Over the last number of years there has been growing interest in the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) for preventing and controlling complex public health problems. Photovoice is one of several qualitative methods utilized in CBPR, as it is a participatory method that has community participants use photography, and stories about their photographs, to identify and represent issues of importance to them. Over the past several years photovoice methodology has been frequently used to explore community health and social issues. One emerging opportunity for the utilization of photovoice methodology is research on community built and social environments, particularly when looking at the context of the neighbourhood. What is missing from the current body of photovoice literature is a critique of the strengths and weaknesses of photovoice as a method for health promotion research (which traditionally emphasizes capacity-building, community-based approaches) and as a method for revealing residents’ perceptions of community as a source of health opportunities or barriers. This paper will begin to address this gap by discussing the successes and challenges of using the photovoice methodology in a recent CBPR project to explore community perceptions of the built and social environment (with the ultimate goal of informing community-based chronic disease prevention initiatives). The paper concludes with methodological recommendations and directions for future research.

The purpose of this literature review is to identify how geographic information system (GIS) applications have been used in health-related research and to critically examine the issues, strengths, and challenges inherent to those approaches from the lenses of health promotion and public health. Through the review process, conducted in 2007, it is evident that health promotion and public health applications of GIS can be generally categorized into four predominant themes: disease surveillance (n = 227), risk analysis (n = 189), health access and planning (n = 138), and community health profiling (n = 115). This review explores how GIS approaches have been used to inform decision making and discusses the extent to which GIS can be applied to address health promotion and public health questions. The contribution of this literature review will be to generate a broader understanding of how GIS-related methodological techniques and tools developed in other disciplines can be meaningfully applied to applications in public health policy, promotion, and practice.

This study adds to the literature to show that BMI increased in low SES neighborhoods. Although more research is needed to fully understand how neighborhood SES contributes to obesity, it is without question that individuals in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods face more barriers to health than their wealthier counterparts. This study also calls into question the relationship between walkability and changes in BMI and emphasizes the necessity of longitudinal data rather than relying on cross-sectional research.

This systematic review examined the impact of universal policies on socioeconomic inequities in obesity, dietary and physical activity behaviours among adults and children. PRISMA-Equity guidelines were followed. Database searches spanned from 2004 to August 2015. Eligible studies assessed the impact of universal policies on anthropometric, dietary or physical activity-related outcomes in adults or children according to socioeconomic position. Thirty-six studies were included. Policies were classified as agentic, agento-structural or structural, and their impact on inequities was rated as positive, neutral, negative or mixed according to the dominant associations observed. Most policies had neutral impacts on obesity-related inequities regardless of whether they were agentic (60% neutral), agento-structural (68% neutral) or structural (67% neutral). The proportion of positive impacts was similar across policy types (10% agentic, 18% agento-structural and 11% structural), with some differences for negative impacts (30% agentic, 14% agento-structural and 22% structural). The majority of associations remained neutral when stratified by participant population, implementation level and socioeconomic position measures and by anthropometric and behavioural outcomes. Fiscal measures had consistently neutral or positive impacts on inequities. Findings suggest an important role for policy in addressing obesity in an equitable manner and strengthen the case for implementing a broad complement of policies spanning the agency-structure continuum.

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