ABSTRACT
The significant burden of home injuries has become a growing concern that affect thousands of people every year across Canada. This study examined the relationship between neighbourhood deprivation and unintentional injuries occurring at home leading to hospitalizations in British Columbia (BC) between 2015 and 2019. This study used de-identified hospitalization data on unintentional home-related injuries from the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and population data for each dissemination area from Statistics Canada's 2016 Census Profiles. Hospitalization rates were computed for unintentional home-related injuries across four dimensions specified in the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) for BC. For three CIMD dimensions (situational vulnerability, economic dependency, and residential instability), unintentional home injury rates were higher in areas with higher deprivation, while the inverse was observed for ethno-cultural diversity. Understanding socio-economic disparities within neighbourhoods enables injury prevention partners to identify vulnerable populations and prioritize the development and implementation of evidence-based injury prevention interventions.
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INTRODUCTION: Improving sustainable transportation options will help cities tackle growing challenges related to population health, congestion, climate change and inequity. Interventions supporting active transportation face many practical and political hurdles. Implementation science aims to understand how interventions or policies arise, how they can be translated to new contexts or scales and who benefits. Sustainable transportation interventions are complex, and existing implementation science frameworks may not be suitable. To apply and adapt implementation science for healthy cities, we have launched our mixed-methods research programme, CapaCITY/É. We aim to understand how, why and for whom sustainable transportation interventions are successful and when they are not. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Across nine Canadian municipalities and the State of Victoria (Australia), our research will focus on two types of sustainable transportation interventions: all ages and abilities bicycle networks and motor vehicle speed management interventions. We will (1) document the implementation process and outcomes of both types of sustainable transportation interventions; (2) examine equity, health and mobility impacts of these interventions; (3) advance implementation science by developing a novel sustainable transportation implementation science framework and (4) develop tools for scaling up and scaling out sustainable transportation interventions. Training activities will develop interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners able to work at the nexus of academia and sustainable cities. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study received approval from the Simon Fraser University Office of Ethics Research (H22-03469). A Knowledge Mobilization Hub will coordinate dissemination of findings via a website; presentations to academic, community organisations and practitioner audiences; and through peer-reviewed articles.
Subject(s)
Capacity Building , Implementation Science , Humans , Cities , Canada , VictoriaABSTRACT
In Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its list of Calls to Action (CTA) in 2015, and five Calls were directly related to reconciliation and sport. Within these five sport-related CTA, there was no specific reference to gender. Lacrosse, as an Indigenous cultural practice that has been culturally appropriated by white settlers, is a complex site to investigate how the TRC's CTA is (or are not) being implemented and the ways in which these efforts are gendered. In this paper, we examined how staff at Canadian lacrosse organizations address the CTA and Indigenous women's and girls' participation in lacrosse. Through the use of Indigenous feminist theory, feminist methodologies informed by the tenets of Indigenous methodologies, semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, our findings demonstrate that Indigenous women and girls are commonly overlooked, and gender is typically an afterthought within the implementation of sport-related CTA by lacrosse organizing bodies in Canada - if they are implemented at all. As a result, we argue that there is a need to make gender a central organizing principle when lacrosse organizations within Canada implement the TRC's CTA.
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This study contributes to a growing body of scholarly discussions around the many aspects and challenges of combining parenthood with elite-level sport, with a particular focus on the experiences of male elite athletes who are fathers. We used a caring masculinities theoretical framework, community-based participatory research, and semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of 10 elite/international and world-class athletes (n = 9 fathers, n = 1 expectant father). Through reflexive thematic analysis, we identified three main themes: fatherhood can (1) improve and (2) impede elite athlete-fathers' athletic performance; and (3) athlete-fathers experience a trade-off between athletic performance and fatherhood responsibilities. Our findings underscore the ways in which male athletes' experiences with parenthood reflect the new era of involved fatherhood and are analogous to some of the identity tensions that have been reported with regard to the experiences of elite female athletes who are pregnant and/or mothers. Recognizing the impact of children on male athletes' athletic careers and the parallels between fatherhood, motherhood, and elite sport may lead to better support for athlete-fathers while also contributing to diminishing the expectation that women are primary caregivers to children.
