State dependency and the lingering impacts of colonialism dancing with Aboriginal peoples are known realities across the Canadian health care landscape. However, delving into the discourses of how to reduce health disparities of a colonized population is a sophisticated issue with many factors to consider. Specifically, nurses can play a central role in the delivery of essential health services to the ‘Other’ within isolated Northern Aboriginal communities. As an extension of the state health care system, nurses have a duty to provide responsive and relevant health care services to Aboriginal peoples. The conducted qualitative research, influenced by a postcolonial epistemology, sought to explore the roles and challenges of nurses working within rural, remote, and Northern Canadian Aboriginal communities, as well as individual, organizational, and system level factors that supported or impeded nurses’ work in helping to meet Aboriginal peoples’ health needs with meaningful care. Theorists include the works of Fanon on colonization and racial construction; Kristeva on semiotics and abjection; and Foucault on power/knowledge, governmentality, and bio-power were used in providing a theoretical framework to help enlighten the research study presented within this dissertation. Critical Discourse Analysis of twenty-five semi-structured interviews with nurses, physicians, and regional health care administrators was deployed to gain a better understanding of the responsibilities and challenges of nurses working in Northern Canada. Specifically, the research study was conducted in one of the three health regions within Northern Saskatchewan. Major findings of this study include: (1) the Aboriginal person did not exist without being in a relation with their colonial agent, the nurse, (2) being ‘Aboriginal’ was constructed as a source of treating illnesses and managing diseases, and (3) as a collective force, nursing was utilized as means of governmentality and as provisions of care situated within colonial laws. Historically, nurses functioned as a weapon to ‘save’ and ‘civilize’ Aboriginal peoples for purposes of the state. Primarily, present day nursing roles focused on health care duties to promote a decency of the state, followed by missionary tasks. In turn, the findings of this research study indicate that nurses must have a better understanding of the impact of colonialism on Aboriginal peoples’ health before they engage with local communities. Knowledge development through postcolonial scholarship in nursing can help nurses and health service providers to strengthen their self-reflective practice, in working towards de-signifying poor discourses around Aboriginal peoples’ health and to help create new discourses.

Despite harm reduction’s social justice roots, the broader understanding of harm reduction is often influenced by morals and values which leaves harm reduction to be conceptualized within a morality policy domain. This study adopts the Qualitative-Narrative Policy Framework (Q-NPF) (Gray & Jones, 2016), to explore the policy beliefs and values that steer current harm reduction policy documents in British Columbia. Four questions guide this study: i) What are the underlying beliefs and values steering harm reduction policy in B.C.? ii) How are these beliefs and values narrated through policy?, iii) In what way do the underlying policy beliefs align with principles of social justice for harm reduction?, and iv) How have policy beliefs shifted since the 2016 public health emergency declaration? The social justice lens for harm reduction (Pauly, 2008) serves as this study’s analytical framework and is supplemented by the Systems Health Equity Lens (Pauly, Shahram, van Roode, Strosher & MacDonald, 2018); both of which emphasize the need for harm reduction to acknowledge and address social and structural conditions that contribute to substance use harms and their inequitable distribution. As this study reveals, there is an ongoing tension between equity-related and non-equity policy beliefs and values characterized within policy documents, thus fueling a policy climate with incongruent and contradictory beliefs. Further, equity-related beliefs are positioned in the confines of equitable access, thus they are not equity-oriented in entirety. Additionally, there have been minimal shifts in policy beliefs since the post-2016 public health emergency declaration yet shifts occur in terms of the specific constructs which form equity-related and non-equity beliefs. Finally, the study outlines potential implications of these beliefs and proposes recommendations to improve harm reduction policy in terms of becoming equity-oriented. This study also outlines methodological contributions to the Q-NPF for future policy narrative and analysis studies. / Graduate / 2022-08-15

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the well documented health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities, particularly those living in underserved urban settings. Due to historic and contemporary structural racism, these areas are often food deserts, lack adequate access to primary care services, and have higher rates of maternal and infant mortality. The lack of public health infrastructure to respond to emergencies, such as pandemics, can be rapidly met with collective action from communities to take care of their most vulnerable. After providing a basic overview of how structural racism has created the present-day disparities seen in communities such as North Philadelphia, this thesis investigates and makes the case for the capacity of these resilient communities to take care of themselves. To this end, I describe the work of North10 Philadelphia, Fabric Masks for North Philly, and the Maternal Wellness Village—community-based organizations that rapidly pivoted their work to fill the unmet needs of people in North Philadelphia related to food insecurity, personal protective equipment, and childbirth preparation and social support, respectively. I describe the utilization of the services provided by these groups and evaluate the evolution of their work from the onset of the pandemic through present day. Following each case study, I share the stories of the leaders behind each project to give voice to the people fighting for the health and wellbeing of their community. Lastly, I reflect on my positionality as a Black woman and medical student at a large academic institution partnering with these groups and assert the need to maintain partnerships with these and similar organizations to ensure the sustainability of their programming in the long term. / Urban Bioethics

