BackgroundIn recent years, a number of initiatives aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles in health-friendly environments have been implemented. The purpose of this review is to synthesize initiatives conducted in Canada and documented in publications for the period 1995–2015 in order to gain a better understanding of their objectives and impacts.MethodsA systematic review of Canadian initiatives published over the past 20 years was conducted from multiple databases (i.e., Scopus, SPORTDiscus, PubMed, Academic search complete, Reseausante.com, Cairn, and Erudit). In total, 264 publications were identified and retained for the final analysis based on 5 criteria: (1) publication between 1995 and 2015, (2) online availability, (3) research conducted in Canada, (4) main topic related to environments favorable to healthy lifestyles (EFHL), and (5) publication in French or English.ResultsA sharp increase in the number of studies on EFHL was observed between 2010 and 2015 (57%). Two major lifestyle components—physical activity and nutrition—and 2 environmental aspects—neighborhood and built environment—were the elements most frequently examined regarding adults (48%), young people (34%), and seniors (9%), using quantitative (60%) and qualitative (18%) methods. Furthermore, the analysis reveals a greater focus on the municipal (53%) than the national or provincial levels (31%).ConclusionThis work is a first map of Canadian studies related to EFHL. It clarifies the definition of EFHL and classifies its components. As well, it documents the issues raised, the research methods employed, and the role of stakeholders, while outlining a new research agenda that includes dimensions of EFHL formerly neglected by researchers, namely, political and sociocultural spheres of action.

In 2014, World Health Organization reported that more than 1.9 billion people were obese (World Health Organization, 2014). This epidemic is thought to cost $2 trillion globally every year (Dobbs et al., 2014). With the increase of the prevalence of obesity, there is a continuous search for effective obesity-prevention and health promotion strategies. In a Canadian university, Perusse-Lachance and colleagues (2010) showed that 22.9% of students and 37.3% of staff members were either overweight or obese. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of obesity, healthy lifestyle habits, and healthy environments among students and employees of a Canadian university. Respondents were students and employees during the 2016 fall semester (October). A web based-survey assessing lifestyle habits, such as physical activity and nutrition, was sent by email to all students (n = 15,000) and employees (n = 1,500). In total, 1,989 students (12.1%) and 484 employees (33.6%) completed the questionnaire. All data were analyzed using SPSS. Results showed that 32.7% of students and 44.5% of employees were overweight. Results also revealed that 55.2% of students and 44.9 % of employees were considered physically inactive. Regarding vegetables and fruit, 81.2% of students and 79.4% of employees did not meet the Canadian recommendations. The herein results suggest that overweight and obesity can be important concerns in a welleducated sample and they can be associated with various health-related behaviors.

Objective: This qualitative study aimed to describe how educators and parents engage with students on health issues within the context of the Healthy School Approach in a disadvantaged Quebec school. Method: Individual interviews were conducted at the school setting with both educators ( n = 5) and parents ( n = 5) during the school year of 2010–2011. The interview protocol was based on Hoover-Dempsey, Walker and Ice’s (2010) revised theoretical model of the involvement process and more precisely on the mechanisms of influence, modelling, reinforcement, teaching and encouragements. Results: Findings indicate that educators’ and parents’ actions tend to involve modelling and encouragements in particular, with the main emphasis on physical activity and nutrition. Educators stress the importance of grounding their health actions in school activities related to the school project, whereas parents believe that their participation as volunteers in the various health-related activities organized at school significantly helps their efforts to support their child. Results highlight the parents’ undeniable contribution to children’s health within current educational systems. Conclusion: In their conclusion, the authors put into light the importance of two challenging denominators: (1) a shared vision of health; and (2) coherent health education actions in a disadvantaged environment.

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RÉSUMÉLe concept de réussite scolaire est examiné à travers les définitions, les axes de recherche et les moyens d'agir qu'ont retenus les chercheurs du Centre de recherche et d'intervention sur la réussite scolaire (CRIRES) depuis sa création en 1992. La théorie historicoculturelle est appliquée à ce cas et le modèle d 'Engeström (1987'Engeström ( , 1999 sert de cadre de référence pour l'analyse du système éducatif québécois en tant que système d'activité qui a pour finalité la réussite scolaire des élèves. Cette analyse, de niveau méta, examine l'activité des agents de la réussite scolaire, notamment les outils et instruments d'intervention mis en oeuvre dans différents contextes ainsi que certains rôles, normes et politiques qui en sont ressortis. L'analyse se veut proactive et met en lumière les modes d'intervention, en milieu scolaire et postsecondaire, des agents de la réussite scolaire au sein de leur communauté (classe, école, communauté locale ou élargie). Elle fait ressortir les éléments suivants : 1) la définition donnée en 1992 de la réussite scolaire, à savoir l'atteinte d'objectifs d'apprentissage propres à chaque étape des cheminements scolaires, est un artefact culturel utile malgré certaines réserves que les chercheurs du CRIRES expriment périodiquement à son sujet; 2) les axes de recherche orientent la médiation de l'innovation en privilé-giant une grande variété d'outils et d'instruments ainsi que l'examen de leurs retombées dans des contextes précis; 3) le CRIRES conçoit de façon de plus en plus explicite son champ de recherche d'un point de vue systémique. ABSTRACTStudy on school success in Québec: a historical-cultural analysis of a CRIRES research centre activity model (1987, 1999) is used as a frame of reference to analyze the Québec education system whose goal is success for the students. At the meta level, this analysis examines school success agents, such as intervention tools used in different contexts, as well as certain roles, standards and policies that go along with them. The analysis is proactive and shows intervention modes in the school and post-secondary milieus, agents of school success within the community (class, school, local community or society). What emerges is that 1) the 1992 definition for school success, to reach the learning objectives for each level, is a cultural artifact despite certain reserves that the CRIRES researchers periodically express on this subject, 2) the research axes orient the mediation of innovation by using a wide variety of instruments and the examination of their results in specific contexts, and 3) CRIRES is developing, in a more and more explicit way, its scope of research from a systemic point of view. El concepto de éxito escolar se examina a través de las definiciones, los ejes de investigación y los medios de intervención que han sido validados por los investigadores del Centro de investigaciones y de intervención sobre el éxito escolar (CRIRES) desde su creación en 1992. Se aplica la teoría histórico-cultural a este caso y el modelo de...