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Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario

BACKGROUND: Common enteric pathogens that cause gastrointestinal illness are transmitted to humans through food, water or direct contact. This poses a significant concern to public health as enteric pathogens can cause disease in a large number of people, and cost a substantial amount to treat and p...

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Autores principales: Harding, Shannon A, Parmley, E Jane, Morrison, Karen E
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4032165/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24767430
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-405
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author Harding, Shannon A
Parmley, E Jane
Morrison, Karen E
author_facet Harding, Shannon A
Parmley, E Jane
Morrison, Karen E
author_sort Harding, Shannon A
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Common enteric pathogens that cause gastrointestinal illness are transmitted to humans through food, water or direct contact. This poses a significant concern to public health as enteric pathogens can cause disease in a large number of people, and cost a substantial amount to treat and prevent. In order to gain a better understanding of the occurrence of enteric disease in Ontario, this study explored public health professionals’ perceptions of major contributing factors for common enteric pathogens. METHODS: A case study was conducted as part of a two week training workshop in Participatory Epidemiology held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, in May 2013. Eight semi-structured interviews and four focus groups were conducted with representatives from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the University of Guelph, and three health regions in Southern Ontario. Written notes and pictures captured the qualitative information provided. Results were then analyzed using the mixed methods techniques of triangulation, convergence, and paradox. RESULTS: A total of fifty factors that contribute to enteric disease were identified across all interviews and focus groups. These contributing factors were grouped into key themes (travel, food handling, industry (farm-to-fork), water, geography, demographics, and behaviours) and were categorized as either a risk factor or susceptibility factor. Informants emphasized the complex relationships between the identified factors, and highlighted why these complexities make it difficult to determine where and how a person most likely acquired an enteric pathogen. Workshop participants observed differences in the type and quality of information collected during interviews and focus groups; we hypothesize that this may be attributed to the dynamics between group members (i.e. focus group discussions) as opposed to one-on-one interviews. CONCLUSIONS: The information gathered will serve as a starting point to further explore contributing factors for common enteric pathogens. The identified complexities would be best explored by conducting additional surveillance, as well as interviews and focus groups with a more diverse group of stakeholders. This type of qualitative study can enhance knowledge of enteric pathogen surveillance and contribute to the development of resources and initiatives to holistically address the occurrence of gastrointestinal illness.
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spelling pubmed-40321652014-05-24 Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario Harding, Shannon A Parmley, E Jane Morrison, Karen E BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Common enteric pathogens that cause gastrointestinal illness are transmitted to humans through food, water or direct contact. This poses a significant concern to public health as enteric pathogens can cause disease in a large number of people, and cost a substantial amount to treat and prevent. In order to gain a better understanding of the occurrence of enteric disease in Ontario, this study explored public health professionals’ perceptions of major contributing factors for common enteric pathogens. METHODS: A case study was conducted as part of a two week training workshop in Participatory Epidemiology held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, in May 2013. Eight semi-structured interviews and four focus groups were conducted with representatives from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the University of Guelph, and three health regions in Southern Ontario. Written notes and pictures captured the qualitative information provided. Results were then analyzed using the mixed methods techniques of triangulation, convergence, and paradox. RESULTS: A total of fifty factors that contribute to enteric disease were identified across all interviews and focus groups. These contributing factors were grouped into key themes (travel, food handling, industry (farm-to-fork), water, geography, demographics, and behaviours) and were categorized as either a risk factor or susceptibility factor. Informants emphasized the complex relationships between the identified factors, and highlighted why these complexities make it difficult to determine where and how a person most likely acquired an enteric pathogen. Workshop participants observed differences in the type and quality of information collected during interviews and focus groups; we hypothesize that this may be attributed to the dynamics between group members (i.e. focus group discussions) as opposed to one-on-one interviews. CONCLUSIONS: The information gathered will serve as a starting point to further explore contributing factors for common enteric pathogens. The identified complexities would be best explored by conducting additional surveillance, as well as interviews and focus groups with a more diverse group of stakeholders. This type of qualitative study can enhance knowledge of enteric pathogen surveillance and contribute to the development of resources and initiatives to holistically address the occurrence of gastrointestinal illness. BioMed Central 2014-04-27 /pmc/articles/PMC4032165/ /pubmed/24767430 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-405 Text en Copyright © 2014 Harding et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Harding, Shannon A
Parmley, E Jane
Morrison, Karen E
Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario
title Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario
title_full Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario
title_fullStr Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario
title_full_unstemmed Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario
title_short Using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in Ontario: results from a workshop held at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario
title_sort using participatory epidemiology to assess factors contributing to common enteric pathogens in ontario: results from a workshop held at the ontario veterinary college, university of guelph, ontario
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4032165/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24767430
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-405
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