Edited by I Rootman, M Goodstadt, B Hyndman, D McQueen, L Potvin, J Springett, E Ziglio. (Pp 533.) WHO Regional Publications, European Series, No 92. Denmark: World Health Organization, 2001. ISBN 92-890-1359-1.

• Rootman I
• Goodstadt M
• Hyndman B
• et al Evaluation in health promotion: principles and perspectives

Evaluation continues to present health promotion researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with many challenges—conceptual, theoretical, and practical. All organizations and individuals involved in health promotion are familiar with the pressure from inside and outside the field to demonstrate that health promotion “works”. Proving that health promotion is a “worthwhile” investment for governments, non-government organizations, the community sector, and the private sector is a major external pressure on the field. Ensuring that practice is “evidence based”, of high quality, and effective is a powerful internal pressure.

In many ways, it is little wonder that evaluation continues to challenge us. As this book highlights, there are multiple definitions and no general theory of health promotion. The work addresses the complex array of factors that influence the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and populations, and practitioners and researchers in the field draw from a variety of disciplines to plan, implement, and evaluate our work. These complexities have been compounded by a growing understanding that different societies and cultures approach health promotion in general, and evaluation in particular, in different ways. In recognition of this, the book is limited to evaluation work in western, industrialised societies (p 5).

The book is the outcome of …