[Online social support as a mode of psychosocial intervention: A review of scientific literature, avenues for future research, and recommendations for practitioners].

Objective: The goal of this review is to present online social support interventions described in recent scientific literature, in order to (i) guide organizations wishing to develop such an intervention or to improve an existing program, and (ii) to identify future research directions and recommendations for practitioners.

Methods And Results: 59 peer-reviewed articles presenting online social support interventions (2006-2016) were analyzed by using a thematic grid focusing on theoretical perspectives on social support, the online platforms used and their functionalities, the process of intervention development and evaluation, the modalities of participation and the facilitation methods, the documented impacts of interventions, and finally future research directions and recommendations for practitioners. A narrative methodology was used to identify challenges in intervention development and implementation, in order to provide guidance to organizations who want to develop or improve their online social support services.

[The evaluation of an on-line educational game to improve seniors’ quality of life].

This article describes and evaluates the educational online game Pour bien vivre, vivons sainement !, which aims to increase players' knowledge about physical aspects of health (nutrition, physical activity, sleep and fatigue), to reduce the risk situations, to highlight the importance of social interactions with family members and friends and to increase emotional well-being. In this exploratory study, the impact of the game on the quality of life was measured for 56 players aged between 50 and 90 who completed pre/post questionnaires. The results show an improvement in their perceivded physical well-being, social welfare and psychological well-being.

Insights for public education provided by French media on ideas about prostate cancer - A media analysis study.

This study explored the French media's presentation of ideas and medical information about prostate cancer (PC) that may influence men's understanding, attitudes and behavior. A qualitative media content analysis centered on PC information delivered by French professional media. The selected data were produced in the aftermath of the High Health Authority's decision in 2008 not to recommend systematic screening by prostate specific antigen(PSA) for men over 50.

A Questionnaire-Based Study on the Perceptions of Canadian Seniors About Cognitive, Social, and Psychological Benefits of Digital Games.

Objective: This study explored the perceptions of seniors who play digital games on the potential benefits of these games and on the factors associated with these perceptions.

Materials And Methods: We developed and administered a questionnaire to a sample of 590 Canadian seniors in British Columbia and Quebec that addressed demographics, digital game practices, and perceived benefits.

Results: Results of administering the questionnaire showed that cognitive benefits were reported more frequently than social or psychological benefits.

From early detection to rehabilitation in the community: reading beyond the blog testimonies of survivors' quality of life and prostate cancer representation.

Background: Survivors' testimonies can reveal much about men's experiences of prostate cancer and impacts on their quality of life (QOL) during the clinical trajectory of the disease. These survivors' shared thoughts and views were hypothesized to reflect salient features of their lived social representation of prostate cancer.

Context: We explored the content of testimonies posted by men to a public blog hosted by a French national prostate cancer patients' association.

[Strategies to increase the brief interventions in smoking cessation among nurses in hospital settings: experimental study].

Introduction: Research results demonstrate a decrease in cigarette smoking when preventive professional interventions are routinely carried out. Literature reports that 30% of hospital nurses assess their patient smoking habits. The objective of the present study is to compare, on medical and surgical units, the effectiveness of three strategies (interactive educational session, recall, and both together) to a control group, on the number of nursing interventions pertaining to cessation of cigarette smoking.

[A tool to evaluate hospital nursing practices toward smoking cessation].

Unlabelled: Nurses in hospitals are not active in smoking cessation because of certain beliefs and attitudes. Beliefs and attitudes must be measured for changing practice in quitting smoking. The objective is to develop and validate a questionnaire on smoking cessation practices of nurses in hospitals.

[Of Brazil and Quebec, food for thought: Brazilian community health workers bridge the gap between families and health professionals].

The Brazilian unified health system consists of 27,000 family health teams with a network of approximately 300,000 community health agents whose mandate is to link the families they visit every month with health professionals at the family health unit. Since 2003, Quebec has been implementing its health and social services reforms by emphasizing the integration of care and services (public, associative and private) in local networks which have a formal population health responsibility. This commentary aims to underline some similarities and differences between the program of the Brazilian 'units of family health' and that of integrated network clinics (CRI) or Groups of family medicine (GMF) in Quebec.

