NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

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

Tags: social sciences, 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: Engaging Research Uptake in Practice), strives to build knowledge, resources, and skills of the public, practitioners, and decision makers to develop and implement policy activities to create healthier environments. 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! For example, a pre and post knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs survey about obesity prevention policies and programs will be sent to the public and decision makers in all three jurisdictions in the first and final year of the project. The project team will also be using a validated policy implementation survey to assess changes in capacity of participating communities, as well as documenting stories of healthy public policy change for obesity and chronic disease prevention. For the Knowledge Attitudes and Beliefs Survey - there will be two types: a telephone survey with the public and an online web-based survey with decision makers) conducted in the Northwest Territories (as in the other project jurisdictions). For the stories of healthy public policy change, the research team will be interviewing decision-makers to synthesize into one-page stories to be incorporated into the POWER UP! website, www.powerupforhealth.ca 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 July 2014 and the post-test in June 2016. The post telephone survey will have the same questions as the pre-test survey. The target population for the survey are persons 18 years of age and older who live in a dwelling 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. The survey recruitment strategy will involve calling at multiple times of day, with a maximum of three call-backs per phone number over a two-week period. Should this approach not result in adequate representation in each strata, targeted recruitment will then occur. Informed consent will be required from all of the study participants. 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. 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 Human Resource 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. If they agree to participate in the survey, they are requested to click on “go to next question” button at the bottom of the page to begin. By clicking this button, they are acknowledging that they are consenting to participate in the web survey. 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 the project team seeks to interview the individual currently in the position rather than the original participant. 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 January 1, 2016 to September 1, 2016.