Hospital leaders in Eastern Ontario, Canada, have acknowledged the critical role of food to health and the need for progressive change that goes beyond personal responsibility paradigms. The Healthy Foods in Champlain Hospitals program aims to create supportive, healthy nutrition environments in hospital retail food settings. Twenty independent hospital corporations have collectively initiated a plan to transition cafeteria, vending, franchise, and volunteer operations towards healthier offerings. Hospitals are actively implementing a set of progressively phased, evidence-based nutrition criteria, which cover food and beverage categories, preparation methods, product placement, and provision of nutrition information. Implementation strategies and successes, as well as challenges and limitations, are discussed.
Through this article the authors present a case summary of the early phases of research conducted with an Integrated Knowledge Translation (iKT) approach utilizing four factors: research question, research approach, feasibility, and outcome. iKT refers to an approach for conducting research in which community partners, referred to as knowledge users, are engaged in the entire research process. In this collaborative approach, knowledge users and researchers jointly devise the entire research agenda beginning with the development of the research question(s), determination of a feasible research design and feasible methods, interpretation of the results, dissemination of the findings, and the translation of knowledge into practice or policy decisions. Engaging clinical or community partners in the research enterprise can enhance the utility of the research results and facilitate its uptake. This collaboration can be a complex arrangement and flexibility may be required to accommodate the various configurations that the collaboration can take. For example, the research question can be jointly determined and refined; however, one person must take the responsibility for orchestrating the project, including preparing the proposal and application to the Research Ethics Board. This collaborative effort also requires the simultaneous navigation of barriers and facilitators to the research enterprise. Navigating these elements becomes part of the conduct of research with the potential for rewarding results, including an enriched work experience for clinical partners and investigators. One practice implication is that iKT may be considered of great utility to service providers due to its field friendly nature.
to determine: (a) the extent to which psychological services were congruent with staff expectations of what the services should offer, and (b) areas of need not currently being met by the psychological services. The results were highly similar to Australian and American findings. In Australia psychologists are viewed as members of the rehabilitation team, but their activities are perceived as those concerned with the traditional areas in rehabilitation. Although there were areas of need not currently being met, insufficient psychology staff prevented these services being offered, with the result that these activities were taken over by other professionals.
A questionnaire was distributed to rehabilitation staff in Western AustraliaRequests for reprints should be sent to
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