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RESEARCH AND PRACTICE |
Benita E. Cohen is with the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Benita E. Cohen, RN, PhD, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Room 377, Helen Glass Centre for Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB. R3T 2N2 Canada (e-mail: benita_cohen{at}umanitoba.ca).
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ABSTRACT |
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 TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTIONMETHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONReferences |
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I explored the discourse on population health within 3 diverse regional health authorities in Manitoba, Winnipeg, with a focus on the public health sector. At all study sites, population health was viewed primarily as an epidemiological tool for population health assessment and surveillance rather than as an approach to taking action on the broad determinants of health. My findings suggest that concerns about the limitations of population health as a framework for public health efforts to reduce inequities in health are warranted.
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INTRODUCTION |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONReferences |
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Here, I describe the findings of a study that examined, among other things, the discourse on population health at the regional level in a Canadian province. In Canada, fiduciary responsibility for health care lies with the provincial and territorial governments, most of which have further designated authority and responsibility for the planning and delivery of health care services to the regional level over the past decade. These findings provide "food for thought" for those who are contemplating applying a population health framework to public health planning in the United States and elsewhere.
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METHODS |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONReferences |
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Data were collected primarily using the key informant interview method; data were supplemented by analyzing key documents (e.g., annual health plans, community health needs assessment reports, policy manuals). Key participants were selected using purposive sampling, with a focus on the public health sector. In the context of Canada’s universally funded health care system, the term public health sector is not used here as the opposite of the private health sector. Instead, the public health sector refers to the range of services, programs, and strategies outside of the acute-care sector that encompass health promotion, disease prevention, health protection, and healthy public policy.
Sixty-one semistructured interviews were conducted with board members, administrators, public health program managers, and frontline public health practitioners (primarily public health nurses) in each regional health authority over a 6-month period. Because the provincial government had adopted a population health framework for health promotion,7 all of the interviews began by asking the participants a series of questions about the "population health approach" in health care (see box on this page). I have summarized the responses to these questions. The findings regarding capacity for health promotion in public health practice—focusing on the perspectives of public health nurses—are reported elsewhere.8
| Interview Questions Related to Population Health T "When you hear someone referring to a population health approach to health care, what does that term mean to you?" "To what extent is a population health approach or perspective being used in this regional health authority? In your daily work/practice?" "Which determinants of population health are you most/least likely to influence in your day-to-day practice?"a aThis question was only posed to public health nurses.
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I transcribed the interviews and performed a thematic question analysis. For all questions, only those response-types that were of similar content at all 3 study sites were included in the analysis. I categorized participants’ responses to the question about the definition of population health according to the focus of the definition provided (see Results section).
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RESULTS |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONReferences |
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). By comparison, relatively few key participants defined population health as an approach to health promotion that emphasizes taking action on the determinants of health. The need to reduce social and economic inequalities in health status was barely acknowledged as a key element of a population health perspective. (Only 2 of 61 participants even mentioned this!)
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In response to questions about how a population health perspective was influencing regional health authority policy and practice, most participants gave examples of planning or program activities within the organization that they believed were influenced by a population health perspective. However, many individuals struggled to clarify what the organization’s role was (and what their own individual roles were) in addressing determinants of population health in their regions. The following response, from a program manager, was typical: "Of those determinants, how much is actually within the capacity or the control of a regional health authority, let alone an individual public health nurse? So you can quickly feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem." Although virtually all public health nurses identified low income as the key determinant of health affecting the people whom they dealt with in their practice, these same nurses stated that low income was the determinant of health that they were least likely to influence. Managers and frontline practitioners identified lack of time, skills, or comfort with engaging in strategies to address the broad determinants of health, such as community development and healthy public policy advocacy, as challenges to overcome.
These findings lend credence to the observation that despite Canada’s reputation as a leader in population health, actual public health practice in Canada does not adequately address poverty and other societal determinants of health.6,10
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DISCUSSION |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONReferences |
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Does this mean that we need to discard population health as a framework for public health practice? Not at all. A group of Canadian researchers recently called for a "critical population health" research perspective, which requires asking more critical questions about the social and economic causes and consequences of health inequalities that are observed and seeks to create an equitable distribution of the social and economic conditions that are required to reduce these health inequalities.17,18 A critical population health approach to public health practice is equally essential. Such an approach would not only link what is known about societal determinants of health with action strategies to address these determinants but also focus all decisions related to public health program planning, delivery, and evaluation and staff development through an equity lens. Several conceptual frameworks that could provide the basis for a critical population health approach to public health practice have been formulated.19–24 More work needs to be done to develop strategies for integrating this type of conceptual framework into public health practice at the regional and local levels. Otherwise, the current gap between knowledge and action in promoting population health25 will likely remain.
