A story/dialogue method for health promotion knowledge development and evaluation

Arguments have been made in favour of a constructivist or postpositivist ap proach to health promotion knowledge development and program evaluation, bu t little has been articulated about what such an approach would look like. This article describes a 'story/dialogue method' that was created with and for practitioners in response to their concerns that much of their practice did not lend itself to a positivist, or conventional, methodology. Derived from constructivist, feminist and critical pedagogical theory, and with ro ots in qualitative methods, the method structures group dialogue around cas e stories addressing particular generative practice themes. While intended for practitioner training, organizational development and evaluation, the m ethod to date has been used primarily for training purposes. This article d escribes the method, provides an example of its application, and discusses its strengths, weaknesses and relevance to health promotion.