Request for Letters of Intent (RFLOI 016) for Secondary Research On Women's Health Indicators
Funding and General Information
- Deadline for letters of intent: November 10, 2003
- Up to $1,000,000 has been set aside in this competition for
the support of up to eight (8) projects.
- Maximum funds per project: $300,000.
- Funding is expected to begin in Fall 2004. Project must be
completed within 24 months after receipt of funding.
- Applications for demonstration or implementation projects will
not be accepted.
- Applicants are encouraged to consult the Eligible Activities
section of the HPRP Guide
to research project funding.
Successful projects will have the potential to:
- improve the use of existing data sets to describe and study
women's health;
- increase understanding of factors affecting women's health
not captured in existing data sets;
- strengthen the existing body of information on health indicators,
particularly with respect to gender and diversity issues;
- contribute to policy and program development aimed at reducing
health inequalities and inequities between men and women; and
- contribute to an understanding of the relationship among the
different determinants of health and the links with health outcomes.
SCOPE OF COMPETITION
Objective
Health Canada is seeking to improve the way health is measured
in order to inform policy development and to monitor changes in
women's health status and outcomes in Canada. The purpose of this
research is to develop and validate health indicators that reflect
gender differences and diversity.
Background
Health indicators are standardized measures used to describe and
compare population health status and outcomes, health system performance
and characteristics between different groups. They allow us to
monitor and report on progress towards health goals and facilitate
useful comparisons1, 2.
Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information
(CIHI)
provide important information for measuring health and the health
system through their indicators framework3,4.
The population health approach focusses on the interrelated conditions
and factors that influence the health of populations over the life
span, identifies systematic variations in their patterns of occurrence,
and applies the resulting knowledge to develop and implement policies
and actions to improve the health and well-being of those populations5.
Health status and health outcome are influenced by a number of
determinants, including income and social status, employment, education,
social environments, physical environments, healthy child development,
personal health practices and coping skills, health services, social
support networks, biology and genetic endowment, gender, and culture6.
Improving our understanding of the relationships among the different
determinants of health and of their links with health outcomes
remains a key issue. There can be dynamic synergies among many
of the determinants of health which, with intervening social processes,
either exacerbate or ameliorate health impacts. For example, stress,
if severe, chronic or poorly managed, has adverse physical outcomes
for both men and women. Its origins can include particular social-structural
roles. Stress can be occasioned by the financial pressures of pay
inequity and single parenthood, and by the double burden of paid
and unpaid work. Moreover, some ways of coping with the resultant
stress, such as substance abuse, tobacco use or other lifestyle
behaviours, can cause further health problems. Thus, a wide range
of health determinants may interact cumulatively, over time, to
produce physical and emotional health problems7.
Why develop women's health indicators using gender and diversity
perspectives?
Health Canada's Gender-Based Analysis Policy8 and Women's
Health Strategy9 offer strong
support for the development of women's health indicators that
integrate gender and diversity perspectives. To date, the lack
of gender-sensitive indicators has made it more difficult to
identify appropriate policies and programs aimed at reducing
health inequalities and inequities between and among population
sub-groups.
Women face particular challenges related to health and living
conditions. Although women live longer than men, they experience
more chronic conditions and increased years of activity limitation.
Women and men experience health in different ways and also differ
in how they perceive health and illness, set health priorities,
utilize health care services and receive treatment10.We
lack comprehensive indicators to track these differences in a way
that takes into account the context of women's and men's lives.
Although many health indicators are sex-disaggregated (biological),
they do not adequately capture gender (social) differences that
would reflect the complexity of women's health experiences, concerns
and needs and their roles as both recipients and providers of care.
Health indicators that are disease-focussed reinforce the misperception
that women's health is solely determined or dominated by the physiology
and pathology of their reproductive systems11.
Health indicators that reflect well-being and the broader determinants
of health provide a much better picture of the health of Canada's
women. However, gender and diversity considerations, pertaining,
for example, to the distribution of social power, are needed to
better understand the linkages between determinants of health and
health outcomes.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Research projects will focus on the development of new indicators
or the improvement of existing women's health indicators (e.g.
indexes12, cross tabulated indicators,
etc.) using gender-based analysis8,9 as
the analytical tool and using a diversity approach8,9.
These indicators should reflect the differential impact of key
socio-economic determinants of health on the health status and
outcomes of women compared to men,
where appropriate.
1. Socio-cultural Roles and Responsibilities, and the Physical
and Mental Health of Women
How could existing indicators be used and/or modified, or what new indicators
could be developed, to capture:
a) the impact of cultural/social roles on women's health including
or taking into account:
- the impact of the balance of power between women and men in
society and within the family; and
- the role and interactions of social networks/support, social
exclusion and resilience on women and men?
and/or
b) the burden of paid and unpaid work on women's health while
taking multiple roles and responsibilities into account?
