About the Centre
Mission
To be a centre of excellence in health promotion research, evaluation and practice.
Goals
- To provide learning opportunities throughout Saskatchewan, Canada and internationally in health promotion practice, research and evaluation.
- To increase Indigenous / Aboriginal¹ health promotion capacity (research, evaluation and practice) in ways identified by these communities.
- To work with urban, rural and Northern communities, particularly those experiencing economic, cultural, political and health disparities ( e.g. low-income, migrant, indigenous, youth, women, gay, lesbian and transgender and people with disabilities) to increase the health promotion and self-development capacities of these communities through research, evaluation, education and action.
- To establish a global approach to health promotion based on the principles of respect, mutuality, reciprocity and social transformation.
- To contribute to evidence based health promotion through the development of multi-paradigm based approaches, drawing together existing evidence and working with communities, practitioners, organizations and funders to establish and profile credible methods.
- To develop and disseminate robust health promotion theory through knowledge generation and translation strategies in collaboration with communities and other research centres locally, nationally and internationally.These strategies will be designed to address the tensions between dominant Euro - Western biomedical frameworks and culturally specific, localized systems of knowledge.
- To engage in research that informs public policy (and shifts policy discourse) at all levels.
- To link communities, practitioners, researchers and policy makers through creating spaces and opportunities for shared dialogue and to act as a health promotion advocate at all levels of governance and other key sectors of society such as the private sector.
- To establish an ecological approach to health promotion that appreciates the inter-dependencies between well-being, environment and economy and views people as co-participants in the wider bio-sphere. Inherent in this approach is spirituality, which refers to appreciation of sacredness of all beings and the actualization of health promotion in ways that are mutually beneficial to all members of the earth community.
- To build the necessary center infrastructure and secure necessary resources to carry out the above strategic objectives in the next 3 / 5 years
1 In this context "Indigenous / Aboriginal" refers to First Nations, Metis, Non Status and Inuit people.
PRHPRC Strategic Plan
About the Centre
The Prairie Region Health Promotion Research Centre was established in 1993 in the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan for the purpose of strengthening population health promotion through fostering research into ways of promoting health. Since its establishment the Centre has been active in establishing links between organizations, practitioners, researchers and policy makers; disseminating research findings; and working through partnerships to offer training in health promotion practice and research.
Over the past five years, the majority of Centre initiatives have been implemented through the Saskatchewan Heart Health Program - Dissemination Phase (1998-2003) and the Training for Health Renewal Project (1998-present). Through the Heart Health project the Centre has played a major role in building Health District health promotion capacity throughout the province and increasing understanding (via research) of such capacity-building processes. The Training for Health Renewal Project (THRP) currently represents the international component of the Centre’s work and has been based in Mozambique and Canada. Its aim is to strengthen the capacities of educational institutions to train health workers in creating more egalitarian and effective relationships with the communities they serve. The Centre’s recently developed strategic plan builds on these initiatives, whilst strengthening research capacity, broadening our focus with respect to community and approaches to practice and attending to longer term issues of centre infrastructure and sustainability.
