Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: In 2019, the government of the Canadian province of Ontario announced major changes to the structure, governance and funding of public health services. Throughout these changes, publicly funded local and regional public health organizations are still expected to provide effective, evidence-informed programming to their communities. The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT) has facilitated collaborations to support Ontario public health organizations through this transition.
Objectives: The NCCMT sought to meaningfully support evidence-informed public health processes in Ontario during a time of system change by fostering partnerships and collaboration with key stakeholders.
Methods: We reached out to current and potential partners, looking beyond the public health sector for a multidisciplinary approach. We conducted a needs assessment survey to inform need for and use of a rapid evidence review repository, which would allow public health practitioners to share and adapt each other’s work. Finally, demonstrating the value of public health to policymakers can be inherently challenging; return on investment in public health is often very long term. We partnered with health units in varying capacities to find and synthesize evidence to make the case for public health programs overall.
Results: This initiative has provided several important lessons in developing and maintaining strong partnerships and collaborations. Looking beyond the public health sector can find partners and allies in other disciplines. We also learned that there is a need to establish an infrastructure to support collaboration and sharing of resources. Finally, we learned that big picture questions like demonstrating the value of public health require many different perspectives, inputs and areas of expertise.
Conclusions: Through this initiative, we have developed a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to supporting evidence-informed public health through times of major restructuring. This approach can be applied to smaller- or large-scale changes such as future changes to public health in Ontario or in other provinces.
Objectives: The NCCMT sought to meaningfully support evidence-informed public health processes in Ontario during a time of system change by fostering partnerships and collaboration with key stakeholders.
Methods: We reached out to current and potential partners, looking beyond the public health sector for a multidisciplinary approach. We conducted a needs assessment survey to inform need for and use of a rapid evidence review repository, which would allow public health practitioners to share and adapt each other’s work. Finally, demonstrating the value of public health to policymakers can be inherently challenging; return on investment in public health is often very long term. We partnered with health units in varying capacities to find and synthesize evidence to make the case for public health programs overall.
Results: This initiative has provided several important lessons in developing and maintaining strong partnerships and collaborations. Looking beyond the public health sector can find partners and allies in other disciplines. We also learned that there is a need to establish an infrastructure to support collaboration and sharing of resources. Finally, we learned that big picture questions like demonstrating the value of public health require many different perspectives, inputs and areas of expertise.
Conclusions: Through this initiative, we have developed a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to supporting evidence-informed public health through times of major restructuring. This approach can be applied to smaller- or large-scale changes such as future changes to public health in Ontario or in other provinces.