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Recently, motherhood and pregnancy in elite sport have received increased attention in sport media. Through a comprehensive news media search across Factiva as well as a gray literature search using Google search engine, we analyzed 115 articles using feminist framing analysis. We developed two primary frames: 1) empowerment versus exploitation, and 2) proactivity versus reactivity. Our results show that many pregnant and parenting athletes frame their respective sponsors as exploitative for recognizing and capitalizing upon their unique marketing value, while these same corporate sponsors frame themselves as industry leaders who empower pregnant and parenting athletes. These two frames show that pregnant/parenting elite athletes commonly face discriminatory policies and practices and that there is often a lack of congruence between marketing and actual corporate practices and policies. These findings arguably reflect larger societal issues related to gender equity and highlight the importance of action over rhetoric to ensure motherhood is supported-rather than marketed-for elite athletes.
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Eekeeluak Avalak, an 18-year-old Inuk wrestler who won the first-ever gold medal for Nunavut at the Canada Summer Games in 2022, dedicated his win to his late brother who died by suicide in 2015. Avalak openly attributed sport - specifically wrestling - to saving his own life. This story raises important questions about the role of sport and traditional games in Inuit suicide prevention strategies. Few studies have examined the role of sport or traditional games in Inuit suicide prevention strategies. In an attempt to reduce Inuit suicide rates, in addition to the National Inuit Prevention Strategy, three of the four land claim regions that constitute Inuit Nunangat have suicide prevention strategies. In this study, we used settler colonial theory, critical Inuit studies, and content analysis to examine if and how sport and Inuit traditional games are identified as prevention tools in these Inuit suicide prevention strategies. The results demonstrate that sport and traditional games have largely been overlooked as protective factors in current Inuit-wide and land-claim specific suicide prevention strategies. Moving forward, evidence-based and community-driven approaches could be funded, created, implemented, and evaluated as culturally-safe Inuit mental health intervention models to address the disproportionately high suicide rates among Inuit in Inuit Nunangat.
Subject(s)
Sports , Suicide Prevention , Suicide , Adolescent , Humans , Male , Canada/epidemiology , Inuit , Nunavut , Suicide/psychologyABSTRACT
The primary objective of this community-based participatory research is to explore the impacts of COVID-19 and the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on world-class and elite/international-class parenting and pregnant athletes. Participants in this study include 11 female and 10 male parenting and/or pregnant middle and distance runners. Combined, the participants have competed at 26 Olympic Games and 31 World Championships. Drawing on the general concepts of stressors and psychological resilience, we use thematic analysis to develop four themes to understand the stressors for world-class and elite/international-class parenting and pregnant athletes due to COVID-19 and the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: (1) lack of childcare support, (2) family planning, and (3) needing to stay away from sources of COVID-including their children. Despite the stressors identified in the aforementioned themes, we identified a fourth theme: (4) participants demonstrated adaptability to stress in spite of-or due to-their athlete-parent identities.
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Parenting education interventions and parenting programs are important for health promotion efforts among children and families; however, the majority of parenting programs are directed towards and attended by mothers. This is problematic because research has consistently demonstrated that fathers' active participation in the family can have a positive influence on mothers' well-being, children's self-esteem, success in school, and interpersonal relationships. In this paper, using an intersectional poststructuralist framework, document analysis, and Bacchi and Goodwin's "What's the problem represented to be" approach (WPR), we analyzed the program policies of 12 organizations that provide family-centred services in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We identified the following three discourses: organizations strive to be client-centred and provide choices; organizations want to empower their participants; and women need safe place to raise their families. Our analysis revealed that fathers are absent or represented as problems in program policies, and that this has consequences for not only fathers but also mothers and children.
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PURPOSE: The International Olympic Committee expert group on pregnancy has identified a paucity of information regarding training and performance in truly elite athletes. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify elite runners' training volume throughout pregnancy and postpartum competition performance outcomes. METHODS: Forty-two elite (>50% competed at the World Championships/Olympic) middle-/long-distance runners' training before, during, and after pregnancy (quality/quantity/type) data (retrospective questionnaire) and competition data (published online) were collected. RESULTS: Running volume decreased significantly ( P < 0.01) from the first trimester (63 ± 34 km·wk -1 ) to the third trimester (30 ± 30 km·wk -1 ). Participants returned to activity/exercise at ~6 wk postpartum and to 80% of prepregnancy training volumes by 3 months. Participants who intended to return to equivalent performance levels postpregnancy, there was no statistical decrease in performance in the 1 to 3 yr postpregnancy compared with prepregnancy, and ~56% improved performances postpregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: This study features the largest cohort of elite runners training and competition outcomes assessed throughout pregnancy, with training volumes being approximately two to four times greater than current guidelines. For the first time, performance was directly assessed (due to the quantifiable nature of elite running), and study participants who intended to return to high-level competition did so at a statistically similar level of performance in the 1- to 3-yr period postpregnancy. Taken together, this article provides much needed insights into current training practices and performance of elite pregnant runners, which should help to inform future training guidelines as well as sport policy and sponsor expectations around return to training timelines and performance.
