Background: There is general agreement regarding the relevance of community involvement in public health policy, practice, and research to reduce health inequities. Objective: This review aims to analyse the experiences of community engagement in public health actions, with particular attention to methodologies used and how community participation is articulated. Method and Analysis: We searched the Web of Science, EBSCO, and ProQuest for scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals. We recorded methodological aspects, the approach to equity, actors that participated in the actions, and participation of the community in different phases (agenda setting, design, implementation, and evaluation). Results: Of 4331 records, we finally included 31 studies published between 1995 and 2021. Twelve studies referred to Community-Based Participatory Research as the framework used. The actions addressed equity, mainly by tackling economic vulnerability (n = 20, 64%) and racial discrimination (n = 18, 58%). Workshops were the most used method. Participation was frequently observed in the design and implementation phases of the action, but it was reduced to community feedback in the evaluation. Conclusions: Co-created public health actions offer the opportunity to reduce health inequity and promote social change; yet, further effort is needed to involve communities in the entire cycle of decision making.

The Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS) was launched in 2014 with the primary goal of understanding the factors in early adolescence that predispose young people to subsequent sexual risks, and conversely, those that promote healthy sexuality across different cultural contexts. The present article describes the methodology that was used for the first phase of GEAS, which consisted of conducting qualitative research to understand the gendered transitions into adolescence and the role that gender norms play within the key relationships of adolescents. Researchers from each of the sites that had completed data collection were also elicited for their feedback on the key strengths, challenges, and lessons learned from conducting research among 11- to 14-year-old adolescents. The purpose of this article is to present the description of each of the methods that were used in GEAS, as well as the researchers' perspectives of using the methods among early adolescents in their sites. The GEAS is being implemented through a collaboration of university and nongovernmental institutions from 15 cities: Assiut (Egypt) Baltimore (U.S.), Blantyre (Malawi), Cape Town (South Africa), Cochabomba (Bolivia), Cuenca (Ecuador), Edinburgh (Scotland), Ghent (Belgium), Hanoi (Vietnam), Ile-Ife (Nigeria), Kinshasa (DRC), Nairobi (Kenya), New Delhi (India), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), and Shanghai (China). Approximately 30 in-depth interviews among adolescents and 30 in-depth interviews with their parent/guardian were conducted at each site, with adults and adolescents interviewed separately. To build trust and increase engagement among the adolescent participants, we used two different visual research methods: (1) timeline exercise which was small group based and (2) the Venn diagram exercise which was conducted individually and used at the start of the in-depth interview. The visual aspects of both the timeline and the Venn diagrams not only helped to produce data for the purposes of the study, but also were a successful way of engaging the adolescent participants across sites. While the narrative interviews produced extremely rich data, researchers did notice that there were a few challenges among the younger adolescents. Challenges were related to the length of the interview, comprehension of questions, as some of the questions were either too abstract or asked adolescents about an experience they had not yet had and therefore could not address or articulate. Conducting the first phase of GEAS revealed important insights for research with participants who are in this developmental phase of early adolescence. Methods that involve greater engagement and those that are visual were shown to work well irrespective of the cultural setting.

The purpose of the study is to explore how gender norms emerge in romantic relationships among early adolescents (EAs) living in five poor urban areas. Data were collected as part of the Global Early Adolescent Study. The current research analyzed data from interviews with 30 EAs (aged 11-13 years) living in five poor urban sites: Baltimore, Cuenca, Edinburgh, Ghent, and Nairobi. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed in English using Atlas.ti, focusing on how EAs experience and perceive gender norms in romantic relationships. Across the five sites, only a few respondents described having been in love, the majority of whom were boys. Findings indicate that stereotypical gender norms about romantic relationships prevail across these cultural settings, depicting boys as romantically/sexually active and dominant, and girls as innocent with less (romantic) agency. In spite of the similarities, Nairobi was unique in that respondents referred to how sexual behavior and violence can occur within EA relationships. In all countries, heterosexuality was perceived to be the norm. Nevertheless, there were examples of EAs accepting homosexuality and expressing supportive attitudes toward equality between the sexes. While EAs across five different cultural settings seem to endorse stereotypical gender norms in romantic relationships, a few stories also illustrate more gender-equal attitudes. As stereotypical gender norms have a demonstrated negative effect on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and well-being, additional research is needed to understand which factors-at the interpersonal and structural level-contribute to the construction of these norms among EAs.

Gender is recognized as one of the most relevant determinants of health inequalities. This scoping review sought to identify and analyse policies, either implemented or formulated as proposals, which aimed to reduce gender inequalities in health. We searched Medline, Web of Science, and Scielo. Of 2895 records, 91 full text articles were analysed, and 33 papers were included. Of these papers, 22 described the process of formulation, implementation, or evaluation of policies whose aim was to reduce gender inequalities in health; six focused on recommendations, and the remaining five dealt with both issues. Our review showed that the policies aimed at reducing gender inequalities in health, either implemented or formulated as proposals, are scarce. Moreover, despite some success, overall progress has been slow. The studies show failures in design and particularly in the implementation process. We found a lack of awareness and capacity in the policy-making progress, under-financing, bureaucratization, shortage of relevant data, and absence of women’s participation in decision-making. Therefore, an emphasis on the design and implementation of gender-sensitive policies seems essential to advance gender equality in health. This scoping review gathers evidence to support the design of such policies and recommendations that can facilitate their implementation.

Recognizing the need for a consensus tool to measure social class in health sciences, in 1995 the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (Sociedad Española de Epidemiología [SEE]) made a proposal for such a measure. The aim of this article was to explore the bibliometric impact of the SEE's proposal. Articles citing the SEE's report and those citing articles published as a result of the report were identified using Google Scholar and Scopus. The information extracted from these articles consisted of year, nationality and impact factor of the journal, self-citation, information source, subject area, city of the first author, type of publication, study design, use of social class as a variable, number of social class categories, and the use of education or occupation to determine social class. The number of citations progressively increased. Citations also showed heterogeneity in the subject. Generally, citations were found in original articles and articles with a cross sectional design, were published in journals with impact factor and were by researchers working in Barcelona or Madrid. The SEE's proposal has proved to be an increasingly useful tool, applicable in different contexts. As suggested by the SEE, this proposal may need to be updated.