Many community-based organizations in urban areas of the United States exist to address the needs of their neighborhood and bridge the gap between the healthcare system and their community. In the Primary Care setting, healthcare providers have the opportunity to address those needs, either through their own expertise or through connecting patients with other resources. Despite this unique role of Primary Care Providers (PCPs), many of them are unaware of the resources that exist in their very own community. PCPs need awareness of, as well as partnership with, these community-based organizations. Integrating these resources into patient care will allow providers to improve health on a population level through a more robust response to patient and community needs. This will ultimately lead to a reduction of health disparities and improved quality of life in the community. This thesis seeks to explore strategies and resources that PCPs can use to better address patient and community needs. / Urban Bioethics

No description available.

Background: Health technology assessment (HTA) is a form of policy analysis to inform recommendations for decision-makers. An equity-focused HTA recommendation consists of one that explicitly addresses the impact of health technologies on individuals disadvantaged in society because of their social conditions. However, there is a need for more evidence on the relationships between patient engagement and the development of equity-focused HTA recommendations. Objectives: The objectives of this dissertation were to examine the association between patient engagement and equity-focused HTA recommendations and identify implementation considerations for patient engagement in HTA. Methods: I used explanatory sequential mixed methods to analyze 60 HTA reports and 11 interviews with patients and analysts from Canadian organizations: the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) and Health Quality Ontario (HQO). Results: Quantitative analysis of the HTA reports showed that patient engagement significantly predicts equity-focused HTA recommendations (OR: 0.26; 95% CI: [0.16 – 0.41]). HTA reviews where HTA analysts directly interviewed patients (OR: 3.85; 95% CI: [2.40 – 6.20]) and where an advisory committee used consensus were more likely to contain equity-focused recommendations (OR: 2.27; 95% CI: [1.35 – 3.84]). Qualitative analysis of the interviews identified strategies for engaging diverse patients in HTA. Conclusion: The findings of this dissertation can inform the designing of patient engagement in HTA.

This study showed that health equity must be achieved through education, awareness, and advocacy. A structured program must be put in place to provide accountability towards achieving health equity within organizations, communities, cites, and states. In Virginia, the Health Equity Campaign was a program put in place to provide such accountability to the citizens of Virginia. This study attempted to evaluate the Health Equity Campaign implemented by the Virginia Department of Health Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy Division of Health Equity in order to get all Virginians to become advocates for health equity in their organizations, communities, neighborhoods. Organizational/group leaders were interviewed in addition to surveying various staff members. This study provides a detailed description of the strength of the Health Equity Campaign's ability to promote education and awareness about health equity and why many participants found it difficult to transition from motivation to advocacy. / Ph. D.

Life course literature states that early childhood development (ECD) can influence most aspects of health throughout the life-cycle. Canada ranked last among 25 wealthy nations in meeting ECD objectives. Fewer than 5% of children born have clinically detectable shortcomings in developmental health, increasing to 26% by school age with emerging socioeconomic associations. Understanding how social determinants of health (SDH) influence ECD at the household and neighbourhood scales would help identify conditions for optimal developmental outcomes. The effects of SDH on ECD in the Kingston, Ontario area were studied. SDH were classified via marginalization (ONMarg) and deprivation (Pampalon) indices. ECD was measured via 2006 Early Development Instrument (EDI) scores for children most at risk upon school entry (Grade One). The basic spatial unit of analysis was 2006 Census of Canada Dissemination Areas, subdivided into quintiles of deprivation (Q1 being the least deprived and Q5 the most). EDI results from each of the quintiles within the two indices were compared and then combined. The socioeconomic health gradient assumes that EDI scores will directly correlate to material and social deprivation. Social deprivation had a slightly greater impact than material deprivation on children’s developmental vulnerability, with Q5 being the most vulnerable in all competencies. Surprisingly, emotional health and social competence were significant areas of vulnerability for children in Q1 and Q2. “Village effects” – when social determinants at the neighbourhood level have protective effects on ECD despite material deprivation at the household level – were present within the Q3 and Q4 groups for the domains of social competency and emotional health. While the highest proportions of early childhood developmental vulnerability are found within the most deprived households, the largest numbers of vulnerable children are spread throughout the middle-class in a variety of neighbourhoods. Canadian policy should focus on mediating avoidable risks within this critical time to avoid future deleterious health effects and costs. Mapping the effects of SDH at the neighbourhood level generates knowledge that informs intersectoral action by policy makers to provide the supports needed to foster healthy children. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2013-05-04 10:36:25.165