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Athletic Performance , Pregnancy , Running , Female , Humans , Pregnancy/physiology , Athletes/statistics & numerical data , Retrospective Studies , Running/physiology , Athletic Performance/physiology , Cohort StudiesABSTRACT
Boating-related fatalities in the Northwest Territories (NWT) are well above the national average. These fatalities are exacerbated by very cold water, and water and boating safety resources that lack relevance to residents of northern communities. We utilised an iterative, participatory approach to create a plain language, culturally and geographically adapted version of a cold water survival course, "Beyond Cold Water Bootcamp". The purpose of this research was to determine what adaptations are necessary to create appealing and pertinent boating safety interventions for Inuvialuit communities in the NWT and to demonstrate the value of generating such interventions. First, we conducted a focus group with boating safety experts to gain feedback on the first draft of the adapted course. We then subsequently completed a pilot of the course with community members in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, and we obtained their feedback and suggestions. We then trained a local community member to deliver the course and conducted another focus group with residents. Using reflexive thematic analysis, our results demonstrated the value of culturally and geographically adapted boating safety interventions for Inuvialuit communities and the importance of relinquishing colonial power structures and enabling community members to independently adapt and disseminate knowledge.
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Population Groups , Water , Canada , Humans , Northwest TerritoriesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is inconsistency across child development and care literature in operationalizing serious play-related injury and also a lack of understanding of how mothers and fathers conceptualize serious play-related injury. The current study explores parents' perspectives of their 2- to 7-year-old children's serious play-related injuries in urban and rural areas of British Columbia and Québec, Canada, and provides an urban/rural and gender analysis of the results. METHODS: We conducted semistructured interviews with 41 mothers and 63 fathers from 57 families, a total of 104 participants, in urban and rural locations in British Columbia and Québec, Canada. We used a social constructionist approach to the research and reflexive thematic analysis to construct themes from participant responses and to inform the consequent categorizations of serious play-related injury. RESULTS: The results indicate four categories of parents' conceptualizations of serious play-related injury: (a) injury requiring medical intervention, (b) injury resulting in head trauma, (c) injury resulting in debilitation, and (d) broken bones. CONCLUSIONS: Child development and care advocates can use these categories to strengthen their communications with parents and to improve understanding of parents' conceptualizations of children's serious play-related injury.
Subject(s)
Concept Formation , Fathers/psychology , Mothers/psychology , Play and Playthings/injuries , Wounds and Injuries/psychology , Adult , Aged , Canada , Child , Child Behavior , Child Development , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Parent-Child Relations , Parenting/psychology , Play and Playthings/psychology , Young AdultABSTRACT
Unintentional injuries are one of the leading causes of death worldwide, yet they are predictable and avoidable events. Community-based approaches to injury prevention are those where researchers and/or injury prevention specialists work alongside the target population to identify injury prevention issues and then co-create strategies that are relevant to the population. Community-based strategies differ from other approaches as they strive to conduct research with, rather than on marginalized groups. A community-based approach to social marketing, injury prevention and risk messaging was applied in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada, to examine and address men's boating safety behaviours. Community participants identified the need for northern-based safety resources and a community-wide education campaign. As demonstrated through this example, community-based strategies should be considered for injury prevention, as the involvement of local community members may lead to more effective risk messaging that reflects the needs, culture, and experiences of the target group, while promoting healthy behaviours.
