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In this issue:

1. Newly updated - Women, Mental Health and Mental Illness and Addiction in Canada: An Overview
2. Free copies of Women and Wait Times are now available!
3. Too Much Homework?
4. Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives, Second Edition
5. Breast cancer risk, HRT link confirmed
6. New website: Rural and Remote Communities Take Action to Build Responsive Programs
7. Women's Survey: The stress of balancing personal life with work life
8. CIHR Institute of Gender and Health 2009 Summer Institute
9. Conference: Looking Back, Thinking Ahead: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice in Women's Health
10. *Free* bulk copies available: Women and Home Care and Women and Health Care Reform!

1. Newly updated - Women, Mental Health and Mental Illness and Addiction in Canada: An Overview

This updated report by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Women, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addictions discusses why sex and gender matter in mental health and addictions and includes information and recommendations for the new Mental Health Commission of Canada.
This was originally published by CWHN in May 2006 prior to the tabling of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology’s final report Out of the Shadows at Last: Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness, and Addiction Services in Canada.
http://www.cwhn.ca/PDF/CWHN%20BackgrounderMentalhealth-updated.pdf (PDF)

2. Free copies of Women and Wait Times are now available!

The Canadian Women's Health Network is offering free bulk copies (20, 50, 150, or more) of the NEW booklet Women and Wait Times for distribution to your members and networks. Women and Wait Times is an illustrated and easy-to-read booklet, excellent for the general reader, examining why wait times are women's issues and what the issues are for women. To order this free booklet, please email us at cwhn@cwhn.ca and provide us with your complete mailing address. Please note: Women and Wait Times is available for shipping only within Canada.
You can view Women and Wait Times online at:
http://www.womenandhealthcarereform.ca/publications/WaitTimesEng.pdf (PDF)

3. Too Much Homework?

Trouble at the Border?: Gender, Work, and the Work-Home Interface, a study by University of Toronto sociology Professor Scott Schieman with Paul Glavin, found that workers with the most job autonomy and work schedule control were more likely to bring extra work home with them. "Generally, people who had more schedule control and job autonomy had more work-family role blurring, and that's a big predictor of stress for most people. It's also a key indicator of work-family conflict," Schieman said.
See the abstract for Trouble at the Border?
http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/sp.2008.55.4.590?journalCode=sp

4. Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives, Second Edition

Genetics and traditional risk factors such as activity, diet, and tobacco use cannot reliably predict whether we stay healthy or become ill. What then are the primary predictors of adult-onset diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, and many other diseases? The social determinants of health provide the answer: these are the socio-economic conditions that shape the health of individuals, communities, and jurisdictions as a whole. This perspective is the key to understanding patterns of health and illness in Canada today. Editor Dennis Raphael is a Professor at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University.
https://www.cspi.org/motion.asp?siteid=100366&lgid=1&menuid=5376&prodid=120195&cat=9869

5. Breast cancer risk, HRT link confirmed

A study published in the February 5, 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, confirms that the longer a woman takes hormone replacement therapy, the greater her risk of breast cancer, and that after five years of using HRT, her risk doubles annually. Also, the risk of breast cancer drops sharply as soon as the HRT is stopped.
Read the story in the Globe and Mail here.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090205.wlhormone05/BNStory/Front?cid=al_gam_globeedge

6. New website: Rural and Remote Communities Take Action to Build Responsive Programs

Communities Achieving Responsive Services (CARS) project has launched a new website to provide resources to help rural and remote communities in Canada build more responsive local community programs. CARS cultivates local leadership by providing training, support and mentoring to communities through site visits, group gatherings, web-based supports and distance training sessions. Their goal is to support networking and local leadership that will help communities work together to ensure that local services are accessible, responsive and culturally appropriate in communities across this country.
http://www.carsprocess.com/

7. Women's Survey: The stress of balancing personal life with work life

Although all working people report they are suffering from more stress related to balancing responsibilities at work and at home, the greater burden is falling on women. Statistics reveal that women bear the brunt of duties associated with child care, are the primary caregivers for the elder care of aging parents and are responsible for the majority of household chores. To identify the issues, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is conducting a survey that is directed to both union and non-union women. Please take a few minutes to complete the Quality of Women's Lives Survey.
http://www.nupge.ca/node/800

8. CIHR Institute of Gender and Health 2009 Summer Institute

Deadline for applications is March 1, 2009 for CIHR's Institute of Gender and Health’s inaugural summer institute for trainees (graduate students and post-doctoral fellows) at the University of British Columbia from June 23-26, 2009. This residential workshop will offer participants an opportunity to increase their understanding of methods for gender, sex and health research, as well as the opportunities and challenges that arise from the application of these methods.
See the website for application forms and further information about the summer institute. http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/38612.html

9. Conference: Looking Back, Thinking Ahead: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice in Women's Health

This conference from March 15 to18, 2009 in Halifax, NS will focus on how research has been used to improve policy and practice in women's and girls' health. We invite members of the women's health community: researchers, policy-makers and grassroots practitioners in Canada and abroad to join us to discuss how research has been used, and to exchange ideas and perspectives about the future of women's health research, policy and practice.
See the website for information and registration on-line.
https://acewh09.dal.ca/

10. *Free* bulk copies available: Women and Home Care and Health Care Reform!

The Canadian Women's Health Network is offering free bulk copies (20, 50, 150, or more) of the booklets “Women and Home Care” and “Women and Health Care Reform” for distribution to your members and networks. Each of these is an illustrated and easy-to-read booklet, excellent for the general reader, examining why Home Care and Health Care Reform are women's issues and what the issues are for women. To order your free bulk copies, please email us at cwhn@cwhn.ca and provide us with your complete mailing address. Please note: these booklets are available for shipping only within Canada.
To view them online go to:
http://www.womenandhealthcarereform.ca/en/publications.html

 

About Brigit's Notes

Brigit's Notes e-bulletin is published monthly by the Canadian Women's Health Network (www. cwhn .ca) as a free service to individuals and organizations interested in women's health.

This month's issue of Brigit's Notes is going out to 4,311 subscribers.
Who is Brigit?
http://www.cwhn.ca/brigit/index.en.html

Prepared by:
Alex Merrill
Canadian Women's Health Network