Barriers and coping strategies of women with gestational diabetes to follow dietary advice.

Objective: To understand barriers and coping strategies of women with gestational diabetes (GDM) to follow dietary advice.

Design: Qualitative study.

Participants: Thirty women with GDM from the Winnipeg area participated.

Stress and anxiety in women with gestational diabetes during dietary management.

Purpose: To explore the stress and anxiety experiences during dietary management in women with gestational diabetes (GDM).

Methods: Thirty women with GDM from the Winnipeg area participated in the mixed methods study. Each participant completed a Food Choice Map semistructured interview, a Perceived Stress Scale, a Pregnancy Anxiety Scale, a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire.

Food choice decision-making by women with gestational diabetes.

Objective: To enhance the dietary education presented to women with gestational diabetes (GDM) by exploring the reasons and experiences that women with GDM reported in making their food-choice decisions after receipt of dietary education from a healthcare professional.

Methods: Food Choice Map (FCM) semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 women with GDM living in the Winnipeg area during their pregnancies. Verbatim transcripts were generated from the interviews.

Can the Canadian Heart Health Initiative inform the population Health Intervention Research Initiative for Canada?

Objectives: The aim of the Population Health Intervention Research Initiative for Canada (PHIRIC) is to build capacity to increase the quantity, quality and use of population health intervention research. But what capacity is required, and how should capacity be created? There may be relevant lessons from the Canadian Heart Health Initiative (CHHI), a 20-year initiative (1986-2006) that was groundbreaking in its attempt to bring together researchers and public health leaders (from government and non-government organizations) to jointly plan, conduct and act on relevant evidence. The present study focused on what enabled and constrained the ability to fund, conduct and use science in the CHHI.

Using linking systems to build capacity and enhance dissemination in heart health promotion: a Canadian multiple-case study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the utility of linking systems between public health resource and user organizations for health promotion dissemination and capacity building, and to identify factors related to the success of linking systems. The design is a parallel-case study using key informant interviews and content analysis of project reports (synthesized qualitative and quantitative data) of three provincial dissemination projects of the Canadian Heart Health Initiative-Dissemination Phase. Each provincial project used linking activities with public health user groups including meetings, skill building, resources, collaboration, networking and research feedback to facilitate capacity building for and implementation of heart health promotion activities.

The G8 Heart Health Projects Database: testing the compatibility of an Internet-based resource with health promotion planning processes.

This study examined the context and processes in which health promotion policy and program decisions are made to ensure that an Internet-based information system on heart health promotion programs provides appropriate information for decision makers' needs and is compatible with their decision-making processes. Five focus groups and six individual interviews were conducted with potential users of and contributors to the G8 Heart Health Projects Database. Results suggest that Internet-based systems such as this are seen as useful tools, but will only be used at certain critical points in program development and then, only when they meet several rigorous criteria.

Conceptualizing dissemination research and activity: the case of the Canadian Heart Health Initiative.

Cardiovascular diseases are now the world's leading cause of death. To reduce high rates of such preventable premature deaths, evidence-based approaches to heart health promotion must be disseminated across public health systems. To succeed, we must build capacity to disseminate strategies that are practical and effective.

A call for action to support best practices in evaluation of comprehensive tobacco control evaluation strategies.

The National Tobacco Control Best Practices Working Group convened a two-day workshop to support best practices in evaluation of comprehensive tobacco control strategies. A Better Practices Model, aimed at developing a self-correcting system for best practices, guided the workshop content and process. Organizers intended to identify a common surveillance and monitoring framework for tobacco control strategies in Canada by first building strong working relationships between 44 decision-makers, practitioners and researchers from 12 Canadian jurisdictions.