Publications by authors named "Jennifer E McWhirter"

University websites are often a first point of contact for prospective students. Portrayals of diversity on the website can influence current and future students' perceptions. Using content and statistical analysis, all 38 veterinary college websites in Canada and the US were systematically coded for representations of people in photos and content related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).

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Effective risk communication during enteric illness outbreaks requires the provision of clear and consistent information to diverse audiences to reduce risk of exposure, inform behavior changes, and prevent illness. Most enteric illnesses are caused by pathogens transmitted through consumption of contaminated food or water, contact with animals, or person-to-person contact. When multi-jurisdictional outbreaks occur, the Public Health Agency of Canada posts web-based Public Health Notices (PHNs) to inform Canadians.

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Objectives: Since the publication of the Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada in 2008, the public health and communication landscape has changed dramatically. Digital media and infodemics have shifted how practitioners must communicate and respond to health information. The age of the current competency framework, which is relied on for workforce development, alongside emerging public health challenges, have prompted calls for modernized competency statements.

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Introduction: Communication is vital for effective and precise public health practice. The limited formal educational opportunities in health communication render professional development opportunities especially important. Competencies for public health communication describe the integrated knowledge, values, skills and behaviours required for practitioner and organizational performance.

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Effective and precise public health practice relies on a skilled and interdisciplinary workforce equipped with integrated knowledge, values, skills, and behaviors as defined by competency frameworks. Competency frameworks inform academic and professional development training, support performance evaluation, and identify professional development needs. The aim of this research was to systematically identify and examine trends in the extent, nature, and range of the literature related to developing competencies in public health.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of social media in promoting human papillomavirus (HPV) screening and cervical cancer awareness, responding to a global initiative by the WHO to eliminate cervical cancer.
  • A total of 58 peer-reviewed articles were analyzed, revealing that platforms like Twitter and Facebook were primarily used for evaluating content, recruiting participants, and disseminating health information related to HPV and cervical screening.
  • The research highlights opportunities for future studies, particularly in utilizing newer platforms like Instagram and TikTok to enhance HPV education and explore effective communication strategies for increasing cervical screening participation.
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Competencies ensure public health students and professionals have the necessary knowledge, skills, values, and behaviours to do their jobs effectively. Public health is a dynamic and complex field requiring robust competency statements and frameworks that are regularly renewed. Many countries have public health competencies, but there has been no evidence synthesis on how these are developed.

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Context: Competency-based public health education ensures practitioners are well equipped to positively influence the health of the public. The Public Health Agency of Canada's Core Competencies for Public Health has named communication as an essential competency area for practitioners. However, little is known about how Master of Public Health (MPH) programs in Canada support trainees in developing the recommended core competencies in communication.

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Indoor tanning (IT) is an avoidable skin cancer risk. Although numerous communication interventions have been assessed for IT deterrence, less attention has been paid to the persuasive messages within these interventions. This scoping review summarizes the current peer-reviewed literature on persuasive messages for IT.

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Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens our ability to treat and prevent infectious diseases worldwide. A significant driver of AMR is antimicrobial use (AMU) in human and veterinary medicine. Therefore, education and awareness of AMR among antimicrobial prescribers is critical.

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Resistance to beta-lactam antimicrobials caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing organisms is a global health concern. The objectives of this study were to (1) summarise the prevalence of potential ESBL-producing (ESBL-EC) and spp. (ESBL-SA) isolates from agrifood and human sources in Canada from 2012 to 2017, and (2) describe the distribution of ESBL genotypes among these isolates.

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Handwashing is one of the most effective and low-cost public health measures. However, it is often not practiced frequently enough or correctly by the public. Young adults in particular have poorer intentions to wash their hands, frequency of handwashing, and sanitizer use compared to other age groups.

