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Health researcher promotes holistic, preventive approach

By Sigrid Klaus

Have you ever wondered who does the research that supports current health policies in Saskatchewan?

Joan Feather isn’t of course the sole provider of that body of research. But as co-ordinator of the Prairie Region Health Promotion Research Centre (PRHPRC) – the name describes the basic purpose of the Centre – she works with partner organizations to "build capacity" with Saskatchewan health districts.

"In other words," she says, "we work to develop the knowledge, skills, commitment, and resources necessary to conduct effective health promotion across the province."

Established on campus in 1993, the PRHPRC fosters collaboration between researchers and community-level health workers.

The five-year core funding the PRHPRC initially received from the federal government expired in 1998. Since then, the Centre has partnered with many organizations – Saskatchewan Health, the Human Services Integration Forum, Health Canada, the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations, the Saskatchewan Heart Health Program, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and others – to continue its award-winning work.

Last summer, the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education (CAUCE) awarded the Centre’s ‘From Principles to Practice’ summer school an Award for Program Excellence, citing its "vitally important ... response to critical issues" in its jurisdiction.

Prairie Region Health Promotion Research Centre Co-ordinator Joan Feather. Photo by Wayne Eyre

The five-day program, the Centre’s third such, attracted about 160 health workers from across Canada and abroad, employed various innovative teaching and learning strategies, and sought, Feather says, "to enable health promotion practitioners to move from an understanding of the principles of health promotion to an ability to undertake health promotion initiatives."

This past August, the Centre hosted its fourth summer school and again attracted about 170 participants interested in learning more about collaborative approaches to the promotion of health. Justice Minister Allan Rock addressed the group at a breakfast sponsored by Health Canada, at which he pledged $1.8-million for health research at the U of S.

Feather notes that as our understanding of health promotion has shifted from healthy lifestyles to a broader view of the importance of the physical, social, and cultural context, a collaboration of diverse professional groups has become necessary.

"An intersectoral approach brings people to take action in promoting basic health. Instead of attracting only health professionals, our summer school brought together people from a wide disciplinary spectrum."

She’s pleased that workers from various community organizations vie with each other for the chance to attend and that PPHPRC’s summer schools hold wide provincial, national, and even international appeal.

Feather first became interested in health research in the late 1960s when, as a young sociologist recently graduated from the U of S, she became involved in an international project on medical care utilization co-ordinated by Johns Hopkins University.

The study was a seven-country partnership which looked at patterns of health-care utilization in 12 study areas within those countries.

"Being in Washington in the spring of 1968 was quite an experience for a Canadian from the Prairies. The assassination of Martin Luther King occurred while I was in Washington and gave those times a sense of urgency and change. Furthermore, it was my first experience in being immersed in high quality research."

Since that time, after working on numerous regional and national studies, Feather says she’s gone "further and further upstream" in her belief that we need to understand the complexities of promoting health while also continuing to devote resources to treating illness.

"We’re realizing that health is about more than the absence of disease; that it includes our social, physical, and emotional well-being and our varying abilities and opportunities to satisfy needs and realize aspirations. Inequalities in these things go a long way in determining why some people are healthy and some are not. After all, if you have little or no sense of control over your life circumstances, you tend not to be as healthy as someone who does."

Unfortunately, says Feather, Western governments have been reluctant to devote many health care dollars to promoting health in the fullest sense.

"Virtually all of our health care funding goes into treating the sick. We need to devote more to individual empowerment, to helping people work together in communities towards this end."

But many Third World countries are interested in this primary health approach. As an example, Feather cites the 10 Mozambique students who are now studying at the U of S as part of a five-year, CIDA-funded program between Mozambique and Canada. She notes that the Mozambique government is using primary health care as its main strategy for improving the health of its population.

"We’re pleased that PRHPRC can play a role with Dr. Gerri Dickson (College of Nursing) in helping Mozambique students both here and in their own country learn effective ways of teaching health professionals to connect with local communities."

As a long-time health researcher, and as a supervisor of graduate students, Feather is convinced that the building of community and individual capacity is the way governments must approach health promotion.

"We have to look at what causes the health problems people are experiencing and become more involved in creating conditions in which people can be healthy. It was exciting to have the opportunity to introduce Allan Rock to some of the many practitioners who are doing excellent work in communities to promote health."