Introduction: The aim of this study was to pilot test a question prompt list (QPL) about cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction after hypertensive pregnancy (HDP).
Methods: In a prospective cohort study of adult women who had HDP given the QPL before and surveyed after a physician visit, we assessed perceived person-centred care, self-efficacy for self-management, perceived self-management and QPL feasibility.
Results: Twenty-three women participated: 57% of diverse ethno-cultural groups, 65% < 40 years of age and 48% immigrants.
Background: There is limited evidence about the mental health and intention to leave of the public health workforce in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of burnout, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and intention to leave among the Canadian public health workforce, and associations with individual and workplace factors.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using data collected by a Canada-wide survey from November 2022 to January 2023, where participants reported sociodemographic and workplace factors.
Introduction: Evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) plays a vital role in public health practice. Canada has invested in support for evidence-informed approaches in public health. Despite growing expectations for EIDM, evidence integration has not been thoroughly evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: As evidence related to the COVID-19 pandemic surged, databases, platforms, and repositories evolved with features and functions to assist users in promptly finding the most relevant evidence. In response, research synthesis teams adopted novel searching strategies to sift through the vast amount of evidence to synthesize and disseminate the most up-to-date evidence. This paper explores the key database features that facilitated systematic searching for rapid evidence synthesis during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform knowledge management infrastructure during future global health emergencies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Achievement of evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) requires the integration of evidence into all practice decisions by identifying and synthesizing evidence, then developing and executing plans to implement and evaluate changes to practice. This rapid systematic review synthesizes evidence for strategies for the implementation of EIDM across organizations, mapping facilitators and barriers to the COM-B (capability, opportunity, motivation, behaviour) model for behaviour change. The review was conducted to support leadership at organizations delivering public health services (health promotion, communicable disease prevention) to drive change toward evidence-informed public health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Effective health promotion responds to the unique needs of communities. Community granting programs that fund community-driven health promotion initiatives are a potential mechanism to meet those unique needs. While numerous community health-focused programs are available, the various strategies used by granting programs to foster engagement, administer grants and support awardees have not been systematically evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDue to rapidly evolving conditions, the question of how to safely operate schools and daycares remained a top priority throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to growing and changing evidence, the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools in Canada maintained a living rapid review on the role of schools and daycares in COVID-19 transmission to guide evidence-informed decision making. This Review presents the final iteration of this living rapid review.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Public Health Surveill
January 2024
Background: Public health surveillance plays a vital role in informing public health decision-making. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 caused a widespread shift in public health priorities. Global efforts focused on COVID-19 monitoring and contact tracing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To identify candidate quality indicators from existing tools that provide guidance on how to practice knowledge translation and implemenation science (KT practice tools) across KT domains (dissemination, implementation, sustainability, and scalability).
Study Design And Setting: We conducted a scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis. We systematically searched multiple electronic databases and the gray literature.
Background: As population demographics continue to shift, many employees will also be tasked with providing informal care to a friend or family member. The balance between working and caregiving can greatly strain carer-employees. Caregiver-friendly work environments can help reduce this burden.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStructural racism is the historical and ongoing reinforcement of racism within society due to discriminatory systems and inequitable distribution of key resources. Racism, embedded within institutional structures, processes and values, perpetuates historical injustices and restricts access to structural factors that directly impact health, such as housing, education and employment. Due to the complex and pervasive nature of structural racism, interventions that act at the structural level, rather than the individual level, are necessary to improve racial health equity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective of this scoping review is to identify and characterize relevant knowledge translation methods tools (those that provide guidance for optimized knowledge translation practice) to uncover candidate quality indicators to inform a future quality assessment tool for knowledge translation strategies.
Introduction: Knowledge translation strategies (defined as including knowledge translation interventions, tools, and products) target various knowledge users, including patients, clinicians, researchers, and policy-makers. The development and use of strategies that support knowledge translation practice have been rapidly increasing, making it difficult for knowledge users to decide which to use.
