A Pan-Canadian engagement of policy, practice & research in youth health: Lessons from Youth Excel CLASP Antony Card, Memorial University (Grenfell) Barb Riley, Propel Centre for Population Health Impact, University of Waterloo Donna Murnaghan, University of PEI (on behalf of Youth Excel collaborators)

Collaborators: With thanks to ON: Steve Manske (Propel, U Waterloo) Heather Manson, Jennifer Robertson, Melody Robertson (Public Health ON) BC: PJ Naylor, Karen Strange (Uvic) AB: Kate Storey, Marg Schwartz, Paul Veugelers (U Alberta) MB: Jane Griffith, Kate McGarry, Tannis Erikson (Cancer Care MB) PE: Brandi Bell (UPEI) NB: Bill Morrison, Lynn Ann Duffley (UNB) Marlien McKay (NB Gov’t) Katherine Kelly (pan- Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health) And many more…

Introducing: Youth Excel Youth Health Collaborative: ‘Excel’erating Evidence-Informed Action – Funded by Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (Oct09-Mar12) – 2 national partners & 7 provincial teams – Purpose: to accelerate the generation and use of evidence amongst policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers to inform and improve youth health policies & programs

Introducing: Youth Excel Background rationale for our Coalition Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) Developing capacity to enable rapid generation and use of evidence to inform and continuously improve policies and programs to enhance youth health Systemic change Enduring tools and processes to support evidence in action

Introducing: Youth Excel Project objectives & aims 1.establish and advance priorities for a) moving evidence to action b) deriving evidence from action; 2.accelerate development of knowledge exchange capability in provinces, by doing and sharing case studies to guide this work; and 3.strengthen collaboration among research, policy, practice, and youth leaders by creating mechanisms to enable mutual learning about how to effect efficient and productive knowledge exchange. 4.conduct a developmental evaluation at the outset of Youth Excel

Introducing Youth Excel Goals 6 Impact Goal Reduce youth chronic disease Risk Community Monitoring Using Evidence Move Evidence to Action Learn from Action Impact Goal Capacity Development Goal

Youth Health Collaborative: ‘Excelerating’ evidence-informed action Perspective / Level PolicyPracticeResearch Provincial National Health Education 7

Introducing Youth Excel Key Activities Two national roundtables – Priorities for Comprehensive School Health – Catching the Jellyfish: Knowledge Development & Exchange for Advancing Youth Health 16 provincial roundtables – provincial priorities and systems to advance youth health 4 case studies of provincial knowledge development and exchange systems; cross-case analysis Creation of Core Indicators and Measures for Youth Health: – tobacco control, physical activity and nutrition – Individual level, school level

Youth Excel Case Studies Purpose: to accelerate the development of effective knowledge exchange (KE) capacity in diverse provincial contexts PE, MB, and NB selected as case sites due to existing capacities in youth health knowledge exchange Exploratory case study using a multiple-case design (Yin, 2003) Individual case studies Cross-case analysis

Provincial Youth Health KE Systems Prince Edward Island – School Health Action Planning & Evaluation System – PEI (SHAPES-PEI) Manitoba – Manitoba Youth Health Survey (YHS) New Brunswick – NB Student Wellness Survey and Knowledge Exchange Initiative (NBSWS/KE)

SHAPES – PEI School Health Action, Planning, and Evaluation System – Prince Edward Island

Underlying Research School Health Assessment Feedback for Planning ActionEvaluation and Adaptation “Local” Strategy and Contexts SHAPES - Conceptual Model

SHAPES–PEI Development Planning began in 2007 – The CSHR Group (UPEI, Dr. Murnaghan) and the PEI Dept. of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) Support/Partnerships – Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Departments of EECD & Health – University of Waterloo – PEI School Boards (3) & Schools – NGOs & associations (e.g., CCS, PEITF, Home & School) Funding – DEECD: SHAPES-PEI – Health Canada: Youth Smoking Survey (YSS), implemented simultaneously

Every 2 years: – and , expected – Over 85% of schools participated in and 90% in Student survey & administrator survey: – Students in grades 5-12 (on four health behaviours) – Administrator at each school (on policies and programs) Profile reports: – School-level – Board-level – Provincial-level Data Collection & Reports

Knowledge Exchange & Use Focus of activities in , , and PEI School Health Grant Program – Schools/Boards encouraged to use Profiles as basis of application – Provides funds to implement, improve, and/or evaluate one or more of the four health behaviours studied Presentations & Meetings – With schools, teachers, students, parents, etc. – At academic conferences Future considerations – Continue to encourage schools to use their data – Engaging stakeholders in conversations about data needs and use – Academic publishing

Newfoundland & Labrador YE CLASP Priority areas: Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Tobacco Free Provincial Forum – Policy, practice and research -Outcomes: -Formation of Provincial Physical Activity Coalition School Administrators Conference focused on school health -Networking & priority setting across sectors 16

Lessons Learned: Methods Telephone interviews with Youth Excel provincial (7) and national (2) partners. Participants: 21 Youth Excel researchers, practitioners, and policy makers Selection: Direct involvement in the design, implementation and/or evaluation of Youth Excel Purpose: to understand key ingredients in building KDE capacity, including assets, drivers and constraints Coding and analysis by themes 17

YE Lessons Learned: Community Monitoring System Backbone of KDE capacity, but needs coordination (reduce burden and cost) and tailoring Core indicators and measures (CIM) for comparative analyses, evaluation Frequent dialogue - “democratic conversations” for win-win solutions Mutually beneficial partnerships – those connected across sectors Building trust: negotiating various perspectives in non-judgemental environment 18

YE Lessons Learned: Knowledge Exchange Transforming (especially local) data into knowledge products – “can’t talk with gov’t without the evidence” Sharing & learning across jurisdictions & sectors especially in neutral space (for national & provincial levels) 19

YE Lessons Learned: Ability to Use Existing Evidence Optimized through – Partnerships across R/P/P – Ability to “pull up data instantly” to support partnerships – Natural knowledge brokers / champions who know data exist, understand meaning, take action – Clear knowledge products – Training opportunities – Initiatives that “require” use of knowledge products – The “right people” with passion for KDE 20

YE Lessons Learned: Capacity to Generate Evidence from Action Ability to “learn as we go” This component is under-developed Move beyond “know what” to “know how” including stories, lessons learned 21

YE Lessons Learned: KDE Capacity Overall Finding a common language & meaning – Investments in terms / concepts (CSH, HPS) mean it can be challenging to change – “differences between the language and priorities of research versus policy and practice are a challenge and it takes time and effort “ Vision & strategic leadership – co-created, maintained over time, resonant with partners Funding: KDE funds often not dedicated or sustained 22

Youth Excel Successes Collective agenda setting in youth health – space for dialogue, neutral broker, catalyst Developing tangible assets to accelerate collective priorities in youth health Peer learning across jurisdictions to strengthen fledgling KDE infrastructure 23

Way Forward Future for Canadian KDE capacity mixes hope with sober reality of challenges Process Relationships Evaluation / Learning Integration

Discussion Donna MurnaghanBarb RileyAntony Card

The Propel Centre for Population Health Impact was founded by the Canadian Cancer Society and the University of Waterloo.

27 Action is often ahead of the science Context and youth culture are dynamic Need to learn in “real time” to continuously improve pertinent programs and policies ROLE OF EVIDENCE “Canada lacks a coherent prevention system that links evidence to action on an ongoing basis … such a prevention system is urgently needed” Kim Elmslie, Public Health Agency of Canada

28 SYSTEM