Workplace Health Saf
January 2025
Introduction: Tobacco is the leading modifiable risk factor for cancer and other chronic diseases. The workplace provides an opportunity to advance tobacco cessation efforts. Combining tobacco cessation with complementary components addressing mental health, physical activity, and healthy eating has demonstrated effectiveness in non-workplace settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Social capital can be used as a conceptual framework to include social context as a predictor of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cervical cancer screening behaviours. However, the effectiveness of interventions that use social capital as a mechanism to improve uptake of immunization and screening remains elusive.
Objective: To synthesize empirical evidence on the impact of social capital interventions on HPV immunization and cervical cancer screening and describe key characteristics of such interventions.
Background: Attitudes toward the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and accuracy of information shared about this topic in web-based settings vary widely. As real-time, global exposure to web-based discourse about HPV immunization shapes the attitudes of people toward vaccination, the spread of misinformation and misrepresentation of scientific knowledge contribute to vaccine hesitancy.
Objective: In this study, we aimed to better understand the type and quality of scientific research shared on Twitter (recently rebranded as X) by vaccine-hesitant and vaccine-confident communities.
JMIR Public Health Surveill
March 2024
Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection causes nearly all cervical cancer cases and is a cause of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. The incidence of HPV-associated cancers is inequitable, with an increased burden on marginalized groups in high-income countries. Understanding how immunization status varies by material and social deprivation, health system, and geospatial factors is valuable for prioritizing and planning HPV immunization interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased online interactions and the spread of misinformation. Some researchers anticipate benefits stemming from improved public awareness of the value of vaccines while others worry concerns around vaccine development and public health mandates may have damaged public trust. There is a need to understand whether the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine development, and vaccine mandates have influenced HPV vaccine attitudes and sentiments to inform health communication strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Perceived financial security impacts physical, mental, and social health and overall wellbeing at community and population levels. Public health action on this dynamic is even more critical now that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated financial strain and reduced financial wellbeing. Yet, public health literature on this topic is limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the financial well-being of populations globally, escalating concerns about links with health care and overall well-being. Governments and organizations need to act quickly to protect population health relative to exacerbated financial strain. However, limited practice- and policy-relevant resources are available to guide action, particularly from a public health perspective, that is, targeting equity, social determinants of health, and health-in-all policies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
January 2023
The virtual setting is an important setting for health promotion as individuals increasingly go online for health information and support. Yet, users can have difficulty finding valid, trustworthy, and user-friendly health information online. In 2022, we launched an interactive Fact or Fiction Tobacco virtual health tool.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study contributes to empirical evidence by examining the impact of the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic on modifiable risk factors (MRF) and whether these patterns differ according to level of material deprivation among people living in Alberta.
Methods: Using data from a repeated cross-sectional provincial health survey (Alberta Community Health Survey (ACHS): 2018-2021), we conducted logistic regression analyses examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on meeting national guidelines on four MRFs (tobacco use, physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol use) (n=11,249). We compared population-level changes in MRFs from one year before the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2019-February 2020) to one year during the pandemic (March 2020-February 2021) in Alberta.
Setting: Health inequities exist in rural communities across Canada, as rural residents are more likely than their urban counterparts to experience injuries, chronic conditions, obesity, and shorter life expectancy. Cooperative and coordinated action across sectors is required to both understand and address these complex public health issues.
Intervention: The Alberta Healthy Communities Approach (AHCA) is based on the values and core building blocks of the Healthy Communities Approach, a framework centred on building community capacity to support community-led actions on the determinants of health.
Financial well-being describes when people feel able to meet their financial obligations, feel financially secure and are able to make choices that benefit their quality of life. Financial strain occurs when people are unable to pay their bills, feel stressed about money and experience negative impacts on their quality of life and health. In the face of the global economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, community-led approaches are required to address the setting-specific needs of residents and reduce the adverse impacts of widespread financial strain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSetting: People in Alberta are more likely to seek information about cancer prevention online than they are to have this conversation with their primary care provider. As people turn to the internet to support health decision-making, it is critical that we improve the supportiveness of the virtual health setting for cancer prevention.
Intervention: In 2014, the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund launched an online HPV Decision Aid Tool to support evidence-informed decision-making in response to suboptimal uptake of the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine.
Workplace health programs (WHPs) have been shown to improve employee health behaviours and outcomes, increase productivity, and decrease work-related costs over time. Nonetheless, organizational characteristics, including size, prevent certain workplaces from implementing these programs. Past research has examined the differences between small and large organizations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo improve health at the human, animal, and ecosystem interface, defined as One Health, training of researchers must transcend individual disciplines to develop a new process of collaboration. The transdisciplinary research approach integrates frameworks and methodologies beyond academic disciplines and includes involvement of and input from policy makers and members of the community. The authors argue that there should be a significant shift in academic institutions' research capacity to achieve the added value of a transdisciplinary approach for addressing One Health problems.
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