Family health

From Tiny Tot to Toddler is a practical guide that contains scientifically supported information about pregnancy, delivery and the first two years of a child’s life. A free printed guide is given to all new Québec parents at the beginning of pregnancy follow-up. Parents involved in an adoption process can also receive a free guide.

2024 edition: What’s new?

The 2024 edition includes updates on several topics in the Feeding your child section. Specifically, there are changes to the Breastfeeding your baby and Foods chapters. The content is based on the latest scientific findings and current practices in Québec. 

Information on COVID-19, adjusted annually since the 2021 edition, has been updated again. In the 2024 edition, COVID-19 is often treated the same as other respiratory diseases.

The document What’s new…

Highlights

• This report presents data on the prescription of medications for attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) taken from the Québec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System (QICDSS). Estimates were obtained from longitudinal monitoring between April 1, 2000, and March 31, 2020, for all individuals aged 24 years and younger who were eligible for Québec’s public prescription drug insurance plan (PPDIP).
• The results show a steady increase in the prescription of ADHD medications over time. In 2019–2020, 56,080 Quebecers (7.7%) aged from 1 to 24 years enrolled in the PPDIP received at least one prescription for ADHD medication.
• The percentage of ADHD medication prescribing differs by the sex and age of the person.
• The prevalence of ADHD medication prescribing varied considerably across regions, ranging from 3.2% to 14.4%.
• People living in highly economically advantaged environments have…

This knowledge translation tool, developed by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), aims to support early childhood stakeholders in the implementation of concerted actions at the national, regional, and local levels. More specifically, the tool targets professionals who accompany early childhood consultation and mobilization, as well as partners and actors on the ground who feel affected.

The tool is based on two knowledge syntheses¹. These syntheses have identified principles for effective early childhood interventions across Canada. The tool introduces these principles and illustrates them with examples of interventions that have been evaluated. There are, of course, many effective and inspiring actions in Quebec; however, it was impossible to list them all in this tool. We encourage early childhood stakeholders to share their success stories for further reflection and mobilization.…

This knowledge translation tool, developed by the Institut national de santé publique (INSPQ), is based on the synthesis Développement socioaffectif de l’enfant entre 0 et 5 ans et facteurs associés. The synthesis and tool were developed as part of the Initiative concertée d’intervention pour le développement des jeunes enfants (ICIDJE) working group, “Intervention Support” component.

The tool consists of two parts :

1. The pyramid of social-emotional development from 0 to 6 years of age
2. Social-emotional development from 0 to 6 years of age: one step at a time

Each part may be used independently.

• The pyramid of social-emotional development from 0 to 6 years of age
  (infographic + glossary)
  This section includes an infographic presenting a comprehensive framework of key aspects that influence the development of children’s social and emotional skill…

This review provides a portrait of our current knowledge on parents’ social isolation and loneliness during the perinatal and early childhood period. This document informs public health actors working with parents and their families on various aspects of these two phenomena. A scoping review was carried out to identify: 1) the definitions of social isolation and loneliness, as well as the distinction with certain related concepts; 2) the main instruments used to measure social isolation and loneliness; 3) the extent of social isolation and loneliness in the population of interest; and 4) the main factors associated with social isolation and loneliness.

The current state of knowledge on social isolation and loneliness during the perinatal and early childhood period is limited. However, this scoping review demonstrates that:

• There is an emerging consensus that social isolation and loneliness are two separate realities. Social isolation is considered an obje…

This surveillance report examines changes from 1989–1992 to 2008–2010 in preterm and small-for-gestational-age birth rates in Québec for the general population and by mother’s first language. Rates based on selected sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., place of residence, material deprivation, and immigrant status) of mothers in each linguistic community are also presented.

The report’s main finding is that previously observed variations in perinatal health favoring Anglophones were not observed in 2008–2010: preterm and small-for-gestational-age birth rates were similar for Anglophones, Francophones, and Allophones during this period.

Preterm birth rates

• Preterm birth rates increased for all linguistic communities from 1989–1992¹ and stabilized beginning in 2002–2004.
• In 2008–2010 preterm birth rates per 100 live births were comparable for Francophones, Anglophones, a…

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 Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) [Québec’s public health institute] was mandated by Québec’s Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) [ministry of health and social services] to produce a report on the effects of group prenatal classes. In Québec, prenatal classes are meant to provide pregnant women and their partners with information and to prepare them for childbirth and their new role as parents.

The purpose of this report is to identify the effects of group prenatal classes based on the recent scientific literature in order to better position their contribution to the service offering in Québec.

Methodology

Bibliographic research was conducted with a focus on publications dated between 2004 and 2015 in the Ovid SP, Medline and EBSCOhost databases using keywords related to health promotion, obstetrical procedures, pregnancy outcomes, breastfeeding, health and adaptation. The model of health status and i…

The way in which the media portray spousal violence and intrafamilial homicide, regardless of whether the focus is on reported incidents or the problem in general, can have an impact on the public’s perception of the problem. For example, media coverage of intrafamilial homicides highlights the sudden and inexplicable nature of such acts, leading to the belief that they are almost impossible to prevent. However, an analysis of records from the coroner’s office revealed that in most of the cases covered by this analysis, the act in question had been preceded by weeks, months or even years of conflict.

Some thought should be given to how certain characteristics of coverage in the print media can affect the people concerned. For example, although the articles analyzed generally showed consideration for the bereaved, the desire to assign a motive or to explain an intrafamilial homicide led to an incursion into the privacy of the victims and their families. However, revealing int…