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Acknowledgments |
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The author would like to thank Dennis Raphael for helpful comments about an earlier draft of this brief.
Human Participant Protection
This project received approval from the faculty of medicine’s research ethics board at the University of Manitoba.
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Footnotes |
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Accepted for publication November 7, 2005.
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References |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONReferences |
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2. Federal Provincial Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health. Strategies for Population Health: Investing in the Health of Canadians. Ottawa, Ontario: Ministry of Supplies and Services; 1994.
3. Lavis JN, Ross SE, Stoddart GL, Hohenadel JM, McLeod CB, Evans RG. Do Canadian civil servants care about the health of populations? Am J Public Health. 2003;93:658–663.
4. Frankish CJ, Veenstra G. Population health in Canada: issues and challenges for policy, practice and research. Can J Public Health. 1999;90(suppl 1):S71–75.[Web of Science][Medline]
5. Paluck EC, Williamson DL, Milligan CD, Frankish CJ. The use of population health and health promotion research by health regions in Canada. Can J Public Health. 2001;92:19–23.[Web of Science][Medline]
6. Williamson DL. The role of the health sector in addressing poverty. Can J Public Health. 2001;92:178–183.[Web of Science][Medline]
7. Manitoba Health. A Planning Framework to Promote, Preserve and Protect the Health of Manitobans. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Manitoba Health; 1987.
8. Cohen B. Barriers to population-focused health promotion: the experience of public health nurses in Manitoba. Can J Nurs Res. In press.
9. Dunn J. Toward a lexicon of population health. Can J Public Health. 1999;90(suppl 1):S7–S10.[Medline]
10. Raphael D. Barriers to addressing the societal determinants of health: public health units and poverty in Ontario, Canada. Health Promot Int. 2003;18: 397–405.
11. Labonte R. Population health and health promotion: what do they have to say to each other? Can J Public Health. 1995;86:165–168.[Web of Science][Medline]
12. Poland B, Coburn D, Robertson A, Eakin J. Critical Social Science and Health Group. Wealth, equity, and health care: a critique of a "population health" perspective on the determinants of health. Soc Sci Med. 1998;46:785–798.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
13. Robertson A. Shifting discourses on health in Canada: from health promotion to population health. Health Promot Int. 1998;13:155–166.
14. Raphael D, Bryant T. Putting the population into population health. Can J Public Health. 2000;91: 9–12.[Web of Science][Medline]
15. Coburn D, Denny K, Mykhalovskiy E, McDonough P, Robertson A, Love R. Population health in Canada: a brief critique. Am J Public Health. 2003;93: 392–396.
16. Raphael D, Bryant T. The limitations of population health as a model for a new public health. Health Promot Int. 2002;17:189–199.
17. Labonte R. Editorial: towards a critical population health research. Crit Public Health. 2005;15:1–3.[CrossRef]
18. Labonte R, Polanyi M, Muhajarine N, McIntosh T, Williams A. Beyond the divides: towards critical population health research. Crit Public Health. 2005;15: 5–17.[CrossRef]
19. Braveman P. Monitoring equity in health and healthcare: a conceptual framework. J Health Popul Nutr. 2003;21:181–192.[Web of Science][Medline]
20. Diderichsen F, Evans T, Whitehead M. The social basis of disparities in health. In: Evans T, Whitehead M, Diderichsen F, Bhuiya A, eds. Challenging Inequities in Health: From Ethics to Action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2001:12–23.
21. Hamilton N, Bhatti T. Population Health Promotion: An Integrated Model of Population Health and Health Promotion. Ottawa, Ontario: Health Canada, Health Promotion and Development Division; 1996.
22. Raphael D, Bryant T, Curry-Stevens A. Toronto charter outlines future health policy directions for Canada and elsewhere. Health Promot Int. 2004;19: 269–273.
23. Starfield B. Equity, social determinants, and children’s rights: coming to grips with the challenges. Ambul Pediatr. 2005;5:134–137.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
24. Yach D, Skov Jensen A, Norris A, Evans T. Promoting equity in health. Promot Educ. 1998;5:7–13.
25. Raphael D, Bryant T. Public health concerns in Canada, USA, UK, and Sweden: exploring the gaps between knowledge and action in promoting population health. In: Raphael D, Bryant T, Rioux M, eds. Staying Alive: Critical Studies in Health, Illness, and Health Care. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Scholars Press; 2006: 347–372.
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| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
