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Background: Participation in on-the-land programs that encourage traditional cultural activities may improve health and well-being. The Income Security Program (ISP) - a financial incentive-based on-the-land program - for Eeyouch (Cree) hunters and trappers in Eeyou Istchee was created as a result of the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement to help mitigate the effects of hydroelectric development on the Cree people of northern Quebec, Canada. Beyond the ISP's financial incentives, little is known about the health measures of those who are eligible to participate in the ISP (i.e. spent ≥120 days on-the-land during the previous year). Therefore, this paper's objective was to assess the health measures of northern Quebec Cree, who were eligible for participation in the ISP.Methods: Using participant data (n = 545) compiled from the Nituuchischaayihtitaau Aschii Multi-Community Environment-and-Health Study, we assessed 13 different health measures in generalized linear models with the independent variable being the eligibility to participate in the ISP.Results: Participants in the present study who were eligible for the ISP had significantly higher levels of vigorous and moderate activity per week, and higher concentrations of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the blood compared to those ineligible for the ISP (i.e. spent ≤119 days on-the-land during the previous year). Encouragingly, following model adjustment for age and sex, participants eligible for the ISP did not have higher blood concentrations of mercury than those who were not eligible for the ISP.Conclusions: Our results suggest that the participants eligible for participation in the ISP are likely to be healthier than those who are ineligible to participate - and are promising for on-the-land programs for Indigenous peoples beyond a financial incentive - with no apparent higher risk of increasing contaminant body burden through traditional on-the-land-activities (e.g. fish consumption). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To translate and validate the Child Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (CTFEQr17), assessing cognitive restraint (CR), uncontrolled eating (UE) and emotional eating (EE), among French-speaking Canadian young individuals.Design: Phase 1 comprised a translation and the evaluation of the comprehension of the questionnaire. Phase 2 comprised a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the evaluation of internal consistency (Cronbach's α), test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC)) and construct validity, including correlations among the CTFEQr17 and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), anthropometrics, dietary intake and diet quality.Setting: Primary and secondary schools, Québec City, Canada.Participants: Phases 1 and 2 included 20 (40 % boys, mean age 11·5 (sd 2·4) years) and 145 (48 % boys, mean age 11·0 (sd 1·9) years) participants, respectively.Results: Phase 1 resulted in the questionnaire to be used in Phase 2. In Phase 2, the CFA revealed that the seventeen item, three-factor model (CTFEQr17) provided an excellent fit. Internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α: 0·81-0·90). Test-retest reliability was moderate to good (ICC = 0·59, (95 % CI 0·48, 0·70), ICC = 0·78, (95 % CI 0·70, 0·84), ICC = 0·50, (95 % CI 0·38, 0·62) for CR, UE and EE, respectively). CR correlated with EAT-26 score (r = 0·43, P < 0·0001). UE and EE correlated negatively with BMI Z-scores (r = -0;·26, P = 0·003; r = -0;·19, P = 0·03, respectively). CR correlated with the proportion of energy intake from protein and diet quality (r = 0·18, P = 0·04; r = 0·20, P = 0·02, respectively).Conclusion: The CTFEQr17 is suitable to use among French-speaking Canadian young individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: We compared smoking initiation and cessation in Quebec versus the rest of Canada as possible underpinnings of the continued higher cigarette smoking prevalence in Quebec. Methods: Data were drawn from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). We compared average and sex-stratified prevalence estimates of (1) current cigarette smoking in persons aged 15 years and older; (2) past-year initiation of cigarette smoking in those aged 12 to 17 and 18 to 24 years; and (3) past-year cessation in adults aged 25 years and older in Quebec versus the other nine Canadian provinces in each two-year CCHS cycle from 2007/08 to 2017/18. Results: The prevalence of current smoking decreased from 25% to 18% among adults aged 15 years and older in Quebec from 2007/08 to 2017/18, and from 22% to 16% in the rest of Canada. Initiation among those aged 12 to 17 years decreased from 9% to 5% in Quebec, and from 7% to 3% in the rest of Canada. Neither initiation among people aged 18 to 24 (at 6% and 7%, respectively) nor cessation among adults aged 25 and older (approximately 8%) changed over time in Quebec or in the rest of Canada. In each two-year CCHS cycle, past-year initiation among those 12 to 17 years of age was consistently higher in Quebec than in the rest of Canada, but there were no substantial or sustained differences in initiation among people aged 18 to 24 or in past-year cessation. Findings were similar when stratified by sex. Conclusion: Higher levels of smoking initiation among youth aged 12 to 17 years could be