Pathways to policy: Lessons learned in multisectoral collaboration for physical activity and built environment policy development from the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative.

OBJECTIVES: The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer funded 12 large-scale knowledge to action cancer and chronic disease prevention projects between 2009 and 2016 through the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative. Two projects, Healthy Canada by Design (HCBD) and Children's Mobility, Health and Happiness (CMHH), developed policies to address physical activity and the built environment through a multisectoral approach. A qualitative analysis involving a review of 183 knowledge products and 8 key informant interviews was conducted to understand what policy changes occurred, and the underlying critical success factors, through these projects. SETTING: Both projects worked at the local level to change physical activity and built environment policy in 203 sites, including municipalities and schools. Both projects brought multisectoral expertise (e.g., public health, land use planning, transportation engineering, education, etc.) together to inform the development of local healthy public policy in the areas of land use, transportation and school travel planning. INTERVENTION: Through the qualitative analysis of the knowledge products and key informant interviews, 163 policies were attributed to HCBD and CMHH work. OUTCOMES: Fourteen "pathways to policy" were identified as critical success factors facilitating and accelerating the development and implementation of physical activity and built environment policy. Of the 14 pathways to policy, 8 had a focus on multisectoral collaboration. IMPLICATIONS: The lessons learned from the CLASP experience could support enhanced multisectoral collaborations to accelerate the development and implementation of physical activity and built environment policy in new jurisdictions across Canada and internationally.

Supporting the diffusion of healthy public policy in Canada: the Prevention Policies Directory.

Healthy public policy plays an essential role in a comprehensive public health approach to preventing cancer and chronic disease. Public policies spread through the 'policy diffusion' process, enabling governments to learn from another's enacted policy solutions. The Prevention Policies Directory (the Directory), an online database of municipal, provincial/territorial, and federal cancer and chronic disease prevention policies from across Canada, was developed to facilitate the diffusion of healthy public policies and support the work of prevention researchers, practitioners, and policy specialists. This information technology solution was implemented, through a participatory engagement approach, as a communication channel or policy knowledge transfer tool. It also addressed the intrinsic shortcomings of environmental scanning for policy surveillance and monitoring. A combination of quantitative web metrics and qualitative anecdotal evidence have illustrated that the Directory is becoming an important tool for healthy public policy surveillance and policy diffusion in Canada.