Social capital and health : Capital social et la santé : bonifier les avantages

Drawing on research on the social determinants of health and on Health Canada’s initial work on social capital and health, the Public Health Agency of Canada joined forces with the Population Health Institute at the University of Ottawa in 2004 to provide the first national-level analysis of the relationship between social capital and the health of Canadians. [...] In presenting their work, this issue of the Health Policy Research Bulletin: • traces the evolution of research on the correlation between social relations and health and discusses the impacts of the social capital concept • highlights different approaches for defining social capital, including the “network” approach that gained consensus among federal departments, and In this Issue presents an an [...] Since of health, the Health Goals recognize the importance 2004, the Division has been collaborating with the of social capital and include a focus on “belonging University of Ottawa’s Institute of Population Health and engagement,” considered important for efforts on an analysis of the 2003 General Social Survey (GSS), addressing health inequalities and the root causes Cycle 17 data. [...] The objective of the study research team’s recent analysis of the was to define a conceptual model of social data from the 2003 General Social capital based on networks, Survey (GSS), Cycle 17 provided the using GSS data as a starting first Canadian evidence on the positive point, and to operationalize link between social capital and health. [...] The structural analysis of the net- Figure 1: Social Capital Analysis Model work is systemic and sheds light on the characteristics and attributes of Social Capital Dimensions Indicators the social links and the exchanges.