2. Social Exclusion and Women's Health
How could existing indicators be used and/or modified, or what
new indicators could be developed, to capture the burden of social
exclusion factors (e.g. level of education, unemployment, homelessness,
etc.) on the health of particular sub-groups of women in Canada
(e.g. women with disabilities; aboriginal women; immigrant women;
visible and linguistic minorities)?
3. The Environment and Women's Health
How could existing indicators be used and/or modified, or what
new indicators could be developed, to capture:
a) the major environmental hazards faced by women in the home,
workplace, or general environment?
and/or
b) the differential exposures to these hazards and the related
health risks faced by women?
4. Health Services and Women's Health
How could existing indicators be used and/or modified, or what
new indicators could be developed, taking into account aspects
of gender and diversity (e.g., language and culture), to capture
the impact of health services access and utilization on:
a) women's infectious and chronic health conditions?
and/or
b) infectious and chronic health conditions among women who give
or receive home care?
POLICY CONTACT
Applicants must get in touch with the policy contact at least
once during the development of the letter of intent. The policy
contact is responsible for ongoing interaction with researchers
on the policy issues and context. Inquiries should be directed
to Catherine Kulisek, Manager, Women's Health Contribution Program
and Research, Women's Health Bureau, Health Policy and Communications
Branch, Health Canada, (tel.: (613) 952-4525; e-mail: catherine_kulisek@hc-sc.gc.ca).
ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT
Inquiries regarding registration, eligibility/ineligibility, administrative
questions about time frames and budgets, letter of intent formatting
and content, the review process, and terms and conditions of the HPRP should
be directed to Elizabeth Maddocks (tel: (613) 954-8557; fax: 613-954-7363;
e-mail: elizabeth_maddocks@hc-sc.gc.ca).
DATA ACCESS CONTACT
Statistics Canada, Client Services, (613) 951-1746
HOW TO APPLY
Applicants are required to register in order to obtain a Letter
of Intent form. Letters of Intent must be submitted before 2:00pm
(E.S.T) on Monday, November 10, 2003. Only researchers with Letters
of Intent found to be eligible and relevant to the identified policy
research priority will then be invited to submit a full proposal.
Applicants should consult the HPRP Guide
to research project funding before registering.
REFERENCES
1. Health Canada. Perinatal Health Indicators
for Canada. A Resource Manual, Canadian Perinatal Surveillance
System, 2000. Cat. H49-135/2000E. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/rhs-ssg/phic-ispc
2. Statistics Canada. Comparable Health Indicators
- Canada, Provinces and Territories. 2002. Cat. 82-401-XIE.
http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/82-401-XIE/free.htm
3. Canadian Institute for Health Information & Statistics
Canada; Health Indicators, May 2003, vol. 2003, no.1, Cat.
82-221-XIE; May 2002, vol. 2, no.10, Cat. 82-221-XIE; & Dec.
2001, vol. 3, Cat. 82-221-XIE. http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/82-221-XIE/free.htm
4. Canadian Institute for Health Information & Statistics
Canada. Health Care in Canada, 2003. http://secure.cihi.ca/healthreport/
5. Federal, Provincial and Territorial Advisory
Committee on Population Health. Toward a Healthy Future - Second
Report on the Health of Canadians, prepared for the Meeting
of Ministers of Health, Charlottetown, P.E.I. 1999. Cat H39-468/1999E.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/phdd/report/subin.html
6&9. Health Canada. Health
Canada's Women's Health Strategy, 1999. Cat. H21-138/1997.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/women/womenstrat.htm
7. Colman, Ronald. A Profile of Women's Health
Indicators In Canada, 2003. Prepared for the Women's Health
Bureau, Health Canada. http://www.gpiatlantic.org/whbreport.pdf
8. Health Canada. Health Canada's Gender-based
Analysis Policy, 2000. Cat. H34-110/2000E-IN. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/women/gba_policy.htm
10 & 11. See also Abdool,
S and Vissandjée, B. An Inventory of Conceptual Frameworks
and Women's Health Indicators, 2001. Centre of Excellence for
Women's Health – University of Montreal. To obtain copy of
this document, contact Canadian Women's Health Network at: http://www.cwhn@cwhn.ca/
12. See for example: F/P/T Ministers Responsible
for the Status of Women. Economic Gender Equality Indicators,
1997. Cat. SW21-17/1997E. http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/pubs/0662261593/index_e.html
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