Health Promotion and Prevention Research

The department of prevention research investigates the outcome and effectiveness of prevention measures with regard to diverse target groups. The focus is on practical questions and especially on application-oriented issues of prevention and health promotion (e. g., policy counselling). The issues of prevention research projects are related to the development of a comprehensive health promotion and prevention strategy. Special attention is dedicated to reaching socially disadvantaged groups and establishing target-group specific services.

Currently our main concern is to develop ways and means to implement Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Austria. The WHO defines the HIA procedure as a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, programme or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of those effects within the population. Accordingly, HIA plays an essential role in structural prevention. Both the EU and the WHO view HIA as an instrument that has great potential when it comes to including health aspects in various policy contexts (health in all policies).

Contact: Sabine Haas