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In 2007, a Quebecan campaign aimed at smoking addiction cessation entitled "Défi J'arrête J'y gagne" (The "I quit I win" challenge) resorted to a multimedia communications strategy that used a range of online resources (a website and emails) to serve as support tools over a one-year period. Research on this campaign focuses on the involvement of Quebecan smokers in the "Défi J'arrête J'y gagne" contest (n = 25156) as well as cessation in participating subjects. This paper examines factors related to the use and impact of emails in the strategy of behavioural change.

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In 2005, a 12-week health promotion campaign in Québec utilized a multimedia communications strategy in which a website was used to supply information and to serve as an accompaniment to support individual engagement with the campaign. The "Défi Santé 5/30" or "5/30 Health Challenge" was intended to reinforce behaviours related to healthy eating and the regular practice of physical activity. This communications strategy offered the public the ability to personally engage in a "health challenge" by fixing objectives to attain over the course of the campaign.

[Complex management of partnerships during a health promotion campaign].

This article discusses an analysis of partnerships in the context of health promotion. The 5/30 Health Challenge, or "Défi Santé 5/30", is a campaign to promote healthy eating habits in Quebec. The authors employ this as a case study in order to 1) describe the actors and the nature of their involvement during the campaign's development, design and dissemination; 2) illustrate the interaction of these actors during the conceptualization and rollout of the campaign; 3) propose a paradigm that supports the identification of factors that contribute to or impede partner relationships.

[Messages about physical activity and nutrition offered by Quebec mass media?].

As social elements of our environment, mass media are regarded as determinants of individual and population beliefs, social norms and habits. Since it is recognized that they influence population health, this study aims to obtain a better portrait of Quebec media content regarding physical activity and nutrition messages on a public health level. First, we analyzed the content of fictional television shows (n = 1 3) and advertisements broadcast during those shows (n = 68).

Implementation and outcomes of a comprehensive worksite health promotion program.

Background: This paper reports on the implementation and results of a three-year comprehensive worksite health promotion program called Take care of your health!, delivered at a single branch of a large financial organization with 656 employees at the beginning of the implementation period and 905 at the end. The program included six educational modules delivered over a three-year period. A global health profile was part of the first and last modules.

[Communication and health: rival or parallel paradigms?].

This article recounts the evolution of communications approaches in health-related matters: 1) the approach of modernization, also known as the linear model of behaviour change; 2) the approach of dependency, also known as awareness-raising or empowerment; and 3) the approach of new development, also known as participation and co-development. Why, after the establishment and unfolding of so many programmes utilising communication for health, do social health problems persist? The article underlines a co-existence of various different and sometimes opposing, according to the school of thought, theoretical approaches. It remains that communication as a vector for behaviour change seems to carry on as the dominant theoretical axis in the health field.

Critical analysis on best practices in health literacy.

From a holistic perspective, health literacy is a requirement for the well-being of entire populations. It moves beyond the focus on individuals to consider the role of organizations and systems. This perspective offers a context for discussing best practices in health literacy, and implications for research and policy development.

A model of mechanisms underlying the influence of media on health behaviour norms.

Media-based interventions are common in health promotion, yet their conceptual underpinnings tend to be based on a simple linear model of direct influence on individuals' health behaviour. Recent studies have suggested that the processes through which media influence health behaviours are actually far more complex. This paper presents a conceptual model of how the medias influence the emergence and maintenance of the social norms that can contribute to shaping health behaviours.

Scene perception, gaze behavior, and perceptual learning in virtual environments.

More and more immersive environments are developed to provide support for learning or training purposes. Ecological validity of such environments is usually based on learning performance comparisons between virtual environments and their genuine counterparts. Little is known about learning processes occurring in immersive environments.

[Media treatment of messages on weight loss products by the Association for Public Health of Quebec and its reception].

Background: The results of a study on weight loss products and services were released during a press conference organized by the Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ). The media widely covered this press conference. The purpose of this article is to answer the question: "How are messages emitted by public health institutions transmitted by the media and received by the population?"

Method: The transcripts of the press conference, the press release as well as 43 documents from the print and broadcast media were evaluated according to a press analysis method.

Role of pharmacological aids and social supports in smoking cessation associated with Quebec's 2000 Quit and Win campaign.

Background: This evaluation of the 2000 Quit and Win campaign in the province of Quebec, Canada, assessed the use and effectiveness of pharmacological aids, social support, and support resources (clinic program, support groups, books, telephone support) among contest participants. The reach of the contest was 1.3% of adult smokers: 20,400 participants.