Collaborative Development of an Older Adult Experience Survey for Specialized Geriatric Services.

Background: While generic, site, and disease-specific patient experience surveys exist, such surveys have limited relevance to frail, medically complex older adults attending appointment-based specialized geriatric services (SGS). The study objective was to develop and evaluate a patient experience survey specific to this population.

Methods: Using established survey research methods, this study was conducted collaboratively with older adults (patients and family members/friends) at three Ontario sites offering SGS.

A formative evaluation of a nurse practitioner-led interprofessional geriatric outpatient clinic.

The number of older adults with multiple complex comorbidities and frailty is expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, which will necessitate a concomitant increase in the need for skilled clinicians who are able to manage complex geriatric needs. Many physicians, however, lack the required formal training, often leading to long wait-lists for specialist clinics. Yet, clinics led by non-physician professionals specialising in geriatric care could decrease these delays.

Why physicians and nurses ask (or don't) about partner violence: a qualitative analysis.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a serious public health issue and is associated with significant adverse health outcomes. The current study was undertaken to: 1) explore physicians' and nurses' experiences, both professional and personal, when asking about IPV; 2) determine the variations by discipline; and 3) identify implications for practice, workplace policy and curriculum development.

Methods: Physicians and nurses working in Ontario, Canada were randomly selected from recognized discipline-specific professional directories to complete a 43-item mailed survey about IPV, which included two open-ended questions about barriers and facilitators to asking about IPV.

Socioeconomic status and non-fatal injuries among Canadian adolescents: variations across SES and injury measures.

Background: While research to date has consistently demonstrated that socioeconomic status (SES) is inversely associated with injury mortality in both children and adults, findings have been less consistent for non-fatal injuries. The literature addressing SES and injury morbidity among adolescents has been particularly inconclusive. To explore potential explanations for these discrepant research findings, this study uniquely compared the relationship across different measures of SES and different causes of injury (recreation versus non-recreation injuries) within a sample of Canadian adolescents.

Adolescents' low-carbohydrate-density diets are related to poorer dietary intakes.

This study was undertaken to assess how low-carbohydrate-density diets below the acceptable macronutrient distribution range relate to food and micronutrient intake and sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. The multistage stratified cluster design in the 1990 Ontario Health Survey was used. There were 5,194 subjects, 12 to 18 years of age, in sampled households.

A comparison of measures of socioeconomic status for adolescents in a Canadian national health survey.

The purpose of this study was to explore and compare measures of socioeconomic status (SES) in a national sample of Canadian adolescents. Issues of missing data and interrelationships among the measures were addressed. Measures of SES included household income, parental education, two parental occupation-based measures, and four neighbourhood proxy indicators.

Is there value in using physician billing claims along with other administrative health care data to document the burden of adolescent injury? An exploratory investigation with comparison to self-reports in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Administrative health care databases may be particularly useful for injury surveillance, given that they are population-based, readily available, and relatively complete. Surveillance based on administrative data, though, is often restricted to injuries that result in hospitalization. Adding physician billing data to administrative data-based surveillance efforts may improve comprehensiveness, but the feasibility of such an approach has rarely been examined.

Dietary intake among young adolescents in Ontario: associations with vegetarian status and attitude toward health.

Background: This study aimed to describe the dietary intakes of adolescent vegetarians and omnivores and determine if, and how, attitude toward personal health related to food consumption.

Methods: Among grade 9 students in Ontario, Canada (n = 630), vegetarian status and estimated consumption of foods and food groups were determined by food frequency questionnaire. Personal health was self-categorized as very important (the "health conscious") or somewhat/not important (the "non-health conscious").