Conceptualising Inclusion and Participation in the Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles

Abstract

The central tension in health promotion is between a public health policy presumption that healthy lifestyles have benefits at both the individual and societal levels and should be assertively encouraged, and liberal demands that states should maintain a stance of non-interference concerning private affairs. This tension is heightened when the engagement of marginalised or disempowered groups, such as persons with disabilities, women, or immigrants, enter discussions. This paper examines the concept of inclusion within the context of the promotion of healthy lifestyles, primarily sport and physical activity in community contexts. Using a form of ‘reflective equilibrium’, it explores a series of distinctions to evaluate critically different accounts of inclusion and offers a novel and somewhat radical approach based on re-interpretations and alignments of participation and hegemonic relationships.