Scottish Healthy Living Centres Evaluation

Completed         Start date  January 2002      End date   March 2005

An intensive, case study evaluation of the Healthy Living Centre (HLC) programme in Scotland has been undertaken over the period 2002 - 2005. The broad aim of the study was to explore the pathways between activities, processes, contexts and outcomes in a sample of HLC projects, using a longitudinal research design and intensive case study methods.

This project was led by Steve Platt, Kathryn Backett-Milburn, David Rankin, and Julie Truman (RUHBC, University of Edinburgh).

We also contributed to the work of the Bridge Consortium, led by the Tavistock Institute, which evaluated the UK Healthy Living Centre programme. The final report of the evaluation is available below in the publications section:

The findings from the different components of the evaluation suggest that Centres were successful in general in engaging some of the most deprived sections of their local community, including those with the poorest levels of health. Food-related services were commonly used at all the sites to address social exclusion and to promote health. However sustainability was a particular challenge for HLCs.