Introdução: As condicionalidades de saúde do Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) são consideradas elemento fundamental para melhoria de condições de vida e para a inclusão social sustentável das famílias, promovendo o acesso aos direitos sociais básicos de saúde e de educação. Contudo, este potencial em promover a inclusão depende da organização dos municípios e dos serviços. Objetivo: Avaliar a implementação da atenção à saúde às famílias do PBF, para o cumprimento das condicionalidades da saúde no município do Rio de Janeiro, visando a relacionar o nível e as características de implantação ao cuidado à saúde. Métodos: A tese foi organizada em 4 capítulos escritos em formato de artigo. No primeiro artigo tratamos do processo de formulação das condicionalidades de saúde do PBF. Para isto, o estudo adotou como referencial analítico o modelo de análise de múltiplos fluxos, proposto por Kingdon para quem a mudança na agenda pública acontece com a convergência entre o fluxo dos problemas, o fluxo das soluções e alternativas e o fluxo político. No segundo, apresentamos a sistematização das características municipais do desenho desta ação, por meio da construção de um modelo teórico para avaliação das condicionalidades de saúde do Programa Bolsa Família, que servirá de base para estudo avaliativo apresentado no terceiro artigo. O modelo teórico foi construído a partir da regulamentação e documentos orientadores do Governo Federal e das especificidades da proposta no município. No terceiro artigo avaliamos a adequação da implementação das condicionalidades de saúde do PBF na cidade e suas características. Foram estudadas 128 unidades, sendo realizadas: análise descritiva, análise classificatória multivariada de agrupamento e análise espacial. Por último, no quarto artigo, identificamos, nos discursos dos atores envolvidos, questões referentes à implementação do acompanhamento das condicionalidades de saúde do PBF e suas repercussões, tendo um enfoque sobre equidade e direito à saúde. O desenho metodológico deste estudo foi de pesquisa qualitativa. Foram selecionadas 10 unidades de saúde com diferentes níveis de implantação do acompanhamento das condicionalidades de saúde. Em cada uma das unidades amostradas foram entrevistados 3 grupos de atores: gestores locais, titulares e profissionais de saúde (enfermeiro, médico, assistente social e nutricionista). Resultados: Dentre os principais achados destacamos: 1- Elementos do Modelo teórico tais como: reorganizar e aumentar a oferta qualificada, inserir as famílias nas ações da unidade de saúde, potencializar o programa como oportunidade de cuidado, foco no cuidado integral à família representaram aspectos positivos no desenho das condicionalidades do PBF na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. 2- No estudo de adequação identificamos boa adesão das unidades às atividades básicas. Outras ações oferecidas para crianças e mulheres apresentaram maior variação nas frequências de unidades que as realizam. Em parte das unidades não é dada prioridade para membros de famílias de PBF, não garantindo a continuidade do cuidado. Foram identificados dois perfis de unidades quanto ao nível de implantação. 3- São pontos positivos das condicionalidades de saúde: permitirem maior entrada nas unidades de famílias de maior vulnerabilidade social; sua sinergia com a agenda da vigilância em saúde e do papel da saúde na agenda da Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional; sua potência como oportunidade de cuidado e estratégia de fortalecimento das famílias como titulares de direito em relação à saúde. Por outro lado, o acesso que proporciona é visto sob a ótica da titularidade provisória; não há rotinas que favoreçam a continuidade do cuidado; as condicionalidades são percebidas por alguns profissionais e diretores como assistencialistas e burocráticas e pelos titulares como obrigações para que mereçam o benefício; os titulares, por vezes, não são vistos e tratados como usuários do SUS, por direito. Conclusão: Os resultados da tese apontam para questões