A mixed method study of propensity for participatory evaluation.

One way to increase the use of evaluation results is practical participatory evaluation (PPE), which enables non-evaluator participants to join the evaluation process in a participatory mode. We examined the propensity for PPE of health professionals by focusing on four components: learning, working in groups, using judgment and using systematic methods. We interviewed the professionals at a Haitian health institution to determine their positioning on a scale of propensity (low, medium and high) for the four components.

Associations between school deprivation indices and oral health status.

Background: Despite an overall improvement in oral health status in several countries over the past decades, chronic oral diseases (COD) remain a public health problem, occurring mostly among children in the lower social strata. The use of publicly available indicators at the school level may be an optimal strategy to identify children at high risk of COD in order to organize oral health promotion and intervention in schools.

Objective: To investigate whether school deprivation indices were associated with schoolchildren oral health status.

Disentangling the relative influence of built and socioeconomic environments on walking: the contribution of areas homogenous along exposures of interest.

The geography of small areas has important implications for studying the contextual determinants of health because of potential errors when measuring ecologic exposures and estimating their effects on health. In this paper, we present an approach for designing homogeneous zones optimising the spatial distribution of an area-level exposure, active living potential (ALP), based on data collected in Montreal, Canada. The objectives are to (1) assess and compare variation in walking behaviours between these purposefully designed zones and between standard administrative units, census tracts; and (2) disentangle the relative influence of ALP and area-level socioeconomic conditions on walking using the alternative geographies.

Ethics and the compensation of immigrant workers for work-related injuries and illnesses.

This paper examines the compensation process for work-related injuries and illnesses by assessing the trajectories of a sample of immigrant and non-immigrant workers (n = 104) in Montreal. Workers were interviewed to analyze the complexity associated with the compensation process. Experts specialized in compensation issues assessed the difficulty of the interviewees' compensation process.

Dental caries, problems perceived and use of services among institutionalized elderly in 3 regions of Quebec, Canada.

Objectives: To determine the changes, since 1980, in the number of nontreated caries in elderly people who have retained their teeth and are in residential and long-term care centres (CHSLDs) in the province of Quebec, Canada, and the changes in their perception of their oral health problems and use of dental services.

Methods: A secondary analysis of data from a 2004-2005 survey about the oral health problems of people who were at least 65 years of age and living in CHSLD institutions in the Montreal, Montérégie and Quebec City regions was done. The inclusion criterion for the secondary analysis was that the residents had to have at least 1 natural tooth.

Eating-disorder symptoms and syndromes in a sample of urban-dwelling Canadian women: contributions toward a population health perspective.

Objective: We estimated the prevalence of eating disorders and maladaptive eating behaviors in a population-based sample and examined the association of maladaptive eating with self-rated physical and mental health.

Method: A sample of 1,501 women (mean age = 31.2 years, SD = 6.

Establishing the soundness of administrative spatial units for operationalising the active living potential of residential environments: an exemplar for designing optimal zones.

Background: In health and place research, definitions of areas, area characteristics, and health outcomes should ideally be coherent with one another. Yet current approaches for delimiting areas mostly rely on spatial units "of convenience" such as census tracts. These areas may be homogeneous along socioeconomic conditions but heterogeneous along other environmental characteristics.

Promoting active living among people with physical disabilities evidence for neighborhood-level buoys.

Background: People with physical disabilities are more likely to be sedentary than the general population, possibly because they have an accrued sensitivity to environmental features.

Objectives: This paper describes the relationship between neighborhood-level active living buoys and the active living practices of adults with physical disabilities living in a large urban area.

Methods: A sample of 205 people with physical disabilities was recruited via a local rehabilitation center and its adapted fitness center.

Buprenorphine substitution treatment in France: drug users' views of the doctor-user relationship.

The French system for drug substitution, or maintenance treatment, established in 1996, differs from the often strict conditions attached to methadone clinics in other countries. Because of the predominant role of general practitioners and the flexible prescription rules for Subutex in France, the relationship between the physician and the drug user becomes a central element in the treatment. This article deals with the expectations that these users have of the physician, and their perception of his or her attitude towards them.

Neighborhood-level active living buoys for individuals with physical disabilities.

Background: In an effort to advance the research agenda on residential determinants of active living among people with physical disabilities, the purposes of this paper are (1) to describe the extent to which environmental supports (buoys) promoting active living among individuals with disabilities are present in neighborhoods located in a large urban area, and (2) to examine the association between the presence of these buoys and neighborhood-level indicators of affluence, proportions of individuals with disabilities living in the neighborhood, and other neighborhood active living indicators.

