Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

As most of the social conditions in which people are born, live and work, which are commonly referred to as the social determinants of health, lie outside the health sector realm, intersectoral collaboration emerges as the strategy of choice to act on those determinants. The aim of the research whose results we are presenting here was to improve our understanding of the phenomenon of intersectoral collaborations at the regional, subregional and community level. This involves investigating what triggers it, in terms of strategies that foster its development, and what results from it, in terms of their impact on healthy public policy program development, within a regional context. We identified four initiatives that took place between 1997 and 2012 within a Quebec region (Chaudière-Appalaches): • Case 1: Program for the prevention of psychological distress among farmers • Case 2: Construction of a play park for children aged 0 to 5 years • Case 3: Program of collective kitchens in Beauce-Sartigan • Case 4: Program for the prevention of alcohol-impaired driving Our analysis of these four different intersectoral initiatives was developed around the following seven dimensions: the problem, the population health objectives, other objectives, the outcomes, the actors, the processes and the context. The analysis focused on the benefits, facilitating conditions and challenges of intersectoral action in health, including a discussion of the role and legitimacy of the health sector as an instigator of intersectoral partnerships.