relacionadas ao gerenciamento local, organização do processo de trabalho, além de opiniões dos gestores e trabalhadores, que limitam seu papel na diminuição das iniquidades no acesso aos serviços de saúde. / Introduction: The health conditionalities of the Bolsa Família Program (BFP) are considered fundamental for the improvement of living conditions and sustainable social inclusion of families, promoting access to health and education basic social rights. However, this potential to promote inclusion depends on the organization of municipalities and services. Objective: To evaluate health care implementation for BFP families, to fulfill health conditionalities in Rio de Janeiro city, in order to relate the level and characteristics of health care establishment. Methods: The thesis is organized into four chapters written in paper format. In the first paper we discussed the process of formulating health conditionalities of the BFP. For this, the study adopted the multiple streams model as analytical framework, proposed by Kingdon, for whom the change in the public agenda is in the convergence of the flow of problems, the flow of solutions and alternatives, and the political flow. In the second paper, we present the systematization of municipal features of this action design, through the construction of a theoretical model for assessing the BFP health conditionalities, which will serve as basis for an evaluative study reported in the third paper. The theoretical model was built from the regulations and guidance documents of the Federal Government, and of the specificities of the proposal in the city. In the third paper we evaluate the adequacy of the implementation of BFP health conditionalities in the city and its features. We studied 128 units and conducted descriptive analysis, cluster multivariate classification analysis and spatial analysis. Finally, in the fourth paper we identify, in the speeches of actors involved, issues concerning the implementation of the monitoring of BFP health conditionalities and its repercussions, focusing on equity and right to health. The methodological design of this study was qualitative research. We selected ten health units with different implementation levels of health conditionalities monitoring. In each of the sampled units three groups of actors were interviewed: local managers, holders and health professionals (nurse, doctor, social worker and nutritionist). Results: Among the main findings we highlight: 1) Elements of the theoretical model such as reorganizing and increasing qualified supply, including in the actions of the health unit, enhancing the program as a care opportunity, focusing on integral care for the family these were positive aspects in the design of BFP health conditionalities in Rio de Janeiro city. 2) In the adequacy study we found good compliance of units with basic activities. Other actions offered to children and women had greater variation in the frequencies of units holding them. In some units no priority is given to BFP family members, not ensuring the continuity of care. We identified two profiles of units concerning deployment level. 3) Positive aspects of health conditionalities are: they allow most socially vulnerable families to enter unit; their synergy with the health surveillance agenda and the role of health in the Food and Nutritional Security agenda; its power as a care opportunity and strategy to strengthen families as holders of rights to health. On the other hand, the access they provide is seen from the perspective of temporary ownership; there are no routines to promote continuity of care; conditionalities are perceived by some professionals and directors as welfare and bureaucratic, and by holders as obligations to deserve the benefit; holders sometimes are not seen and treated as SUS users by right. Conclusion: The results of the thesis point to issues related to local management, organization of the work process, besides the opinions of managers and workers, which limit their role in reducing inequities in the access to health care.