Valid, reliable, and acceptable tools for assessing self-reported competence in evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) are required to provide insight into the current status of EIDM knowledge, skills, attitudes/beliefs, and behaviours for registered nurses working in public health. The purpose of this study was to assess the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the EIDM Competence Measure. A psychometric study design was employed guided by the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing and general measurement development principles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study examined the associations between public health engagement (PHE) in school-based substance use prevention programs and student substance use. For the purposes of this study, PHE refers to any form of collaboration between the local government public health agency and the school to promote the physical and mental health of students.
Methods: Data for this study were collected from the Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol use, Smoking and Sedentary behaviour (COMPASS) study during the 2018/2019 data collection year.
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health workforce has experienced re-deployment from core functions such as health promotion, disease prevention, and health protection, to preventing and tracking the spread of COVID-19. With continued pandemic deployment coupled with the exacerbation of existing health disparities due to the pandemic, public health systems need to re-start the delivery of core public health programming alongside COVID-19 activities. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify strategies that support the re-integration of core public health programming alongside ongoing pandemic or emergency response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: The purpose of this study is to: (a) describe public health nursing roles over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada; (b) describe the contextual factors that influence public health nursing role implementation; and (c) describe nurses' perceived impact of their roles on client outcomes and professional/personal nursing practice.
Design: Descriptive multiple case study.
Methods: Recruitment of public health nurses (PHNs), working in direct service or administrative leadership positions, in an Ontario public health unit will be conducted through purposive and snowball sampling.
Introduction: Household food insecurity (HFI) is a persistent public health issue in Canada that may have disproportionately affected certain subgroups of the population during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this systematic review is to report on the prevalence of HFI in the Canadian general population and in subpopulations after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Methods: Sixteen databases were searched from 1 March 2020 to 5 May 2021.
Background: Public health professionals are expected to use the best available research and contextual evidence to inform decision-making. The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools developed, implemented, and evaluated a Knowledge Broker mentoring program aimed at facilitating organization-wide evidence-informed decision-making in ten public health units in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of this study was to pragmatically assess the impact of the program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The COVID-19 public health crisis has produced an immense and quickly evolving body of evidence. This research speed and volume, along with variability in quality, could overwhelm public health decision-makers striving to make timely decisions based on the best available evidence. In response to this challenge, the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools developed a Rapid Evidence Service, building on internationally accepted rapid review methodologies, to address priority COVID-19 public health questions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCochrane Database Syst Rev
September 2021
Background: Physical activity among children and adolescents is associated with lower adiposity, improved cardio-metabolic health, and improved fitness. Worldwide, fewer than 30% of children and adolescents meet global physical activity recommendations of at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day. Schools may be ideal sites for interventions given that children and adolescents in most parts of the world spend a substantial amount of time in transit to and from school or attending school.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: True evidence-informed decision-making in public health relies on incorporating evidence from a number of sources in addition to traditional scientific evidence. Lack of access to these types of data as well as ease of use and interpretability of scientific evidence contribute to limited uptake of evidence-informed decision-making in practice. An electronic evidence system that includes multiple sources of evidence and potentially novel computational processing approaches or artificial intelligence holds promise as a solution to overcoming barriers to evidence-informed decision-making in public health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT) is part of a network of six National Collaborating Centres for Public Health (NCC) created in 2005 by the federal government following the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic to strengthen public health infrastructure in Canada. The work of the NCCMT, to support evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) in public health in Canada, is accomplished by curating trustworthy evidence, building competence to use evidence and accelerating change in EIDM. Ongoing engagement with its target audiences ensures NCCMT's relevance and ability to respond to evolving public health needs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are professional expectations for public health nurses to develop competencies in evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) due to its potential for improved client outcomes. Robust tools to assess EIDM competence can encourage increased EIDM engagement and uptake. This study aimed to develop and validate the content of a measure to assess EIDM competence among public health nurses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF