Health Policy Commons^™

Comparison Of Housed And Homeless Patients With An Orthopedic Diagnosis, Susan M. Williams

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Studies on homelessness have shown that people who are homeless are admitted to hospital more frequently, for longer periods of time, and at a younger age than people who are housed. Once admitted to hospital, discharge planning is difficult and resource intensive, often leading to discharge back to the streets or a shelter. This puts this population at risk for complications and readmission. Although people who are homeless are prone to orthopedic injuries, there is no research on the outcomes of patients who are homeless with orthopedic injuries. This retrospective, case control study, based on the social determinants of health, …

Perceptions About Equity In Public Health: A Comparison Between Frontline Staff And Informing Policy In Ontario, Katherine E. Rizzi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Recent changes in Ontario public health policy call for increased emphasis on equity. However, it is not clear how equity is understood as a concept and how equity is understood as practice. Methods: The aim of this study was to understand public health frontline staff (FLS) perspectives on health equity and how these align with provincial public health policy documents. A qualitative content analysis design was used to examine transcripts from six focus group interviews with frontline public health workers and seven key provincial public health documents that have shaped or influenced public health program planning in Ontario. Perceptions …

Authority Migration And Accountability In Canadian Type Ii Multilevel Governance, Robert W. Waterman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In advanced industrial democracies, including Canada, elections act as important mechanisms of democratic accountability. However, the migration of public decision-making responsibility away from elected representatives and toward new governance models may alter accountability relationships. As authority is dispersed horizontally to new governance actors that exist beyond the reach of the ballot box, questions of public input and accountability within the democratic governance process arise.

The objectives of the dissertation are: 1) to evaluate the extent to which Canadian provinces have opted to migrate decision-making authority horizontally in response to policy issues and why; and 2) to evaluate the existence and …