a proximal underpinning of the continuing higher prevalence of smoking in Quebec versus the rest of Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify correlates and underlying beliefs regarding the adolescents' intention to abstain from consuming sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and the consumption of ≤1 daily portion of SSB.Design: Correlational study.Setting: Region of Chaudière-Appalaches in the province of Quebec, Canada.Participants: 311 adolescents aged 13-18 years completed a self-administrated online questionnaire based on the Reasoned Action Approach. Frequency and quantity of different types of SSB within the past month were measured.Results: Total mean SSB intake was 882·6 ml/d (654·0 kJ/d ). Only 11·3 % abstained from SSB within the last month. Intention to abstain from SSB was explained by identification as SSB abstainers (β = 0·47), perceived norm (β = 0·32), attitude (β = 0·30), age 13-14 years (β = -0·27) and perception of the school environment (β = 0·14), which explained 66 % of the variance. Consumption of ≤1 daily portion of SSB was explained by the intention to abstain (OR = 1·55; 95 % CI 1·14, 2·11), perceived behavioural control to abstain (OR = 1·80; 95 % CI 1·29, 2·52), sex (girls v. boys: OR = 2·34; 95 % CI 1·37, 3·98) and socio-economic status (advantaged v. disadvantaged school: OR = 2·08; 95 % CI 1·21, 3·56). Underlying beliefs (i.e. more energy, decreased risk of addiction and friends' approval) associated with intention as well as perceived barriers (e.g. access to SSB, after an activity that makes you thirsty), and facilitating factors (e.g. access to water) linked to SSB consumption were identified.Conclusions: The results can inform public health interventions to decrease SSB consumption and their associated health problems among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: The present study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire assessing perceived food environment in a French-Canadian population.Design: A questionnaire, the Perceived Food Environment Questionnaire, was developed assessing perceived accessibility to healthy (nine items) and unhealthy foods (three items). A pre-test sample was recruited for a pilot testing of the questionnaire. For the validation study, another sample was recruited and completed the questionnaire twice. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on the items to assess the number of factors (subscales). Cronbach's α was used to measure internal consistency reliability. Test-retest reliability was assessed with Pearson correlations.Setting: Online survey.Subjects: Men and women from the Québec City area (n 31 in the pre-test sample; n 150 in the validation study sample).Results: The pilot testing did not lead to any change in the questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-subscale structure. The first subscale is composed of six items assessing accessibility to healthy foods and the second includes three items related to accessibility to unhealthy foods. Three items were removed from the questionnaire due to low loading on the two subscales. The subscales demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0·77 for healthy foods and 0·62 for unhealthy foods) and test-retest reliability (r=0·59 and 0·60, respectively; both P<0·0001).Conclusions: The Perceived Food Environment Questionnaire was developed for a French-Canadian population and demonstrated good psychometric properties. Further validation is recommended if the questionnaire is to be used in other populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Short instruments measuring frequency of specific foods, such as fruit and vegetable (FV), are increasingly used in interventions. The objective of the study was to verify the validity and test-retest reliability of such an instrument among pregnant women.Methods: Pregnant women from the region of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, were recruited through e-mails sent to female students and employees of the local university from October 2014 to April 2015. To assess the validity of the fruit and vegetable questionnaire (FVQ) developed by Godin et al. (Can J Public Health 99: 494-498, 2008), pregnant women were asked in a first mailing to complete the FVQ assessing FV intake over the past 7 days and a 3-day estimated food record. A subsample (n = 33) also gave a fasting blood sample and completed a validated semi-quantitative FFQ administered by a trained registered dietitian during a visit at the research center. FV intakes for all instruments were calculated in terms of servings of FV based on Canada's Food Guide definition of a serving of fruit or vegetable. In order to assess its test-retest reliability, respondents were asked to complete the FVQ 14 days later in a second mailing.Results: Forty-eight pregnant women from all three trimesters completed the questionnaires in the first mailing. FV intake assessed using the FVQ was correlated to FV consumption measured using the food record (r = 0.34, p = 0.0180) and the FFQ (r = 0.61, p = 0.0002). Results were similar when controlling for energy intake and the experience of nausea in the past month. Only β-cryptoxanthin was significantly correlated to FV intake assessed by the FFQ when adjusted for the presence of nausea (r = 0.35, p = 0.0471). Data on the test-retest reliability was available for 44 women and the intra-class coefficient for