Prevention and health promotion

Indigenous peoples around the world continue to experience and have to cope with the effects of colonial policies and historical trauma on their health and development. The determinants of health approach holds promise for reducing the social health inequalities experienced by Indigenous populations, as the magnitude and severity of these inequalities call for intersectoral public health initiatives based on a thorough understanding of all the individual, collective, and structural factors…

An abundance of scientific evidence from around the world points to the adverse effects of workplace psychosocial risks on mental health1 and physical health. Over the past few years, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) and its collaborators have developed a Tool for Identifying Psychosocial Risk Factors in the Workplace, which allows these risks to be identified and analyzed, and approaches to reducing their impact in the workplace to be proposed.

In this fact sheet, we look at how wellbeing has developed as a policy focus for governments and how it might be related to public health concerns such as the social determinants of physical and mental health and health inequalities. We consider whether wellbeing approaches to central government policies may advance the goals of healthy public policy. As part of the National Collaborating Centre on Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP)’s project on wellbeing policy approaches and wellbeing…

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…

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

The winning aspects of the North Karelia approach

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.

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…

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.

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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…

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…