O discurso da Comissão de Determinantes Sociais da Saúde (CSDH) instituída pela Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS) constitui-se como objeto desde estudo. O contexto econômico-social, resultado das políticas neoliberais, aprofundou em âmbito mundial as desigualdades sociais. Em 2003, a CSDH foi instituída pela OMS, assumindo como objetivos a documentação de evidências das ações e políticas para promover a equidade em saúde, e articular um movimento global para que esta seja alcançada. As publicações da CSDH tornaram-se referência mundial no tema das desigualdades em saúde. Autores do campo da Saúde Coletiva identificaram importantes limitações e contradições na sua formulação teórico-metodológica, apesar de alguns reconhecerem uma possibilidade de avanço nesta iniciativa. A Saúde Coletiva constituiu-se como campo de teorias e práticas que superam a naturalização do processo de saúde. O marco teórico deste estudo é a teoria da determinação social da saúde, que afirma que a sociedade de classes, fundada na exploração da força de trabalho, produz diferentes desgastes e fortalecimentos advindos das formas de trabalhar, que determinam as formas de viver dos diferentes grupos sociais. Os perfis epidemiológicos são o objeto de ação da Saúde Coletiva, constituídos pelos perfis de reprodução social e pelos perfis de saúde-doença, definidos por meio de estudos da epidemiologia crítica. Objetivo geral: analisar o discurso da CSDH. Objetivos específicos: identificar e analisar os conceitos utilizados pela CSDH; identificar e analisar as diretrizes de ação propostas pela Comissão; comparar os conceitos de determinação social e determinantes sociais. Método: pesquisa qualitativa, que utiliza dados de fonte secundária - o documento da CSDH A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health. Social Determinants of Health Discussion. Publicado em 2010, o documento oferece a construção teórica e as diretrizes das ações de enfrentamento aos determinantes sociais da saúde propostas pela Comissão. Os resultados foram analisados pela metodologia da análise de discurso, para apreender a estrutura do discurso, o posicionamento da CSDH. Resultados: o construto teórico da Comissão não considera as contradições advindas da exploração do trabalho como fonte da riqueza e da desigualdade social, mas incorpora termos que remetem à estrutura social, como estratificação social e posição sócio-econômica. A dimensão histórica está ausente na teoria dos determinantes sociais da saúde, que retoma conceitos e formato originais do campo da Saúde Pública, como a multicausalidade, a circularidade entre doença e pobreza e o risco. O uso recorrente de termos relacionados à hegemonia ideológica neoliberal é necessário para estabelecer mediações que mantêm encobertas as contradições próprias do capitalismo. Baseando-se em um conceito impreciso de equidade, as ações propostas são focalizadas, tomam como objeto a vulnerabilidade e o risco individuais e têm como finalidade a responsabilização individual pela saúde e a liberdade de escolha, como o empowerment. As diretrizes de ação propostas aproximam-se ao ideário da promoção da saúde. Considerações finais: entende-se que a opção teórica da Comissão é intencional e alinhada com o atual regime de acumulação capitalista - dependente da organização flexível do trabalho - não constituindo uma mudança de perspectiva em relação ao objeto, representa uma inovação apenas no plano retórico. O referencial teórico-prático dos determinantes sociais da saúde é insuficiente para subsidiar o enfrentamento das desigualdades sociais e seus resultados no processo de saúde. Compreende-se que as práticas da Saúde Coletiva, como o monitoramento crítico e práticas emancipatórias, a partir da uma perspectiva de luta de classes, podem contribuir para responder à desigualdade nos perfis epidemiológicos. / Introduction: The discourse of the Comission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), established by the World Health Organization (WHO), is the object of study of this paper. The socio-economic context, result of neoliberal policies, has deepen worldwide social inequality, resulting from the capitalist accumulation regime. In 2003, CSDH, instituted by the WHO, assumed as goal the documentation of evidences of actions and policies to promote equity in health and articulate a global movement for it to be reached. CSDH publishes have become a worldwide reference on health equality. Writers of the Collective Health field indentified important limitations and contradictions in its theoretical-methodological formulation, although some perceive an advance in this initiative. The Collective Health has established itself as the field theories and practices that overcome the naturalization of the health process. The theoretical goal of this study is the social determination of health theory, which affirms that the classes society, founded on the exploitation of labor, produces different body distress and strengths arisen from the specificities of labor, which determines the different ways of living of different social groups. Epidemological profiles are the object of work of Collective Health, composed by the social reproduction profiles and the health-disease profiles, defined trought critical epidemiology researches. Objeticve: to analyze the CSDH discourse. Specific objectives: to identify and analize the concepts used by CSDH; to identify and analyze the action guidelines proposed by the Comission; to compare the concepts of social determination and social determinants. Methodological Procedures: qualitative research, using secondary source data - CSDH document A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health. Social Determinants of Health Discussion. Published in 2010, this document offers the theoretical construction and guidelines of coping actions toward the social determinants of health proposed by the Comission. The results have been analyzed through the discourse analyses method, to seize the structure of the discourse, the CSDH positioning. Results: the Comission\'s theoretical construct does not consider the contradictions from labor exploitation as the wealth and social inequality source, but it incorporates terms that refers to the social structure, as social stratification and socio-economical position. The historic dimension is absent on the social determinants of health theory, which recaptures original concepts and form from the Public Health field, as multicausality, the circularity between health and poverty, and the risk. The recurrent usage of terms related with hegemonic neoliberal ideology is necessary to establish mediations capable of covering the inherent capitalism contradictions. Based on a imprecise concept of equity, the actions proposed are focused, take the vulnerability and individual risks as an object, and perceive the individual accountability for its health and the freedom of choice as a goal, such as empowerment. The proposed action guidelines approach the Health Promotion ideals. Final considerations: understanding that the Commission\'s theoretical choice is intentional and aligned with the current capital accumulation regime - depending on the flexible organization of labor - without changing the perspective toward the object, its innovation is only at the rhetorical frame. The practical and theoretical referential of the social determinants of health is scarce to subsidize the confront of social inequality and its results on the health process. The understanding of how Collective Health practices, and critical monitoring and emancipatory practices, through a class struggle perspective, can contribute to a response toward the inequality on epidemiological profiles.