the FVQ was 0.72 at a mean 28-day interval.Conclusions: The FVQ has acceptable validity and test-retest reliability values, but seems to underestimate FV servings in pregnant women. It represents an interesting alternative for researchers or clinicians interested in estimating quickly FV intake among pregnant women, such as in large trials or during prenatal visits. The FVQ should however be coupled with other self-reported measures, such as a food record, for assessing precise individual FV intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective In the province of Quebec, Canada, long-term residential care is provided by two types of facilities: publicly funded accredited facilities and privately owned facilities in which care is privately financed and delivered. Following evidence that private facilities were delivering inadequate care, the provincial government decided to regulate this industry. We assessed the impact of regulation on care quality by comparing quality assessments made before and after regulation. In both periods, public facilities served as a comparison group. Design A cross-sectional study conducted in 2010–12 that incorporates data collected in 1995–2000. Settings Random samples of private and public facilities from two regions of Quebec. Participants Random samples of disabled residents aged 65 years and over. In total, 451 residents from 145 care settings assessed in 1995–2000 were compared with 329 residents from 102 care settings assessed in 2010–12. Intervention Regulation introduced by the province in 2005, effective February 2007. Main Outcome Measure Quality of care measured with the QUALCARE Scale. Results After regulation, fewer small-size facilities were in operation in the private market. Between the two study periods, the proportion of residents with severe disabilities decreased in private facilities whereas it remained >80% in their public counterparts. Meanwhile, quality of care improved significantly in private facilities, while worsening in their public counterparts, even after controlling for confounding. Conclusions The private industry now provides better care to its residents. Improvement in care quality likely results in part from the closure of small homes and change in resident case-mix. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study compares the financial return of converting old-growth boreal stands into even-aged stands to that of two approaches of selection cutting in Quebec (Canada). In this region, old-growth stands are usually harvested by completely removing the canopy while protecting the abundant advance regeneration, an approach known as careful logging around advance growth (CLAAG). These approaches were compared using a time frame of over 200 years. Consideration is given to the majority of the operating costs leading to end products. The financial analysis integrates Monte Carlo simulations, making it possible to consider the uncertainty associated with variables. The net present values (NPVs) are then associated with a distribution of probabilities. The results show that the probabilities of obtaining positive NPVs are high for all treatments, suggesting that selection cutting approaches can be appropriate alternatives to CLAAG for some stands. Depending on the criteria used, the CLAAG cut or one of the selection cuts show the best performances. In fact, the results of the financial study show that in the future, selection cutting approaches will be more profitable than CLAAG but still less than present CLAAG operations. This occurs because, according to the current yield curves and rotation ages, future stands managed with CLAAG will have smaller and less valuable trees than in the primary forest and in stands managed with the selection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian urban and land surface external modeling system (known as urban GEM-SURF) has been developed to provide surface and near-surface meteorological variables to improve numerical weather prediction and to become a tool for environmental applications. The system is based on the Town Energy Balance model for the built-up covers and on the Interactions between the Surface, Biosphere, and Atmosphere land surface model for the natural covers. It is driven by coarse-resolution forecasts from the 15-km Canadian regional operational model. This new system was tested for a 120-m grid-size computational domain covering the Montreal metropolitan region from 1 May to 30 September 2008. The numerical results were first evaluated against local observations of the surface energy budgets, air temperature, and humidity taken at the Environmental Prediction in Canadian Cities (EPiCC) field experiment tower sites. As compared with the regional deterministic 15-km model, important improvements have been achieved with this system over urban and suburban sites. GEM-SURF's ability to simulate the Montreal surface urban heat island was also investigated, and the radiative surface temperatures from this system and from two systems operational at the Meteorological Service of Canada were compared, that is, the 15-km regional deterministic model and the so-called limited-area model with 2.5-km grid size. Comparison of urban GEM-SURF outputs with remotely sensed observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) reveals relatively good agreement for urban and natural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]