Home - Collaborative projects - Priming Action

Priming Action : 2007- 2008 (Phase II of Primer to Action)

Primer to Action: Social Determinants of Health New, improved and expanded second edition A resource for health and community workers, activists and local residents to understand how the social determinants of health impact chronic disease--and what we can do about it. Download in PDF.

Background | Rationale for Phase II | Objectives | Workshops

Priming Action (Phase II) is a project to initiate dialogue on the relationship between chronic disease and the social determinants of health and to share our learning, in order to support action to prevent chronic disease.

This project is based on the electronic resource that was created in 2006-07, Primer to Action: Social Determinants of Health. As a part of this phase, the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse will develop and conduct four workshops across the province (two in English and two in French). 4 Workshops will be held in February and early March of 2008 as a part of this project.

The Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse and the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance are partners in this project. The project is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, Ontario and Nunavut.

Background

Primer to Action: Social Determinants of Health is an electronic resource for health professionals, lay workers, volunteers and activists to explore how the social determinants of health impact chronic disease.

Widespread evidence demonstrates that the social determinants of health (SDOH) are major underlying causal factors influencing population and individual health, including chronic disease. Primer to Action was designed as a practical resource for health professionals, lay workers and activists, in their capacity as staff, volunteers or community members to explore and take action on six health determinants: Income, Employment, Housing, Food Security, Education and Inclusion. It offers concrete suggestions for change in the community, the workplace and the broader society.

This resource was a collaborative project , funded by the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse and the Canadian Cancer Society – Ontario Division.

Rationale for Phase II

After the launch of the primer in April 2007, the partners received overwhelmingly positive feedback. They also recognized that there was further work to be done. Many public and community health intermediaries in Ontario understand the relationahip between chronic disease and social determinants of health, while others understand intuitively that social conditions influence health. However, very few Ontario organizations working in health, social service, educational and community change effectively address SDOH.

To address this gap between knowledge and action, the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance and the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse submitted a proposal to the Public Health Agency of Canada, Ontario – Nunavut, for the current project, Priming Action.

Objectives

Test, apply and revise Primer to Action, an educational, action-primer about social determinants of health (SDOH) and chronic disease prevention (CDP).
Educate Ontario health intermediaries about the intersection of SDOH and CDP and provide skills and models to initiate action about SDOH.
Widely disseminate the educational materials, process-driven learning, and evaluation-based findings of the project in Ontario and beyond.
Support Alliance members and staff to better integrate SDOH into all Alliance work.

Workshops

As a part of this phase, OPC and OCDPA developed and conducted four workshops across the province (two in English and two in French) in collaboration with regional partners.

All workshops are FREE.

The following 4 workshops are a part of this project.

When Poverty Makes you Sick: Shifting the Dialogue on Chronic Disease, 1 February in Ottawa
3-site videoconference in French on 14 Feb 2008
One-day workshop in Windsor on 27 Feb 2008.
Les déterminants sociaux de la santé et la prévention des maladies chroniques : un atelier destiné aux intervenant-e-s in French, 7 March 2008, Toronto.