Community health indicators for Ontario public health units: An evaluation of the Ontario Community Health Profile.

Abstract

Thee Ontario Community Health Profile was developed in the early 1990s in response to a need for better measurement of community health in the province. This thesis conceptually and empirically evaluates the profile's relevance, representativeness and practicality for measuring community health in Ontario public health units. Based on a review of the literature and various models of community health is defined as more than simply the absence of disease or disability among a collection of individuals. Health must encompass both disabling and enabling characteristics---defined here as measures of negative or positive health---that are related to coping ability. Moreover, community health indicators should encompass levels of measurement that are global and environmental (representing health 'of' the community) as well as aggregate measures (representing health 'in' the community). This paper develops a community health framework---with axes representing the definition of health and the level of community---in order to evaluate indicators according to these two important dimensions. Empirical analyses used data from the HEaLth Planning System (HELPS) data set for Eastern Ontario. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)