Rural and Remote Women's Health: Policy and Research Directions

Two Centres - the National Network on Environments and Women's Health (NNEWH) and the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE), in cooperation with the Atlantic Centre of Excellence (ACEWH), the BC Centre of Excellence in Women's Health (BCCEWH), and the Canadian Women's Health Network (CWHN) proposed a cross-centre initiative to conduct a national pilot study in rural and remote womem's health, in collaboration with the Women's Health Bureau of Health Canada.

The objectives of the project are to:

• Expand knowledge about rural and remote women's health issues first-hand by conducting focus groups and developing an annotated bibliography;
• Host a national workshop to review the findings and strengthen the project's collaborative network; and,
• Create a New Agenda for Policy and Research in rural, northern and remote women's health.

 

Project Update:

Phase 1: Bibliography, Literature Review and Roundtable - October 2001
The first stage is completed: a bibliography and literature review on rural, northern and remote women's health in Canada has been prepared and used as a primary resource at the National Roundtable on October 20, 2001.

Phase 2: Regional Focus Groups - Summer 2001 to present
The second stage consists of more than 20 focus groups across the country, and is underway. The Centres of Excellence have invited key researchers, advocates, service providers and other women in rural, northern and remote communities to engage in regional focus groups to highlight issues from their direct experience.

Phase 3: Development of Draft Overview Report - November/December 2002
The National Research Steering Committee (NRSC) meets in person to revisit the first draft of the overview report based on data from regional reports on the focus groups, in order to produce the Draft Policy Framework and the Draft Research Agenda to be presented at the National Symposium in January 2003.

Phase 4: National Symposium in January 24-26, 2003
The National Symposium will serve as a forum to present the issues in rural, northern and remote women's health and to improve on the drafts of the Policy Framework and Research Agenda, in order to produce an integrated document - A New Agenda for Policy and Research. Following the symposium, the NRSC will produce the final report to highlight gaps in research and make recommendations for policy development at federal, provincial and local levels.

The New Agenda for Policy and Research will include an evidence-based policy framework for inclusion of women and gender-specific health care in rural, northern and remote communities and a blueprint for development of policy and evaluation of policy uptake over the next 6 years.

 

Rural and Remote Women's Health Interest Group Listserv!

Created after the National Roundtable that was organized by the Centres of Excellence in Women's Health, the goal of this electronic discussion list is to link and to strengthen links among like-minded organizations, individuals and groups across Canada involved in rural and remote women's health. Participants discuss possible research projects and resource development. To join, send an e-mail to owner-rrwhig@list.web.net asking to subscribe to the RRWHIG and include a brief introduction.