Multisectoral partnerships to tackle complex health issues at the community level: lessons from a Healthy Communities Approach in rural Alberta, Canada

Setting Health inequities exist in rural communities across Canada, as rural residents are more likely than their urban counterparts to experience injuries, chronic conditions, obesity, and shorter life expectancy. Cooperative and coordinated action across sectors is required to both understand and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Canadian journal of public health Vol. 113; no. 5; pp. 755 - 763
Main Authors:	Chaisson, Kristen, Gougeon, Laura, Patterson, Stephanie, Allen Scott, Lisa K.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Cham Springer International Publishing 01-10-2022 Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Action Adaptation Cancer Chronic conditions Chronic illnesses Community development Cooperation Disease prevention Health care Health disparities Innovations in Policy and Practice Life expectancy Life span Medicine Medicine & Public Health Obesity Partnerships Public Health Rural areas Rural communities Rural populations Sustainability Alberta Canada Canada collaboration multisectorielle Healthy Communities Approach communautés rurales diversité Diversity Rural communities moyens de proximité Multisectoral collaboration Community capacity Approche des Communautés en santé
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Summary:	Setting Health inequities exist in rural communities across Canada, as rural residents are more likely than their urban counterparts to experience injuries, chronic conditions, obesity, and shorter life expectancy. Cooperative and coordinated action across sectors is required to both understand and address these complex public health issues. Intervention The Alberta Healthy Communities Approach (AHCA) is based on the values and core building blocks of the Healthy Communities Approach, a framework centred on building community capacity to support community-led actions on the determinants of health. Adaptations within the AHCA focused on implementation mechanisms with a 5-step process and supporting implementation and assessment tools for multisectoral team building. Local measurement of change was enhanced and focused on community capacity and multisectoral action stages. Between 2016 and 2019, the AHCA was piloted with 15 rural communities across Alberta with population sizes ranging from 403 to 15,051 people. Outcomes While communities piloting the AHCA ranged in the level of diversity of their coalition membership and partnerships, members’ reflections demonstrate that intentional engagement with diverse citizens and sectors is pivotal to collaboratively identifying local assets and priorities and mobilizing cross-sectoral action that will sustainably improve supportive environments for cancer and chronic disease prevention. Implications Engaging across sectors, building partnerships, and establishing a multisectoral team increase diversity and can catalyze community-led prioritization and actions for asset-based community development. An increase in diversity may lead to increased investment and sustainability at the community level.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0008-4263 1920-7476
DOI:	10.17269/s41997-022-00653-5