NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, Sahtu Settlement Area, Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region

Tags: physical activity, obesity, health awareness

Objective(s): To evaluate the effectiveness of the POWER UP! program in the NWT.

Project Description: POWER UP! (Policy Opportunity Windows - Enhancing Research Uptake in Practice) aims to provide leadership and support for the development, implementation and evaluation of obesity prevention policy activities (including healthy eating and physical activity) for cancer and chronic disease prevention. We propose to synthesize evidence, broker knowledge to wider Canadian context, and build capacity for obesity relevant policy adoption and implementation for cancer and chronic disease prevention. POWER UP! involves three jurisdictions: Alberta, Northwest Territories, and Quebec. Throughout the 3-year duration of the project, evaluation and research activities will take place to assess the impact of POWER UP! This project include a survey that will collect information on demographic characteristics, perceptions of chronic disease prevention and health promotion, perceptions of programs and policies that address the people’s health in the territories, level of contact with groups working on issues related to chronic disease prevention, and opinions on political views responsibility for an individual’s health problems. Participants will be asked to respond from the perspective of their role in their organization. The main focus of survey questions will cover 2 domains: healthy eating and physical activity. This project will distribute the survey through 2 ways: 1)Telephone Research Survey with Public: A pre- and post-test telephone survey will be conducted in three jurisdictions: Alberta, Quebec, and Northwest Territories. A professional public opinion firm will be contracted to conduct this survey. The aim is to survey 800 households in Northwest Territories. The pre-test will occur in June 2014 and the post-test in June 2016. The target population for the survey are persons 18 years of age and older who live in a home that could be contacted via direct dialing at the time of the survey. The survey will be administered via random digit-dial and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. An equal number of males and females will be surveyed. 10 pretest interviews will be conducted with a random sample of respondents. Results of the pretest will be used to finalize survey questions. Informed consent will be required from all of the study participants. 2)Online Web-Based Survey with Decision Makers: Using a self-administered survey, decision-makers in schools, workplaces, all levels of government (Aboriginal, community, territorial, etc), and communities will be asked about their knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards chronic disease prevention. Decision-makers will be asked to provide their opinions from the perspective of their role in their organization. Study participants will be recruited between June and July 2014 (pre-intervention survey) and June and July 2016 (post-intervention survey) in Alberta, Quebec and Northwest Territories. Sampling will be conducted in 5 settings: Provincial/territorial governments, School Boards, Local Authorities (i.e., municipal Aboriginal government), print media companies, and private enterprises employees (with more than 100 or more employees in NWT). Email and mailing addresses will be gathered using the internet: MLA and Deputy Minister’s constituency office addresses will be gathered from the Northwest Territories Government website, Chairs and Superintendents addresses will be gathered from the Ministry of Education in Northwest Territories; Mayors and Chief Administrative Officers’ addresses will gathered from the Municipal and Community Affairs page of the Northwest Territories Government website, addresses of Editors–in-Chief will gathered using each newspaper’s website, and HR managers/occupational health and safety decision-makers addresses will be obtained using a database purchased from OraclePoll Research Inc. An email invite will be sent initially to all participants. The email invite will provide information about our project team, our work, and a unique URL to the Online Web Survey. When participants choose to click on the link of the Online Web Survey, they will be directed to an introductory letter. This letter will inform potential participants about all aspects of the survey, including steps to protect their confidentiality, ethics approvals, and whom to contact should they have any questions. It is also explained to them that the survey is voluntary. Every two weeks, until the closing date, an email reminder will be sent to non-responders. The same recruitment process will be used for the post-intervention survey and will take place between March and June 2016. The same employment positions will be used as we seek to interview the individual currently in the position rather than the original participant. The content of the post-intervention survey (to be done in 2016) will be the same as that of the pre-intervention survey. A summary of the information from both the initial and final surveys will be distributed via reports as well as via meetings with interested organizations, governments, or other groups. The results will also be available online. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from February 20, 2015 to December 31, 2015.