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Drowning/prevention & control , Personal Protective Equipment , Safety , Ships , Community Participation , Humans , Male , Northwest Territories , Social MarketingABSTRACT
First Nations women who live on rural and remote reserves in Canada leave their communities between 36 and 38 weeks gestational age to receive labor and birthing services in large urban centers. The process and administrative details of this process are undocumented despite decades of relocation as a routine component of maternity care. Using data from 32 semistructured interviews and information from peer-reviewed literature, grey literature, and public documents, I constructed a descriptive map and a visual representation of the policy. I present new and detailed information about Canada's health policy as well as recommendations to address the health care gaps identified.
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Health Policy , Health Services Accessibility , Health Services, Indigenous/organization & administration , Indians, North American , Midwifery/methods , Parturition/ethnology , Pregnant Women/psychology , Canada , Female , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Manitoba , Maternal Health Services/organization & administration , Medically Underserved Area , Pregnancy , Pregnant Women/ethnology , Qualitative Research , Rural PopulationABSTRACT
Despite the proliferation of age-friendly cities in Canada that are intended to support older adults to age well, there are still many inequalities between groups of older adults, particularly, and of concern for this paper, between Indigenous older adults, who experience colonialism's ongoing impacts, and non-Indigenous older adults. A better understanding of factors that inform these inequalities will help in the development of policies and programs that better support Indigenous older adults to age well and, thus, will contribute to ameliorating the inequalities that they face. Using a community-based participatory research approach, informed by a postcolonial theoretical lens, in this paper we addressed the question, "what community-level factors contribute to Indigenous older adults (aged 55 years and over) feeling supported to age well in the city of Ottawa?" We specifically examined this question in relation to the age-friendly communities framework, which guides the City of Ottawa's Older Adult Plan. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and photovoice with 32 First Nations and Inuit older adults revealed that the participants felt both supported and unsupported to age well. More specifically, there were two main areas in which they felt they could be better supported to age well: the social environment and physical environment. There were three subthemes within the social environment theme: responsive health and community support services, respect and recognition, and communication and information. Within the physical environment theme there were four subthemes: transportation, housing, accessibility, and gathering space. The results demonstrate that despite there being similarities in the areas that the participants felt they needed support and the areas on which the Older Adult Plan focuses, if the domains of aging well initiatives do not better account for the impacts of colonialism, it is unlikely that they will be effective in supporting Indigenous older adults' health and well-being.
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Independent Living , Inuit , Social Environment , Social Support , Aged , Cities , Female , Health Services for the Aged , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Male , Quebec , Socioeconomic FactorsABSTRACT
This paper used netnography and thematic analysis of the comments made in online news articles to understand better the public response to the closure of the only KFC restaurant in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, in 2015. While the popular media often cover fast-food restaurant closures, past academic research has not examined the public response to these closures. To begin to fill this gap, we examined the comments sections of five online news articles from the Canadian news outlet, CBC.ca, and reactions shared on Facebook. 239 commenters made 308 publicly available online comments addressing the closure. Key themes in commenter perceptions included pro-closure reactions, which were based on the perceived public health benefits of reduced fast-food consumption, and anti-closure reactions to such factors as the loss of a local landmark and a source of positive memories. The unfavorable reactions appeared to pose a significant barrier to public acceptance of the KFC closure. This paper argues that it is important to examine public perceptions of fast-food closures to understand better what these restaurants mean to individuals and communities. This information, in turn, can be used to promote healthier restaurant-eating in ways that will complement efforts to encourage healthier food choices.
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Attitude , Diet , Fast Foods , Mass Media , Public Opinion , Restaurants , Social Media , Canada , Commerce , Food Preferences , Humans , InternetABSTRACT
Background and Purpose Child safety campaigns play an important role in disseminating injury prevention information to families. A critical discourse analysis of gender bias in child safety campaign marketing materials can offer important insights into how families are represented and the potential influence that gender bias may have on uptake of injury prevention information. Methods Our approach was informed by poststructural feminist theory, and we used critical discourse analysis to identify discourses within the poster materials. We examined the national Safe Kids Canada Safe Kids Week campaign poster material spanning twenty years (1997-2016). Specifically, we analyzed the posters' typeface, colour, images, and language to identify gender bias in relation to discourses surrounding parenting, safety, and societal perceptions of gender. Results The findings show that there is gender bias present in the Safe Kids Week poster material. The posters represent gender as binary, mothers as primary caregivers, and showcase stereotypically masculine sporting equipment among boys and stereotypically feminine equipment among girls. Interestingly, we found that the colour and typeface of the text both challenge and perpetuate the feminization of safety. Discussion It is recommended that future child safety campaigns represent changing family dynamics, include representations of children with non-traditionally gendered sporting equipment, and avoid the representation of gender as binary. This analysis contributes to the discussion of the feminization of safety in injury prevention research and challenges the ways in which gender is represented in child safety campaigns.
