgh - to download, click here. (Word doc, 0.4MB)
  Glasgow - to download, click here. (Word doc, 0.4MB)

• ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The Dundee Healthy Living Initiative Research Report was produced by Dr. Susan Lewis (PhD Social Anthropology) over a 2 and a half year period from the beginning of the project in March 2003 until September 2005.  The research focuses on the effect of the Healthy Living Initiative on community defined objectives and goals. The overarching research theme is to answer the question: what is it about the programme which makes it work? To download click here. (Word doc, 1.03MB)

• Summary of findings from 6 HLCs in Scotland from reseach conducted by RUHBC.  The document reports on the first phase of a process evaluation of six Scottish Healthy Living Centres. The evaluation has examined approaches taken by Healthy Living Centres to improve the health of disadvantaged groups and reduce health inequalities.To download click here. (PDF, 98KB)

• The Scottish Executive commissioned the Research Unit in Health, Behaviour and Change (RUHBC), University of Edinburgh, and the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (SPHSU), University of Glasgow, to conduct an evaluation of the Healthy Living Centre Programme in Scotland. The evaluation, conducted over a three year period (2002-05) has explored the pathways between activities, processes, contexts and outcomes in a purposive sample of six HLC projects, using a longitudinal research design. The sample of HLCs was selected to reflect the range of interests, anticipated health outcomes and geographical locations of the 46 HLC projects within Scotland. To download, click here. (PDF, 0.9MB)

• This report is intended to provide information and an analysis of the work and impact of the Healthy Living Centre Support Programme (HLC SP) in its first year of operation.  The report is structured in a way which will assess achievement of outcomes identified by the Support Programme Team and key stakeholders, and the delivery of agreed outputs for year one.  To download, click here. (Word doc,  0.6MB)