Asset-based approaches

  
Mar 2011 - Dec 2017
Asset-based approaches emphasise the need to redress the balance between meeting needs and nurturing the strengths and resources of people and communities. They are ways of valuing and building on the strengths, successes and skills of individual and communities. Around 2010, asset-based working was coming into sharper focus as being potentially important in improving health and in reducing health inequalities.

Developing the evidence base
To provide support to the development of the evidence base we published a suite of briefing papers that: synthesised the evidence on asset-based approaches for health improvement at that time; explored a range of methods and techniques that could be used to identify and mobilise individual and community level assets; discussed what asset-based working may add to the way that health and care services are delivered.

Asset-based approaches in community settings
Alongside the briefing papers, and to illustrate asset-based approaches for health improvement in action, in 2012 we published Assets in Action: Illustrating asset-based approaches for health improvement. This research profiled the work of 19 community-based projects with the aim of illustrating how asset-based approaches were currently being applied in Scotland in community settings. The case studies within the report highlight the key characteristics of asset-based working and demonstrate the strengths and challenges of the approach for individuals, the wider community and project staff.