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To foster trust on social media during a crisis, messages should implement key guiding principles, including call to action, clarity, conversational tone, compassion and empathy, correction of misinformation, and transparency. This study describes how crisis actors used guiding principles in COVID-19 tweets, and how the use of these guiding principles relates to tweet engagement. Original, English language tweets from 10 federal level government, politician, and public health Twitter accounts were collected between 11 March 2020 and 25 January 2021 ( = 6053).

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Introduction: The provision of shade at outdoor recreation sites such as playgrounds confers a variety of public health benefits. It can prevent overexposure to solar ultraviolet radiation, and, in turn, protect against skin cancer. Further, shade mitigates heat and may promote physical activity.

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Successful mitigation of emerging infectious disease requires that the public adopt recommended behaviours, which is directly influenced by effective crisis communication. Social media has become an important communication channel during COVID-19 where official actors, influencers, and the public are co-creating crisis messages. Our research examined COVID-19-related crisis messages across Canadian influencer accounts within news media, politicians, public health and government, science communicators, and brand influencer and celebrities, posted on Instagram between December 2019 and March 2021 for Health Belief Model and Extended Parallel Processing Model constructs and the corresponding public comment sentiment and engagement.

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Shade provides a variety of public health benefits; however, outdoor recreation sites often have limited shade. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 13) with shade stakeholders (i.e.

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To synthesize peer-reviewed primary research exploring factors associated with perceived stress impacting post-secondary students' academic success. A systematic review identified research conducted in North America, Europe, and Australia in the last ten years across 12 databases. Of the 6,214 references screened, 14 English articles published between 2011 and 2018 were deemed relevant.

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Overview: There has been an increase in the frequency and severity of stress experienced by Canadian post-secondary students, which has adverse implications on their academic success. This work applied the socio-ecological model for health promotion to explore the contextual factors that influence this relationship at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and public policy levels.

Methods: Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, we conducted 38 semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students and on-campus staff who provide services to this population at a post-secondary institution in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

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As critical components of individual well-being, nutrition and physical activity have important physical and psychological implications. Veterinary students face demanding schedules and potentially high rates of psychological distress. Though veterinary students' strategies for healthy eating have been explored, factors influencing their ability to achieve a healthy diet are less understood.

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This study explores female indoor tanners' perceptions of the current, text-only Canadian health warning label (HWL) for tanning equipment, as well as pictorial, evidence-based alternative HWLs. We created 10 test HWLs that depicted skin health effects, eye damage, premature aging, and death. Young women who had tanned indoors in the past year discussed these and the current federal HWL in focus groups.

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Objective: To assess the readability of pet obesity information, document the presence and absence of types of pet obesity information, and perform comparisons between dog and cat obesity information content on websites.

Sample: 68 websites containing pet obesity content.

Procedures: Websites were systematically retrieved with a search engine and predefined search terms and phrases.

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Evidence of the dangers of indoor tanning and its popularity, including among youth, led the Government of Ontario to pass the Skin Cancer Prevention Act (Tanning Beds) (SCPA) in 2014. This legislation includes prohibiting the sale of indoor tanning services to individuals under 18, requiring warning signs be posted, and other safety regulations. We collected information from Ontario Public Health Units to conduct a process evaluation of the SCPA to: understand legislation implementation; assess available evidence about compliance, inspection, and enforcement; and, note barriers and facilitators related to inspection and enforcement.

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Jurisdictions around the world have implemented indoor tanning legislations, which aim to protect all individuals, especially youth, from dangers of artificial ultraviolet radiation exposure. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review to synthesize the available peer-reviewed literature to determine whether indoor tanning legislation has impacted the prevalence of youth indoor tanning. Following PRISMA guidelines, six databases were searched in 2016.

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Introduction: Canadian provincial and territorial governments have enacted legislation in response to health risks of artificial ultraviolet radiation from indoor tanning. This legislation, which differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, regulates the operation of indoor tanning facilities. The content and comprehensiveness of such legislation-and its differences across jurisdictions-have not been analyzed.

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