Is it better to invest in place or people to maximize population health? Evaluation of the general health impact of urban regeneration in Dutch deprived neighbourhoods

• Published in: Health & place 2016-09, Vol.41, p.50-57
• Main Authors: Droomers, Mariël, Jongeneel-Grimen, Birthe, Bruggink, Jan-Willem, Kunst, Anton, Stronks, Karien
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Evaluation; Female; Health Promotion; Health Status; Health Status Disparities; Health technology assessment; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Netherlands; Perceived general health; Population Health; Poverty; Quasi-experiment; Residence Characteristics; Socioeconomic Factors; Urban Health Services; Urban Population; Urban regeneration; Urban Renewal
• ISSN: 1353-8292; 1873-2054
• DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.07.003

To study the general health impact of urban regeneration programmes in deprived Dutch districts. We compared initiatives that focused on the improvement of place with initiatives that mainly invested in people. A quasi-experimental design compared the trend in good perceived general health in the target districts with comparison districts. Generalized general mixed models assessed the rate of change in prevalence of good health per half year during a prolonged period before and after the start of the interventions. Neither the target districts that invested mainly in place nor the ones with interventions focused on people showed trends in general health different than comparison districts (p>0.05). However, only districts with interventions focused on place showed no deterioration in general health during the intervention period. The trend change in these districts differed significantly from the change in the districts that invested mainly in people (p