Authentic partnerships among government, industry, and key stakeholders strengthened policy-making processes while helping to overcome policy silos at the organizational level. Barriers were reduced through effective change management practices and collaborative advisory and communication processes. Future research should involve an examination of the population health outcomes associated with this policy initiative.

Food insecurity is a substantial problem in Canadian university students. Multiple cross-sectional studies suggest that nearly a third of university students across Canada report food insecurity. Yet, little is understood about the experiences of food-insecure students and the impact of their experiences on their mental health. To address this, a multi-method study was conducted using quantitative and qualitative approaches to describe the prevalence, association and experience of food insecurity and mental health in undergraduate students. The current paper reports on the qualitative component, which described the lived experiences of food-insecure students, captured through face-to-face focus group interviews with participants (n = 6). The themes included (1) contributing factors to food insecurity; (2) consequences of food insecurity; and (3) students’ responses/attempts to cope with food insecurity. The findings illuminated student voices, added depth to quantitative results, and made the experience of food insecurity more visible at the undergraduate level. Additional research is needed to understand students’ diverse experiences across the university community and to inform programs to support students.

Background: Students pursuing postsecondary education are a population described as vulnerable for sleep problems, poor dietary habits, weight gain, and reduced physical activity. The primary goal of this study was to examine relationships of sleep behaviors with eating and physical activity behaviors in a sample of undergraduate health sciences students. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, undergraduate health sciences students in a small Canadian university were recruited to complete an on-line questionnaire about their sleep, eating, and physical activity behaviors using valid and reliable instruments. Key sociodemographic characteristics and self-reported height and weight data were also captured. Results: The participants (n = 245) were on average 23 years of age, female (86%), and the majority were full-time students (92%). The mean BMI was within a healthy range (mean 24.58 SD 5.55) with the majority reporting low physical activity levels (65%). Despite self-reports of very or fairly good (65%) sleep quality in the past month, the mean global sleep scores (scores > 5, mean 7.4, SD 3.3) indicated poor overall sleep quality. Poorer sleep quality was associated with higher BMIs (r = 0.265, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings highlight the need to expand the scope of on-campus wellness programs to promote healthy sleep habits in a vulnerable university population.

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Background: The Health Education Technology Research Unit (HETRU) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) has developed an interprofessional framework for use as a learning map to create computer-based simulations that can automatically assess interprofessional competencies of undergraduate health sciences students.Methods: Our interprofessional competency framework was developed through an iterative process of competency mapping. Each iteration involved: 1) a literature review of interprofessional competencies, 2) the mapping of these competencies within a meaningful taxonomy, and 3) the review of the mapping by an expert panel of educators and clinicians. Findings and Conclusions:After three iterations, the research team developed a competency taxonomy that mapped interprofessional competencies from our literature reviews into six competency domains and three cross-cutting themes for each domain. The competency matrix was then used as a learning map to define learning resources related to interprofessional education and learning activities associated with such resources to help students develop competencies in interprofessional healthcare planning and delivery. Interactive, computer-based clinical simulations were then developed to portray opportunities in which the learning resources and activities could be explored and to provide more realistic exposure to complexities in healthcare planning and delivery.Keywords: Interprofessional education; Health sciences; Competencies; Technology Introduction A broad base of recent work has provided new models for exploring the complexity of factors leading to the ineffective articulation of healthcare services [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Worldwide, healthcare services could be improved by providing interprofessional, collaborative, patient-centred care that improves patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Yet, despite the diverse and extensive literature on change management and human resources management, few empirically based models provide the breadth and depth necessary to deal with the complexities of transforming current healthcare systems into care planning and delivery systems that are interprofessional, evidence-based, and cost-effective.Interestingly, the concept of patient-centered care [15] Exploring new ways of providing care has led to the resurgence of interest in interprofessional healthcare collaboration. This interest is due to health system renewal, emerging health and human resource issues, and continuity and co-ordination of care [10]. The belief underlying the support for interprofessional care is that working with members of other professions will result in the provision of more highly integrated, patient-centred care; in addition, the complexity of most health problems requires a co-ordinated approach to understanding and management [19]. Although advocates for interprofessional education have tried to move forward in implementing this approach, one of the most difficult arenas to estab...