1. Using the Internet for Health Promotion with Youth Cameron D. Norman, PhD Assistant Professor Dalla Lana School of Public Health Director of Evaluation Peter A. Silverman Global eHealth Program Principal Investigator & Managing Partner Youth Voices Research Group

2. What if? What if we could create opportunities to support young leaders in developing innovative strategies for transforming our social system to promote better health? What if we could leverage the power of information technology to connect researchers, community-based programs, and the public together in a dialogue about health issues from around the world? What if we could translate the knowledge gained from research to people who could use it in real time, wherever they are, using technologies that are free and widely available?

3. What if we could connect public health with the business sector and civil society leaders to develop models for addressing chronic disease prevention, food security, public safety & environmental health together? What if we could make this model sustainable and adaptable to meet the public health challenges of the future? What if? And what if we could do it today? We can

4. Global Youth Voices The Youth Voices Research Group http://www.youthvoices.ca

5. Background The Youth Voices Research Group (YVRG), a research and social innovation unit based at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto Initially formed as the TeenNet Project by Harvey Skinner in 1995 with a focus on using new technologies to engage young people in health promotion In 2006, transformed into the Youth Voices Research Group under the direction of Cameron Norman Focus on developing accessible, responsive, and health promoting systems for youth and young adults. Use of ICTs in context Evaluation

6. Youth Engagement Systematic Review Using Harts Ladder of participation Young people & adults share decision- making; Young people lead & initiate action; Adult-initiated, shared decisions with young people Youth taking on an active role (as leaders, decision-makers, planners, etc.) in a structured activity/project/program that has a focus outside of her/himself (i.e., connecting that young person to the outside world)

7. Emergence Feedback Dynamic Networks Adaptation Diversity Coordination Creativity

8. Youth Voices Research Group

9. Health Literacy as a Foundation Training on the use of technologies for health promotion with health professionals Education and awareness with the public and health professionals about the importance of literacy in facilitating use of ICTs for health eHealth Literacy Scale: Short assessment of skills and confidence in using ICT to make health decisions Norman & Skinner (2006) J Med Internet Res

10. Food4Health A Youth Engagement Project to Support Food Systems Transformation & Population Health

12. Food4Health: Goals & Activities 10-week pilot project / proof-of-concept : February - April 2009 To optimize current projects working in the area of youth engagement on issues related to food and health Evaluation & Networking To develop a platform for evaluation and coordination of multiple programs aimed at promoting health and wellbeing To form a strategy for creating and sustaining partnerships between public health and agrifood communities Blending online with offline strategies to engage youth in health promotion

13. Stomach this!

20. GRUB: Growing Reflections, Understanding Bites http://www.tigweb.org/tiged/projects/grub/index.html

22. Food4Health : Student Life Engagement Project studentlife-engagement.ning.com

23. Facebook

26. Science Communication Disaster Planning & Response Chronic Disease Prevention & Management Global Health Research Coordination Student Engagement

27. Youth Voices Research Group Dalla Lana School of Public Health www.youthvoices.cawww.food4health.ca

28. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto 416.978.1242 cameron.norman@utoronto.ca @cdnorman censemaking.wordpress.org www.youthvoices.ca / www.publicehealth.orgwww.youthvoices.cawww.publicehealth.org http://www.youtube.com/user/YouthVoicesResearch CONTACT: Cameron Norman, PhD