Position statements addressing risk factors

Many things affect how long we’ll live and how healthy we’ll be. Some are under our control:

• What we eat
• How much we move our bodies
• Whether we choose to use alcohol or tobacco
• Whether we choose to do things that put us at risk of injury

Others are harder (or sometimes impossible) to control:

• How we think and feel (mental wellness)
• Things that happened early in our lives (early childhood development)
• Where we live, work, learn and play (do these places support our health?)

To help you make the best possible decisions about your health, Northern Health has collected the latest research on all these factors into short “position snapshots” (listed below). Each snapshot gives Northern Health's "position" (recommendation) on one aspect of healthy living.

• Position on healthy eating - Snapshot
• Position on environment as a context for health - Snapshot

Introduction to NH position statements

Northern Health is committed to using a population health approach to address risk factors collectively. To do this, we are developing research papers that are evidence-based and consistent with provincial and national best practices. These papers, known as "position statements," will:

• Help to create a common understanding of the factors and how they impact our health - for us, and our stakeholders and partners
• Bring together evidence of what works to address the factors
• Look at examples of what others have done successfully
• Start ways to identify strategies for action to address risk factors

Full position statements

• Position on physical activity and sedentary behaviour
• Position on healthy eating
• Position on the environment as a context for health

• Health behaviour change theories: Considerations for planning behaviour change interventions
• Industrial camps part 2: Understanding resource and community development in Northern British Columbia
• Industrial camps part 1: Understanding the state of industrial camps in Northern BC

Please note: The following documents are currently in development. Copies are provided here for discussion purposes only.

• Guiding document on healthy schools: A comprehensive school health approach
• Guiding principles for healthy schools: A comprehensive school health approach
• Guiding document on early childhood development: An integrated population health approach
• Northern Health guiding principles for early childhood development
• Healthy aging - Strategies for health promotion
• Healthy aging strategies – Ottawa charter supplement

• Health happens in communities