Prevention and health promotion

Build Back Better: Wellbeing Budgets for a Post COVID-19 Recovery?

The health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have left governments at all levels thinking about promising paths to recovery in a post-pandemic context. In the midst of health, social, and economic uncertainty, many, including in Canada, have called for a recovery that puts people and their wellbeing at the heart of these efforts (Büchs et al., 2020; Cohen, 2020; Smith, 2020). Survey data in Canada and elsewhere suggest that, more than ever before, wellbeing is a top concern of citizens (Department of Finance Canada, 2021; Harvey, 2020). Indeed, this concern for wellbeing has been building internationally for decades and many central governments, including those in New Zealand, Finland, Scotland, Wales, and elsewhere, have made it a priority in recent years. Some jurisdictions in Canada are involved in discussions or have made known their plans to make themselves accountable for the wellbeing of the population. For example, in his mandate letter to the Minister…

Child and Adolescent Development in a School-Based Health Promotion and Prevention Perspective

A framework for integrated health promotion and prevention actions based on a competency approach

The framework for integrated promotion and prevention actions in schools seeks to promote the development of competencies that contribute to academic success and are common to a range of subjects related to health and well-being. It is aimed at counteracting the tendency to compartmentalize actions (e.g., healthy eating, sexuality). The framework also lays out the organizational conditions that promote synergy between stakeholders as well as key actions to deploy and knowledge (knowledge, attitudes and skills) to be acquired at different stages in the child’s development and school career.

A positive, comprehensive intervention strategy based on the development of personal and social competencies

The framework’s intervention strategy has three guiding principles: 1) Act according to a positive and continuous vision of development…

The North Karelia Project in Finland: A societal shift favouring healthy lifestyles

A portrait of the North Karelia Project, the basis for community programs in chronic disease prevention.

The winning aspects of the North Karelia approach

  • Adopting a long-term vision.
  • Maintaining close ties with the political bodies and decision makers concerned.
  • Making the theoretical bases of the intervention explicit.
  • Influencing individual and environmental factors.
  • Using the media and a variety of channels for disseminating information.
  • Involving champions and influential community members in the project.
  • Developing collaborative cross-sector ways of changing environments.
  • Mobilizing structures and networks existing in the community.

The principle to be retained

Relying on detailed knowledge of the background and conducting the intervention in collaboration with all involved stakeholders.

Highlights from the report on clinical preventive services: results of the 2010 population survey

This summary conveys highlights of the 2010 population survey results on exposure to clinical preventive services of respondents who have a regular source of primary care. Respondents were instructed to refer to preventive health services received at their regular source of care, regardless of whether the nurse or the doctor conducted the intervention. All data are weighted, taking into account sample characteristics.

The Use of Incentives and the Promotion of Healthy Behaviours: The Case of Unhealthy Food

One issue that has unquestionably raised concern among the public, governments, institutions and international organizations is obesity, and, in particular but not solely, childhood obesity. (World Health Organization [WHO], 2003, 2005; Delisle, 2004; Dériot, 2005). The reasons for this concern are numerous, including the fact that excess weight produces social consequences (The Canadian Medical Association [CMA], 2007, p. 6; Katzmarzyk & Janssen, 2004; National Institute of Health and Medical Research [INSERM], 2005, pp. 49-54) related to economic efficiency (Suhrcke, McKee, Sauto Arce, Tsolova & Mortensen, 2006, cited by AMC, 2007, pp. 5-6; Cusset 2008), health care (for France: Detournay et al., 2000), infrastructure development, etc. While the importance of this issue should not be diminished, there has nevertheless been a sort of catastrophic sensationalism in which obesity is referred to as an epidemic (for an example of this way of presenting the situation, see Faeh,…

Safety Diagnosis Tool Kit for Local Communities: Guide to Direct Observation of Community Safety

There are at least two methods for gaining a first-hand understanding of the situation in a community: direct observation and exploratory walks. Direct observation involves studying the community in order to identify characteristics or situations with nuisance potential (disorderly conduct, incivility, deteriorated physical environment, etc.), while exploratory walks are aimed at assessing urban environments (neighbourhood units, streets, blocks, etc.) from the standpoint of users.

The main purpose of such walks is to determine how a given environment affects the population's feeling of safety and to gauge the extent to which people feel they are at risk of being assaulted. Exploratory walks are designed to establish whether the environment's characteristics enable people to know where they are and where they are going, to see and to be seen, to hear and to be heard, and so forth. The present guide, which is part of the Safety Diagnosis Tool Kit for Local Communities…

Safety Diagnosis Tool Kit for Local Communities: Guide to Organizing Semi-Structured Interviews With Key Informant

Like focus groups, direct observation and literature reviews, semi-structured interviews can be used to gather qualitative information. This guide to organizing semi-structured interviews is part of the Safety Diagnosis Tool Kit for Local Communities. It has been prepared for people who want to plan and conduct this type of interview with key informants during safety diagnoses. The procedure described here may also be used in other contexts provided an appropriate interview plan is designed.

During safety diagnoses, semi-structured interviews should be used to explore crime and safety problems perceived by key informants. In particular, they should focus on the following topics: crime and victimization, disorderly conduct and incivility (nuisances), the perception of safety or the feeling of safety and the assessment of public services.

Cree Health Survey 2003, Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 2.1, Iiyiyiu Aschii: Preventive practices and changes for improving health

This publication presents the findings of a health survey carried out in 2003 among households of Iiyiyiu Aschii. A similar survey had been undertaken in the region by Santé Québec in 1991 (Santé Québec, 1994). Ten years later, the Public Health Department of the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) urgently required a new picture of its population's state of health. The purpose of the 2003 survey was to gather upto-date information on the region's main health problems and related factors in order to improve the planning, administration, and evaluation of various social and health programs.

The survey was conducted during the summer of 2003 using a representative sample of residents aged 12 and older from the nine communities in Iiyiyiu Aschii: Chisasibi, Eastmain, Mistissini, Nemaska, Oujé- Bougoumou, Waskaganish, Waswanipi, Wemindji, and Whapmagoostui.

The first section of this publication pertains to pregnancy-oriented practices adopted…

Preventing obesity: an overview of programs, action plans, strategies and policies on food and nutrition

No nation today is immune from the obesity epidemic. Developing an action plan, a national strategy, policies and programs to manage the epidemic and prevent its progression is a major concern worldwide. While a number of World Health Organisation (WHO) reports published over the past few decades helped prompt member States to coordinate nutrition plans, the WHO’s Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health released in 2004 strengthens government action on obesity. Governmental action on obesity and/or its main determinants, nutrition and exercise is very broad in scope, has several targets for action, involves many actors and is outlined in large reports.

At the 2006 Québec Annual Public Health Conference (Journées annuelles de santé publique or JASP), held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, a symposium focuses on the elements included in an effective obesity-prevention government plan. Plans, programs, strategies and policies adopted in over a dozen Western countries a…

Prevention of scalding and legionellosis cases associated to hot tap water in private homes

This notice responds to a request from the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (department of health) of Québec. It is the result of the concerted efforts of two teams within the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (national institute of public health): the “Biohazard, environmental and occupational risks” team wrote the “legionellosis” section, and the “Safety and injury prevention” team wrote the “scalding” section.

Based on an analysis of the scientific literature and the data available in Québec, the Institute believes that preventing tap water scalds is as important as preventing legionellosis. These problems have similar consequences from a public health perspective and in both cases there are well-known, effective or promising prevention measures.