Approaching complexity: A commentary on Keshavarz, Nutbeam, Rowling and Khavapour

Abstract

First paragraph: In their paper, ‘‘Schools as social complex adaptive systems: A new way to understand the challenges of introducing the health promoting schools concept’’ Keshavarz, Nutbeam, Rowling, and Khavarpour (2010) have made a courageous move in attempting to apply complexity theory to the problem of how to better understand why school health programmes have not always been as successful as policy-makers have hoped. Theories of complex adaptive systems (I use complexity theory and theories of complex adaptive systems [CAS] interchangeably) arguably have the potential to examine and articulate many aspects of complex phenomena which have hitherto defied articulation by more conventional means, in both the natural and the social worlds. Working out exactly how this potential may be realised, however, is an enormous challenge.