Abstract

GARCIA-LONDONO, Juan Darío. Scope and theoretical and practical limitations of "health social capital". The case of the health system in Medellin. Rev. Gerenc. Polit. Salud [online]. 2013, vol.12, n.24, pp.184-208. ISSN 1657-7027.

Problem: the "social capital" is a concept that was developed within the framework of a new comprehensive social theory. But for more practical than theoretical reasons, this concept has had a major instrumental use in the public health field. So, several authors argue -without much empirical evidence and theoretical basis - that to deal with poverty and social inequities it is only necessary the formal creation of social networks and the promotion of trust bonds to contribute to the solution of a broad and complex set of health problems of communities. Objective: To review critically the scope and theoretical and practical limitations of social capital in the light of experience in the health system of Medellin. Method: divided in two phases: the first is the inspection and critical review of the biography consulted, the second is the presentation of the type of research and how the statistical sampling was conducted for the application of the survey on the health social capital to a set of users of the health system in Medellin in 2009. Main results: social capital is an important analytical category for understanding certain social and health problems, however, a bad design and implementation of it tends to distort its real meaning and ignore the complexity of creating and strengthening social capital in a concrete social context.

Keywords : social capital; social participation in health; epidemiology; public policies; social organizations; social capital; health systems; social participation; epidemiology; health public policy; public health; Medellin; Colombia.

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