Knowledge and research priorities
Being responsive to current and emerging evidence is important to us
Effective public health practice is foundational to the Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS) and is embedded in our agency’s strategic priorities. Our goal is for public health practice to be transparent and responsive to current and emerging evidence, and to emphasize continuous quality improvement.
How do we meet this goal?
- We use all available evidence from various sources including research, evaluation, population health assessment, and community context to inform our programs and services.
- We identify areas within which we do not have sufficient evidence and then work towards generating evidence when feasible and appropriate.
How do we generate evidence?
We use existing planning processes and consultation across the agency to identify gaps in knowledge and evidence and to prioritize areas and topics about which we should consider generating evidence.
We generate evidence by conducting research, evaluations, needs assessments, and literature reviews, and by engaging with the public and community stakeholders. This is often done in partnership with other public health units and with community researchers and academic partners.
This document presents a synthesis1 of the priority topic areas for which we do not currently have sufficient evidence. These would be considered current knowledge and research priorities for our agency2.
Our knowledge and research priorities
There are a total of six overarching knowledge and research priority topic areas, including:
- Health & Racial Equity
- Public Mental Health
- Substance Use
- Communicable and Infectious Disease
- Community and Stakeholder Engagement
- Public Health System
Health & Racial Equity
Public Health Sudbury & Districts is committed to decreasing health inequities by considering health and racial equity in all that we do. Social determinants of health, including, but not limited to, income, education, race and racism, gender, sexual orientation, and geography play pivotal contributing roles to an individual’s health.
More evidence is needed on the following topics to support this work:
- health and racial equity indicators that are effective in measuring progress
- promising strategies that support safety, security, and social inclusion
- promising strategies to support racialized communities and 2SLGBTQ+ communities
- wise practices for continuous, meaningful engagement with Indigenous communities
- for example, community needs such as vision health services
Public Mental Health
Public Health Sudbury & Districts believes in investing in mental health promotion research to support the delivery of programs and services that improve mental health for all. We endorse the concept of parity of esteem, equally valuing both the mental and physical health of the population.
More evidence is needed on the following topics to support this work:
- anti-stigma interventions that decrease discrimination towards people who have mental illness or who use drugs
- community identified positive mental health indicators
- promising strategies to strengthen public mental health
Substance Use
Public Health Sudbury & Districts is committed to advancing effective health promotion policy and program interventions that support optimal health and reduce substance use and addiction. Our region continues to experience high rates of morbidity and mortality related to opioids, other illicit drug use, cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, and more recently e-cigarettes and the use of vaporizers.
More evidence is needed on the following topics to support this work:
- improving activation of community services response to potential drug-related harms
- physical, mental, and social consequences of using and misusing substances
- best practices related to marketing, education, and skill building as it relates to safer cannabis use and impaired driving
- emerging ‘vaping’ trends in youth, including harms, practices, and impacts of marketing
Communicable and Infectious Disease
Public Health Sudbury & Districts understands that prevention of communicable and infectious diseases, particularly for the most vulnerable populations (such as children and seniors) is of vital importance. Locally, while childhood immunization rates are high, adult vaccination coverage for pertussis and strep pneumo are lower than the provincial average. Additionally there is staffing capacity-disparity among seniors’ residences in knowledge and skills to prevent and control infectious diseases outbreaks.
More evidence is needed on the following topics to support this work:
- factors that contribute to incomplete immunization in adulthood
- best practices for optimizing access and uptake of publicly-funded adult vaccines
- assessing the infection control education and service delivery needs of long-term care and retirement homes
Community and Stakeholder Engagement
Public Health Sudbury & Districts has a responsibility to engage the public and community partners in the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of our programs and services.
More evidence is needed on the following topics to support this work:
- collaboration and coordination with community partners on climate change adaptation
- best practices to meaningfully engage persons with lived and living experiences, clients, communities and municipalities in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs and services
- best practices to meaningfully engage municipal and regional decision makers
Public Health System
Our agency is committed to protecting and growing the public health system. We strive for ongoing excellence and resilience. Additionally, Public Health Sudbury & Districts has played a key role in understanding how to move forward with public health transformation. Our agency will work to better understand ways to strengthen the public health system and best practices to support local populations and our workforce.
More evidence is needed on the following topics to support this work:
- impacts on an organization’s ability to manage and transition through public sector changes
- health impacts on a population following province-wide healthcare transformation
- return on investment analysis to determine public health program impact
Moving forward for the health of our community
The identified knowledge and research priorities cover a wide-range of topics of public health importance. Better understanding these knowledge and research priorities allows us to identify the areas in which we could develop projects that are in line with our evidence needs, which ultimately helps us ensure that our programs and services meet community needs and are reflective of our local context. This also allows us to identify the areas within which we can partner and foster relationships with stakeholders such as other public health units, community and academic researchers, and students.
More information on our work and the breadth of evidence we generate can be found on the Research and Statistics section of our website (www.phsd.ca). For more information, please contact lemieuxs@phsd.ca.
- A detailed list of current gaps in evidence, otherwise known as practice-based questions, has informed this synthesis document.
- Emerging issues may arise and priorities may shift at any time.
This item was last modified on January 16, 2020