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Accident Prevention , Health Promotion/statistics & numerical data , Safety , Sexism/statistics & numerical data , Wounds and Injuries/prevention & control , Advertising , Canada/epidemiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Male , Program EvaluationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Aboriginal peoples in Canada are comprised of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. Health care services for First Nations who live on rural and remote reserves are mostly provided by the Government of Canada through the federal department, Health Canada. One Health Canada policy, the evacuation policy, requires all First Nations women living on rural and remote reserves to leave their communities between 36 and 38 weeks gestational age and travel to urban centres to await labour and birth. Although there are a few First Nations communities in Canada that have re-established community birthing and Aboriginal midwifery is growing, most First Nations communities are still reliant on the evacuation policy for labour and birthing services. In one Canadian province, Manitoba, First Nations women are evacuated to The Pas, Thompson, or Winnipeg but most - including all women with high-risk pregnancies - go to Winnipeg. AIM: To contribute scholarship that describes First Nations women's and community members' experiences and perspectives of Health Canada's evacuation policy in Manitoba. METHODS: Applying intersectional theory to data collected through 12 semi-structured interviews with seven women and five community members (four females, one male) in Manitoba who had experienced the evacuation policy. The data were analyzed thematically, which revealed three themes: resignation, resilience, and resistance. FINDINGS: The theme of resignation was epitomized by the quote, "Nobody has a choice." The ability to withstand and endure the evacuation policy despite poor or absent communication and loneliness informed of resilience. Resistance was demonstrated by women who questioned the necessity and requirement of evacuation for labour and birth. In one instance, resistance took the form of a planned homebirth with Aboriginal registered midwives. CONCLUSION: There is a pressing need to improve the maternity care services that First Nations women receive when they are evacuated out of their communities, particularly when understood from the specific legal and constitutional position of First Nations women in Manitoba.
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Health Policy , Health Services, Indigenous , Indians, North American , Inuit , Midwifery/methods , Parturition/ethnology , Pregnant Women/psychology , Resilience, Psychological , Rural Population , Adult , Canada , Delivery, Obstetric , Female , Health Services Accessibility , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Male , Politics , Pregnancy , Pregnant Women/ethnology , Qualitative Research , Young AdultABSTRACT
The Kivalliq Inuit Centre (KIC), a boarding home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is unique in its provision of a pilot prenatal education class and public health nursing services for Nunavummiut who are beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement. Through a critical review of literature, policies and interviews related to evacuation for birth, we argue that the pilot at the KIC has the potential to play an important role in improving maternal child health for residents of Nunavut.
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Inuit , Prenatal Education/methods , Residential Facilities , Female , Humans , Manitoba , Maternal Health Services , Nunavut , Patient Transfer , PregnancyABSTRACT
The 2011 National Household Survey found that the number of Aboriginal peoples in Canada aged 65 and over has increased by over 46 % since the 2006 Canadian Census (Statistics Canada 2011). Despite this dramatic increase in older Aboriginal peoples, there is a dearth of research concerning this cohort, especially regarding their engagement with physical activity. Using a case study methodology, this research sought to examine if the Northwest Territories (NWT) Recreation and Parks Association's (NWTRPA) Elders in Motion (EIM) program is culturally relevant for the participants. For this research we used a postcolonial theoretical framework since many of the participants in EIM are Aboriginal older adults and have experienced, and continue to experience, the effects of colonialism. To address this aim we conducted nine semi-structured interviews with EIM program leaders and NWTRPA staff, and supplemented these with archival research of EIM program documents. The findings show that the NWTRPA has adapted many EIM program documents for the participants and thus attempts to be culturally relevant for the participants. There are, however, aspects of the program that are not culturally relevant and actually reinforce colonialism, specifically with the program content (i.e. activities that are a part of EIM). In light of these findings, recommendations are offered for the NWTRPA on how the EIM program can become more culturally relevant for its Aboriginal participants.