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New publications in English

  • January-21-20
    Material and social deprivation index: A summary

    In Quebec, the deprivation index was created first and foremost to overcome the lack of socioeconomic data in most administrative databases.

    Developing an ecological proxy was the only way to monitor social inequalities related to important health issues such as mortality, hospitalization and the use of health services. The proxy’s main purpose is to assign area-based socioeconomic information to every individual by linking the geography of the census with the one found in the administrative databases. As a result, the index assists in the surveillance of social inequalities in health in Québec and Canada since the end of the 1980s.

    While it was shown that the deprivation index underestimates inequalities (Pampalon, Hamel, Gamache, 2009), it is the best alternative in the absence of socioeconomic information.

  • December-12-19
    Preparing and Conducting Work Meetings Within the Context of the Health Impact Assessment Process

    Health impact assessment (HIA) is an intersectoral approach that entails a series of work meetings requiring the coordination of the various actors participating in the process.

    This guide is mainly designed for the team responsible for carrying out an HIA but also for anyone who would participate in an HIA process.

    It contains information that should help the team responsible for the HIA determine, for each of the work sessions:

    • the tasks to be carried out in preparation for the meeting;
    • the meeting’s agenda;
    • the support materials that might be required for the meeting;
    • how much time to allocate for the meeting.

    It also provides practical advice to ensure the meetings run smoothly.

    To learn more, visit the website of the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy - NCCHPP (http://www.ncchpp.ca/en/).

  • September-26-19
    The Policy Brief: A Tool for Knowledge Transfer

    The policy brief is a knowledge transfer tool that has increasingly been used in recent years as a way to inform or influence public policy decisions. Because policy briefs are designated by a variety of terms (e.g.: policy note, research snapshot, etc.) and prepared in various formats, it can be difficult to determine how to go about writing one. What exactly is it? What criteria should be met to produce a high quality document? Which writing guides are of interest?