British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health (BCCEWH)

Summary of research and links to backgrounders intended to support the work of facilitators of girls’ empowerment groups, programmers and organizations working with girls and young women. The research project examined: best practices in health promotion with girls and healthy living issues such as prevention of tobacco uptake, obesity, physical inactivity and dating violence; the central elements of girls’ empowerment group approaches and how they might provide a model for gender-specific health promotion; and what girls say they get from these groups.

Intended to generate an understanding of women and healthy living and to contribute to the development of evidence-informed responses to addressing challenges related to healthy living for women in Canada. Argues that healthy living needs to be reframed and embrace a broader concept of health and health issues in order to improve women’s healthy living. Includes (1) an overview of the status of women in Canada and the healthy living discourse; (2) a profile of women and healthy living; (3) healthy living strategies and promising gender-sensitive intervention; and (4) conclusions.

Discusses how women, who are still the primary caregivers, are more exposed to common endocrine disrupting chemicals such as household cleaning products, than are men, and this exposes them to health risks.

Summarizes how overweight and obesity affect women by looking at sex, gender and diversity. Also critiques the BMI as an accurate measure of overweight and obesity.

Alcohol is a favourite drug for many people, and women may be having more problems with alcohol than many of us would like to think. Journalist Ann Dowsett Johnston spent a year talking with women, and learned that there is a global rise in women's drinking-what one eminent researcher calls a "global epidemic." For Canadian women, rates of risky drinking rose significantly for in recent years. (Risky drinking is defined as four drinks or more on at least one occasion in the past week.) Women drink to ease ease anxiety, deal with trauma, and much more. Risky drinking leads to a wide variety of short and long-term health challenges. Is this a new problem, or are we just becoming aware of it? What's the role of alcohol marketing? How can we help women define the blurry line between social drinking and alcohol addiction? 

In this webinar, CWHN Executive Director Anne Rochon Ford interviewed Dowsett Johnston about her research, including questions and comments from viewers.

A Practice Guide that supports providers in diverse contexts to start a converstaion with women about their smoking and the possibility of quitting. Draws largely from Motivational Interviewing – an evidence-based communication style to support change – to translate women-centred principles into practice.

A companion piece to this guide is under development: a compendium of facts and issues related to women and smoking for local, national and global audiences. Please also see BCCEWH work on women and tobacco at www.expectingtoquit.ca and www.coalescing-vc.org/virtualLearning/section4/default.htm

Explores whether women and men (girls and boys) have the same experiences of material and social deprivation and of health, and how these similarities or differences are accounted for in terms of indicator development and structure. Examines the opportunities for and the limitations of one deprivation index to represent the different experiences of men and of women in Canada by conducting a sex- and gender-based analysis (SGBA) of the indicators included in the index and calculating the index by sex using Statistics Canada's Census data for Vancouver, Winnipeg and Halifax. Results suggest that a deprivation index may not apply to men and women equally, and point to the need for thorough exploration of sex and gender differences associated with components of multivariate indices to ensure that they reflect the experience of men and women.

The Source assists researchers, policy makers, health planners, and students identify sources of health data. The Source provides introductory sex- and gender-based analyses (SGBA) on prominent topics in women’s health, followed by links to provincial, national, and international data sources.

The webinar included presentations on: Tobacco reduction for pregnant and postpartum women and their partners:  Evidence from the FACET (Families Controlling and Eliminating Tobacco) studies.

An introduction to trauma-informed and trauma-specific practice, with examples of how people are embedding trauma informed and trauma specific care in various settings in Canada, discussion of why there is a need to focus on trauma informed care in systems development work, and summary of key issues, themes and resources, highlighting promising practices and tensions. Presenter Nancy Poole is the Director of Research and Knowledge Translation at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health. She is well known for her work on research, training and policy initiatives related to women’s substance use, mental health, and experience of violence with governments and organizations on local, provincial and national levels. She is the co-editor of a book on trauma-informed care to be published by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.