Follow the Arrows: Using a Co-Created Causal Loop Diagram to Explore Leverage Points to Strengthen Population Physical Activity Promotion in British Columbia, Canada.

Background: Population physical activity promotion (PPAP) is one of the most effective noncommunicable disease prevention strategies, yet coordination is lacking around the world. Whole-of-system approaches and complex systems methods are called for to advance PPAP. This paper reports on a project which (1) used an Attributes Framework with system mapping (group model building and causal loop diagramming of feedback loops) and (2) identified potential leverage points to address the challenge of effective coordination of multisectoral PPAP in British Columbia.

Elusive boundaries: using an attribute framework to describe systems for population physical activity promotion.

The cost of physical inactivity is alarming, and calls for whole-of-system approaches to population physical activity promotion (PPAP) are increasing. One innovative approach to PPAP is to use a framework of interdependent attributes and associated dimensions of effective systems for chronic disease prevention. Describing system boundaries can be an elusive task, and this article reports on using an attribute framework as a first step in describing and then assessing and strengthening a provincial system for PPAP in British Columbia, Canada.

Prioritizing a research agenda on built environments and physical activity: a twin panel Delphi consensus process with researchers and knowledge users.

Background: The growth of urban dwelling populations globally has led to rapid increases of research and policy initiatives addressing associations between the built environment and physical activity (PA). Given this rapid proliferation, it is important to identify priority areas and research questions for moving the field forward. The objective of this study was to identify and compare research priorities on the built environment and PA among researchers and knowledge users (e.

A scoping review of complex systems methods used in population physical activity research: do they align with attributes of a whole system approach?

Background: Complex systems approaches are increasingly used in health promotion and noncommunicable disease prevention research, policy and practice. Questions emerge as to the best ways to take a complex systems approach, specifically with respect to population physical activity (PA). Using an Attributes Model is one way to understand complex systems.

Diverse Approaches to Creating and Using Causal Loop Diagrams in Public Health Research: Recommendations From a Scoping Review.

Complex systems thinking methods are increasingly called for and used as analytical lenses in public health research. The use of qualitative system mapping and in particular, causal loop diagrams (CLDs) is described as one promising method or tool. To our knowledge there are no published literature reviews that synthesize public health research regarding how CLDs are created and used.

Surveying the local public health response to COVID-19 in Canada: Study protocol.

Background: Public health services and systems research is under-developed in Canada and this is particularly the case with respect to research on local public health unit operational functioning and capacity. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that will collect retrospective information on the local public health response to COVID-19 throughout Canada between 2020 and 2021.

Methods/design: The goal of the study is to develop and implement a study framework that will collect retrospective information on the local public health system response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

Strengthening complex systems for chronic disease prevention: a systematic review.

Background: While frameworks exist for strengthening health care systems and public health systems, there are no practical frameworks to describe, assess and strengthen systems for chronic disease prevention (CDP) using complex systems approaches.

Methods: A systematic and integrative review of peer reviewed literature was conducted to answer the following questions: How can systems for CDP be defined? What are key attributes of effective systems? How are complex systems approaches discussed? Search terms were identified and the Medline, SCOPUS, and Global Health databases were searched December 2017 and January 2018. Reference lists and selected journals were hand searched.

Collaborative Value Creation Framework: The Potential for Strengthening Intersectoral Partnerships in Chronic Disease Prevention.

Background: There is considerable theoretical appeal and investment in intersectoral partnerships for chronic disease prevention, yet there is limited understanding of pathways for creating collaborative value.

Objectives: The purpose of this paper was to discuss the Collaborative Value Creation Framework in terms of its potential to understand how value is created in prevention partnerships.

Results: The framework holds promise for a) studying the significance of all types of collaborative value and in what contexts, b) examining how sources of collaborative value can be enhanced, c) surfacing how mindsets advance or hinder collaborative efforts, and d) establishing interdependent links with and between other elements of the framework such as collaborative processes, stages, and outcomes to increase value creation potential.

Why public health matters today more than ever: the convergence of health and social policy.

We argue that public health matters more today than ever because it is uniquely positioned as a meeting point or fulcrum between health care and social welfare policy perspectives on the social determinants of health. It combines a grounding in the sciences of biomedicine and epidemiology with the moral imperatives of social advocacy. Health cannot be delivered through health care policy alone and neither can social welfare policy ensure the well-being of all citizens on its own.

The value of a causal loop diagram in exploring the complex interplay of factors that influence health promotion in a multisectoral health system in Australia.

Background: Despite calls for the application of complex systems science in empirical studies of health promotion, there are very few examples. The aim of this paper was to use a complex systems approach to examine the key factors that influenced health promotion (HP) policy and practice in a multisectoral health system in Australia.

Methods: Within a qualitative case study, a schema was developed that incorporated HP goals, actions and strategies with WHO building blocks (leadership and governance, financing, workforce, services and information).

Great expectations and hard times: developing community indicators in a healthy communities initiative in Canada.

This paper reports on expectations for and community members' experience in the development of community indicators in a healthy communities initiative (HCI) in Alberta, Canada. The HCI process involved community visioning, the creation of action plans to further the vision by addressing key health priorities and/or community capacity building activities and the development of indicators to monitor and report on progress towards goals. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with community participants to discuss definitions of success in the HCI and participant experience in developing indicators.