population research center: application of research for community health promotion

the current challenge in health services research is disability to present comprehensive and effective intervention plans for community health promotion. there are numerous reasons in this regard, some of which can be overcome through performance-based participatory research methods. the population research center (prc) in tehran university of medical sciences (tums) provides the necessary ground: 1) to innovate original methods in participatory research that are compatible with our native culture, and 2) to make the results of the population research applicable to the whole society through target-based executive steps. the steps to implement health promotion (known as planned approach to community health) include: acquirement of people’s participation, health needs assessment, priority setting for health problems, designing health interventions, and evaluation of the activities. those parts of this approach, which are mainly concerned with needs assessment in the area of endocrinology and the causal factors of related diseases, have been accomplished. the next step in this field is to plan appropriate intervention projects and to put them into practice through the principles of community participation and community empowerment.