Methods: In the context of a larger project, pairs of evaluators assessed potential determinants of active living in 112 neighborhoods (census tracts) on the island of Montreal, Canada, in the summer of 2003. The assessment grid included 18 items related to active living for the general population and three specifically for people with physical disabilities.

The diversity of prevention and health promotion services offered by Québec Community Health Centres: a study of infant and toddler programmes.

Research has shown that preventive and health promotion (PHP) services offered by community health centres are often vulnerable in times of health reform or budgetary cutbacks. The present study was conducted in Québec, Canada, approximately 10 years after the start of a major transformation of health care services. The objectives were: (1) to examine the diversity of infant/toddler prevention and health promotion services offered by centres locaux de services communautaires (CLSCs, local community health and social services centres); and (2) to investigate the organisational and environmental correlates of such diversity.

Perception of dental illness among persons receiving public assistance in Montreal.

Objectives: We examined rationales for behaviors related to dental care among persons receiving public assistance in Montreal, Quebec.

Methods: Fifty-seven persons receiving public assistance participated in 8 focus groups conducted in 2002. Sessions were recorded on audiotape and transcribed; analyses included debriefing sessions and coding and interpreting transcribed data.

[Breastfeeding promotion and support services in local community health centers].

This study had a two-fold goal. First, to document services relating to breastfeeding promotion and support in CLSCs and, second, to examine the links between the delivery of such services and certain organizational and environmental factors. The data were collected in 1999 by means of a self-administered questionnaire sent to all CLSCs in Quebec.

Dental care pathway of Quebecers after a broken filling.

Objectives: The objectives were to 1) describe the dental care pathway of adults after sustaining a broken filling, and particularly, the patient delay in seeking care as well as the continuity of care, and 2) identify factors associated with the decisions taken.

Basic Research Design: In 1998-99, 5,469 Quebec women aged 30 to 44 years completed a self-administered questionnaire in which they indicated whether they had experienced a dental problem in the previous 12 months. From then on, the questions identified the decisions they made during the process of consulting a dentist.

[Utilization of preventive dental services by recent immigrants in Quebec].

Objectives: Studies conducted in Canada show that recent immigrants tend to under-utilize preventive services provided by the health care system. The objective of our study was to learn whether this phenomenon also applies to dental care.

Methods: Our sample was composed of 5,795 women who live in Quebec and are between 30 and 44 years old.

Illicit drug use and injection practices among drug users on methadone and buprenorphine maintenance treatment in France.

Aims: To evaluate the associations between methadone and high-dose buprenorphine maintenance treatment and illicit drug use and injection among drug users in France.

Design: A cross-sectional study. Data were gathered using a questionnaire administered containing closed-ended questions.

The dental care pathway of welfare recipients in Quebec.

IN Quebec (Canada), the utilization of dental care services varies greatly from one social class to another: whereas the well-to-do visit the dentist often for check-ups, those most in need demonstrate a "wait-and-see" attitude. The objective of our research was to describe the dental care pathway of the underprivileged when confronted with symptoms, and to understand how this pathway might be interrupted and possibly lead to tooth extractions. We arranged 16 one-on-one interviews with adult Montrealers who had experienced a dental problem during the 12 months preceding the interview.

[The preventive and health promotion services for infants, children and youth. What is problematic for clients of the CLSCs].

Objective: This article presents the results of a survey on preventive and health promotion (PHP) services provided by Quebec CLSCs for infants, children and youth. Two dimensions of services are examined: the diversity of PHP issues addressed and the type of clientele targeted by the CLSC team.

Methods: Questionnaire survey.

Parental factors associated with regular use of dental services by second-year secondary school students in Quebec.

The aim of this study was to identify the parental factors associated with regular use of dental services by second year secondary school students in Quebec. Data were collected in 1996-97, as part of a provincial survey on the dental health of Quebec students. A stratified probabilistic sample of 1,351 students, representative at the provincial level, was obtained.

[Knowledge and perceptions of adolescents regarding oral health].

Objective: The objective of this study was to measure knowledge and perception related to oral health in Quebec children.

Method: For this study, a provincial sample of Quebec adolescents, 13 to 14 years old, was set up. Adolescents answered a 46-item questionnaire, specifically designed for the study.