Introduction
Humans are social beings and have evolved to live in families, groups, and communities. “Community” is the crucible for most important determinants of health, as well as for many of the important social relationships that make life worth living. Hospice Palliative Care Ontario (HPCO) and the hospice palliative care sector have endorsed the “Compassionate Community” as a way to mobilize whole communities to promote holistic care across the life span, including end of life. Other community efforts have complimentary aims that could also benefit people with life-altering conditions and their caregivers. As researchers, academics, analysts, and community leaders from diverse backgrounds, we each recognize the role that communities play in the health of individuals and families.
This CoP is a voluntary collaboration of like-minded researchers who are working together to explore and test a new theoretical paradigm that emphasizes the ecological, nested, and interactive relationship between health, social and economic environment of communities, along with integrated theories of community health change, in order to guide the development of multilevel program models and embedded measurement of public value and population-level impact. Research, evaluation and knowledge translation are important tools in shaping community development, action, and impact. Adopting a learning system approach to integrate research and evaluation methods in tandem with program development and delivery can help ensure the scalability and sustainability of new and existing Community initiatives.
Purpose
The purpose of this CoP is to stimulate and mobilize research and to develop evidence that is critical for informed decision making and community action. To do this, the CoP will:
- Connect like-minded researchers and offer an infrastructure to support these individuals in sharing knowledge and information.
- Develop and share novel, pragmatic and agile research and evaluation approaches for adoption by existing and emerging implementation communities
This work is intended to impact population level health and quality of life, and influence actions that:
- Build healthy public policy.
- Create supportive environments.
- Strengthen community action.
- Develop personal skills.
- Re-orientate health care services toward prevention of illness and promotion of health. (World Health Organization, The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion)
Resources
To find out more information on how to join the Community Research Collaborative Community of Practice please contact:
Nav Dhillon, Communities of Practice Coordinator
Hospice Palliative Care Ontario
nav.dhillon@hpco.ca
T: 416.736.9559