Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.
My name is Dr. Mary Forhan. I am an occupational therapist and a researcher in the area of obesity management, prevention, and treatment. I'm here today as a representative of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, of which I've been an active member since 1990. CAOT is pleased to participate in this consultation on health promotion and disease prevention, with a focus on obesity.
The unique contribution to health promotion and disease prevention from an occupational therapy lens is the focus on occupation, which includes but is not limited to physical exercise. Occupational therapy is the art and science of facilitating participation in everyday living, and includes active engagement in meaningful activities or occupations. Occupations include everything people do in their day-to-day lives, such as paid employment, going to school, participating in hobbies and sports, looking after others, and taking care oneself. Occupation is the context in which people develop skills, express their feelings, construct relationships, create knowledge, and find meaning and purpose in their lives. CAOT believes that participation in meaningful everyday activities is important for Canadians through all stages of life, regardless of health or ability.
With the growing epidemic of obesity and the rising number of aging Canadians, the government understands the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles to foster health and prevent disease. Increasingly, research is demonstrating that participation in an active lifestyle fosters both physical health and mental well-being.
As such, CAOT recommends the adoption of a vision by the federal government for promoting health and preventing disease that would include individual and community engagement in active living, thus providing leadership for provinces and territories and broadening the focus from solely health care to include health promotion.
CAOT's health promotion and disease prevention strategy includes the development and dissemination of an active living guide. Together with researchers from Queen's University and McMaster University, CAOT has begun the development of this active living guide.
Active living is a collection of behaviours that promote health and wellness by reducing risk factors associated with chronic diseases such as obesity, depression, hypertension, diabetes, and substance abuse. CAOT defines active living as engagement or participation in meaningful activities that support a way of life in which physical, social, mental, emotional, and spiritual activities are valued. Active living goes beyond physical exercise.
The objectives of the active living guide are in line with this committee’s vision to promote the health and wellness of Canadians and prevent illness, as stated in the declaration on prevention and promotion from ministers of health, health promotion, and healthy living from across Canada, which I see was posted in September of 2010.
CAOT's perspective on active living and health promotion could also contribute to the Public Health Agency of Canada's national dialogue on healthy weights. This dialogue is currently under way, as I'm sure you're all aware. CAOT has the capacity to work with the Public Health Agency of Canada toward meeting its benchmarks related to health promotion and disease prevention. CAOT advocates that the federal government recommend the engagement of the Public Health Agency of Canada in the consensus-building, dissemination, and evaluation of the active living guide.
The intent of the guide is to identify the needs of different populations and promote not only physical health but other beneficial factors that contribute to individual health, such as connectedness, spirituality, and community engagement. The guide is intended to promote active healthy living for all Canadians, and pays particular attention to high-risk groups, including children and youth, first nations communities, adults transitioning from work to retirement and older adulthood, and persons with disabilities. The active living guide will provide strategies to address the physical, social, and environmental barriers to active healthy living identified by Canadians in high-risk populations.
Based on research to date, increasing active living is not simply a matter of just doing it. There are several dimensions of activity participation that are important to consider, and what follows are key elements of the active living guide.
Issues such as poverty, disability, and limited English literacy may restrict access or engagement in meaningful activity. Systemic barriers to participation need to be identified and addressed to provide individuals with the opportunity to participate in healthy activities. Having a choice is absolutely critical to whether an individual is motivated to initiate and maintain involvement. Rather than a prescribed schedule of activities, the emphasis in the guide would be on individual choice and preference.
There may be critical points in time, such as graduation from school, preparing for retirement, or the onset of a disability, when activity patterns are disrupted and need to be reconfigured. A framework for promoting participation in healthy activities needs to consider the life stages and transitions, which the activity guide will do.
The meaning of activities may vary depending on the individual's cultural, social, and political context. For example, young persons may be motivated to engage in a specific sport, but will not likely continue if it's not socially valued within their family or their peer group. Providing options for choice and healthy activities across a range of cultural contacts is required.
Balance is another important issue to consider in activity patterns. It is important to consider the points at which activity engagement has a positive impact on health and the point at which too much activity can have a negative effect. Research, for example, points to issues of balance with respect to the screen time of adolescents, the work-life balance of adults, and volunteer work for older adults. The participation in everyday meaningful activities and their impact on heath promotion and disease prevention is a core belief with the profession of occupational therapy. As such, the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists also recommends that occupational therapists be included in the strategic planning and implementation of creating a new vision for Canadian health promotion and disease prevention.
To summarize, these are the key recommendations from CAOT: the adoption of a vision by the federal government for promoting health and preventing disease that includes individual and community engagement in healthy living activities, thus providing leadership for provinces and territories and shifting the focus of Canadian health care to include health promotion; federal government support to engage the Public Health Agency of Canada to participate in the consensus-building, dissemination, and evaluation of the active living guide; and the inclusion of occupational therapists in the strategic planning and implementation of a new vision for Canadian health promotion and disease prevention.
On behalf of CAOT, I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to present. We certainly will be open to answering any questions.
Thank you.