Supporting the diffusion of healthy public policy in Canada: the Prevention Policies Directory

Authors

  • Christopher E Politis Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
  • Michelle H Halligan Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
  • Deb Keen Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
  • Jon F Kerner Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v6i2.5372

Abstract

Healthy public policy plays an essential role in a comprehensive public health approach to preventing cancer and chronic disease. Public policies spread through the ‘policy diffusion’ process, enabling governments to learn from another’s enacted policy solutions. The Prevention Policies Directory (the Directory), an online database of municipal, provincial/territorial, and federal cancer and chronic disease prevention policies from across Canada, was developed to facilitate the diffusion of healthy public policies and support the work of prevention researchers, practitioners, and policy specialists. Through a participatory engagement approach, this information technology solution was implemented as a communication channel or policy knowledge transfer tool. It also addressed the intrinsic shortcomings of environmental scanning for policy surveillance and monitoring. A combination of quantitative web metrics and qualitative anecdotal evidence have illustrated that the Directory is becoming an important tool for healthy public policy surveillance and policy diffusion in Canada.

Author Biographies

Christopher E Politis, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Policy Analyst and CLASP Lead

Prevention

Michelle H Halligan, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Program Manager

Prevention

Deb Keen, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Director

Prevention & Research

Jon F Kerner, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Senior Scientific Lead for Population Health and Knowledge Management

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Published

2014-10-16

How to Cite

Politis, C. E., Halligan, M. H., Keen, D., & Kerner, J. F. (2014). Supporting the diffusion of healthy public policy in Canada: the Prevention Policies Directory. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v6i2.5372

Issue

Section

Original Articles