Program and public policy

Acute alcohol poisoning occurs frequently in Québec. Between January 1 and November 26, 2017, provincial emergency rooms admitted 2,332 young people age 12–24 for acute alcohol poisoning. That is equivalent to 214 cases per month, 49 cases per week, or 7 cases per day.

These cases are serious. One quarter of young people age 12–24 admitted to the emergency room at the…

• Cannabis is the most commonly consumed illegal substance. The current system of prohibition and its sanctions do not prevent the use of this substance. The most recent data indicate that about 15% of the Québec population report having used cannabis in the past 12 months. More than half of those who have used cannabis report having used it less than once a month. Those who use it…

This report is the result of a mandate from the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) [Québec’s ministry of health and social services] to produce a knowledge synthesis focused on nine courses of action which pertain to “illicit” psychoactive substances and which have not been implemented, or have been implemented only on a limited scale or as a pilot project in Québec.

The issues related to access to firearms go well beyond the use of these weapons in criminal activities. Access to firearms is an important risk factor for suicide, homicide, particularly spousal homicide, and accidental death.

Most firearm-related deaths are not linked to criminal activities and involve long guns

• Between 2009 and 2013, an average of 127 people died…

This briefing note belongs to a series on the various models used in political science to represent public policy development processes. Each of these briefing notes begins by describing the analytical framework proposed by a given model. Then we set out to examine questions that public health actors may ask regarding public policy, while keeping in mind the perspective that this model affords…

Public health actors analyzing policy options usually try to assess and compare the expected effects of policies on the health of the population. They can take on neutral brokering roles, simply providing the best available information to decision makers, or they can also engage in advocacy-related analysis. Whatever their role, those looking at policy options often try to answer — or are…

This briefing note introduces the road diet, an engineering technique that reallocates space on a street or road for other uses when they are over-built and have excess lanes. In what follows, we will present a definition, some study results and practical implementation considerations for road diets.

When applied with consideration for contextual details, it is generally agreed that…

The term wicked problem is increasingly used in policy and public health circles and there is often some confusion about what it really refers to: are wicked problems the same as complex problems? How are they different from regular or “tame” problems? This fact sheet is designed to present the definitional characteristics of wicked problems as well as discuss how they may be…

This briefing note outlines the process for constructing a logic model as proposed in the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy's (NCCHPP's) method for synthesizing knowledge about public policies (Morestin, Gauvin, Hogue, & Benoit, 2010). It also shows the use of this type of logic model in applications other than knowledge synthesis, as a tool that public health actors…

Various social factors, such as education, income, work, living environment, housing, lifestyle and access to services, determine an individual’s state of health. These interact in varying combinations throughout the life course. Inequitable distribution of these factors, or health determinants, among groups generates considerable health differences among people within a community or a country…