Suzanne Laberge

Association between Neighborhood Active Living Potential and Walking

This paper examines the association between neighborhood active living potential and walking among middle-aged and older adults. A sample of 2,614 (61.1% women) persons aged 45 years or older and living in one of 112 census tracts in Montreal, Canada, were recruited between February and May of 2005 to participate in a 20-minute telephone survey. Data were linked to observational data on neighborhood active living potential in the 112 census tracts and analyzed through multilevel modeling. Greater density of destinations in the census tract was associated with greater likelihoods of walking for any reason at least 5 days per week for at least 30 minutes (odds ratio = 1.53, 95% confidence interval: 1.21, 1.94). Associations were attenuated but remained statistically significant after controlling for socioeconomic, health, lifestyle, and other physical activity characteristics. Sensitivity analyses showed that associations were robust across smaller and larger volumes of walking. No associations were found between dimensions of neighborhood active living potential and walking for recreational reasons. The authors conclude that a larger number and variety of neighborhood destinations in ones residential environment are associated with more walking and possibly more utilitarian walking among middle-aged or older adults.

The Legitimation and Dissemination Processes of the Innovation System Approach The Case of the Canadian and Québec Science and Technology Policy

A new approach in science policy making named the innovation system (IS) approach has been developed during the past three decades. Its primary goal is to better understand the processes through which scientific knowledge is produced and transferred to businesses to improve their competitiveness and develop national and/or regional economies. This approach has been adopted as an analytical framework and guideline for science policy making by numerous public sector organizations around the world. Using a case study of the Canadian and Québec public sectors, our research seeks to understand why the IS approach has gained the adherence of government employees and how it has been disseminated from international organizations down to regional civil servants. Findings show that adherence to the IS approach stems from the prestige of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and its associated epistemic community, and from the cultural authority science exerts on government employees; these two factors bestow cultural authority onto the IS approach. The perceived scientific validity of the IS approach also leads government employees to consider its underlying economistic worldview as an unquestionable reality.

Older women's relations to bodily appearance : the embodiment of social and biological conditions of existence

Our purpose in this paper is to explore and deepen the understanding of older women’s relations to bodily appearance by looking at two different conditions of existence. Recent research has touched on the experiences of older women in societies with youthful norms of beauty, but the diversity of older women’s experiences has been little explored, and there has been little dialogue between theoretical writing and empirical research on the topic. It was therefore decided to conduct an empirical study of older women’s relations to bodily appearance, applying Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory and particularly the concept of habitus to the body. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 51 francophone women aged 65 to 75 years from working-class and affluent

Physical Activity Promotion Among Underserved Adolescents: “Make It Fun, Easy, and Popular”

There is a paucity of studies regarding noncurricular physical activity promotion interventions among adolescents, and even less such research pertaining to underserved youth. This article describes the development and implementation of a noncurricular, school-based physical activity promotion program designed for a multiethnic, underserved population of adolescents. The program’s impact on leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and on physical activity enjoyment (PAE) is also presented. The 16-week program, named FunAction, utilizes social marketing principles. Control (n = 90) and intervention (n = 131) students are assessed pre- and postintervention for levels of LTPA and PAE. Results indicate that although the program did not contribute to an increase in LTPA or PAE among intervention group students, participation in the program was elevated. This study offers preliminary evidence that noncurricular physical activity promotion programs that apply social marketing principles can be effective in engaging multiethnic, underserved adolescents in physical activity.

Perspectives of clinician and biomedical scientists on interdisciplinary health research

Background: Interdisciplinary health research is a priority of many funding agencies. We surveyed clinician and biomedical scientists about their views on the value and funding of interdisciplinary health research. Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews with 31 biomedical and 30 clinician scientists. The scientists were selected from the 2000–2006 membership lists of peer-review committees of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. We investigated respondents’ perspectives on the assumption that collaboration across disciplines adds value to health research. We also investigated their perspectives on funding agencies’ growing support of interdisciplinary research. Results: The 61 respondents expressed a wide variety of perspectives on the value of interdisciplinary health research, ranging from full agreement (22) to complete disagreement (11) that it adds value; many presented qualified viewpoints (28). More than one-quarter viewed funding agencies’ growing support of interdisciplinary research as appropriate. Most (44) felt that the level of support was unwarranted. Arguments included the belief that current support leads to the creation of artificial teams and that a top-down process of imposing interdisciplinary structures on teams constrains scientists’ freedom. On both issues we found contrasting trends between the clinician and the biomedical scientists. Interpretation: Despite having some positive views about the value of interdisciplinary research, scientists, especially biomedical scientists, expressed reservations about the growing support of interdisciplinary research.

Health Canada's new guidelines for body weight classification in adults: challenges and concerns

In 2003 Health Canada released its new Canadian Guidelines for Body Weight Classification in Adults ,[1][1]an update of the weight classification system that had been in use in this country since 1988.[2][2]The guidelines were updated in response to advances in the understanding of the relation

Elderly Women Show Neither a Shortage of Strategies nor an Overreliance on Drugs in Handling Aging and in Dealing with Minor Health Problems

ABSTRACT Women 65 years old and over make up the fastest growing population segment in North America. They are, particularly among the underprivileged, known to be heavy consumers of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. The objective of this study was to identify the role of medication in underprivileged elderly womens strategies for aging well and dealing with minor health problems. A qualitative study was conducted among 40 women aged 65 to 75. Results show that elderly women seldom mention resorting to medication to “age well” although they report using this strategy to deal with minor health problems. Overall, the elderly women mentioned a wide range of strategies to cope with aging and minor health problems, which suggests that they are well equipped to face the challenges of aging.

Examining grounded theory through the lens of rationalist epistemology

The objective of scientific, or more broadly, academic knowledge is to provide an understanding of the social and natural world that lies beyond common sense and everyday thinking. Academics use an array of techniques, methods and conceptual apparatuses to achieve this goal. The question we explore in this essay is the following: Does the grounded theory approach, in the constructivist version developed by Kathy Charmaz, provide the necessary methodological tools for the creation of knowledge and theories beyond everyday thinking? To conduct our analysis, we have drawn on the rationalist epistemology originally developed by Gaston Bachelard and taken up a few decades later by Pierre Bourdieu and colleagues to look at the epistemological foundation of the CGT methods as defined by Charmaz. We focussed on two distinctive epistemological features characterising constructivist grounded theory (CGT): the use of inductive reasoning to generate interpretative theory; and the primacy of subjectivity over objectivity as the preferred path to knowledge making. While the usefulness of CGT for conducting qualitative research and understanding the perspective of social actors has been acknowledged by scholars in health professions education research and other research areas, the inductivist logic on which it draws raises questions concerning the nature of the knowledge yielded by this approach. As we argue in this article, it is still unclear in what way the interpretative theory generated by CGT is not a duplication of everyday thinking expressed through meta-narratives. It is also unclear how the understanding of social phenomena can be refined if the use of inductive procedures logically implies the creation of a new theory each time a study is conducted. We engage with these questions to broaden the epistemological conversation within the health professions education research community. It is our hope that scholars in the field will engage in this epistemological conversation and advance it in new directions.