Catherine L Mah
Biographic Data
| ID | 340007 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Catherine L Mah |
| GIVEN NAMES | Catherine L |
| FAMILY NAME | Mah |
| SIGNATURE | MAH C L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Dalhousie University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7294-2035 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 58 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 33 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Food-related sponsorship of children’s sports clubs in two Canadian policy environments
This study characterized the food-related companies that sponsor children’s sports clubs in two Canadian policy environments and described the benefits of this sponsorship for both clubs and sponsors. Representatives from 349 sports clubs in the province of Ontario (ON; where there are no mandatory advertising regulations) and 182 clubs in Quebec (QC; where there are mandatory limits on sponsorship-related advertising directed at children aged <1…
The Associations Between Household Food Insecurity and Cancer
The Household Food Security Survey Module, as Used in Canada, is a Policy-Sensitive Indicator of Both Material Deprivation and Social Exclusion
This paper examines the post-implementation evolution of food insecurity measurement in Canada using the Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) as a deprivation indicator. Widely accepted as a reliable and valid indicator, here, we examine the question: An indicator of what? Following an overview on the design of the HFSSM measure which focuses on its disciplinary and theoretical foundations, we review Canadian empirical literature employi…
Exploring the barriers and facilitators of continuous quality improvement for health promotion within healthcare food environments
Continuous quality improvement (CQI) has become a widely accepted approach to optimize health services while lowering healthcare costs (Quintuple Aim) and has expanded from clinical interventions to health promotion. Retail food environments (e.g. hospital cafeterias, cafes) are of interest given the increased adoption of healthy eating policies and interventions to influence diet (e.g. price, promotion, placement and product). However, there is …
Disparities in children's sports participation and food advertising exposure in amateur sports settings in Canada
This study examined social disparities in sports team participation and self-reported exposure to food advertising in amateur sports settings in Canada and examined differences in exposure between Quebec (where commercial advertising directed to children under 13 years, including sponsorship, is restricted) and other provinces (where there are no restrictions). Children aged 10–17 years (n = 3672) completed a cross-sectional online survey in 2019…
Food (In)Security Policy in Canada (and Likely Elsewhere) has been Derailed by Attention to Food Access
This paper contends that the intractability of food insecurity as a social policy issue may have arisen in part because food access has become central to the interpretation of what is required to be food secure. We revisit key features of the evolution of the right to food and examine developments in the instruments used to monitor right to food progress. We articulate how the materiality of food access has come to the forefront of food systems p…
Convenience Store, Corner Store
I do health research on convenience stores corner stores about with stores.1Corner stores are a holistic intersectoral business model for healthier retailing, with support from grassroots and public health. People come together around food, and to build community.2Convenience stores are “fronts for drugs, money laundering, and other stuff.”3Corner stores make sandwiches. The best sandwiches are at the place where the school cook works on her summ…
Communities Setting the Direction for Their Right to Nutritious, Affordable Food
Despite long histories of traditional food security, Indigenous peoples globally are disproportionately exposed to food insecurity. Addressing this imbalance must be a partnership led by Indigenous peoples in accordance with the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We report the co-design process and resulting design of a food security research project in remote Australia and examine how the co-design process considered Indigenous …
Feasibility and measurement error in using food supply data to estimate diet costs in Canada
Objective: The cost of food is a key influence on diet. The majority of diet cost studies match intake data from population-based surveys to a single source of food supply prices. Our aim was to examine the methodological significance of using food supply data to price dietary intakes. Methods: Nationally representative 24-h dietary recall data from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey-Nutrition (CCHS-N) was matched to the 2015 Canadian Cons…
Exploring food shopping behaviours through a study of Ottawa social media
Validation of a province-wide commercial food store dataset in a heterogeneous predominantly rural food environment
Objective: Commercially available business (CAB) datasets for food environments have been investigated for error in large urban contexts and some rural areas, but there is a relative dearth of literature that reports error across regions of variable rurality. The objective of the current study was to assess the validity of a CAB dataset using a government dataset at the provincial scale. Design: A ground-truthed dataset provided by the government…
Store patterns of availability and price of food and beverage products across a rural region of Newfoundland and Labrador
The application of 'valence' to the idea of household food insecurity in Canada
Entrepreneurialism and health-promoting retail food environments in Canadian city-regions
The retail sector is a dynamic and challenging component of contemporary food systems with an important influence on population health and nutrition. Global consensus is clear that policy and environmental changes in retail food environments are essential to promote healthier diets and reduce the burden of obesity and non-communicable diseases. In this article, we explore entrepreneurialism as a form of social change-making within retail food env…
Using internet data sources to achieve qualitative interviewing purposes
In this research note, we examine the function, merits, and challenges of using internet data sources, namely, social media discussion analysis and email interviewing, alongside data collected for the same study from traditional face-to-face interviewing. This comparison opportunity arose from recruitment challenges in our study, which investigated kindergarten teachers' perspectives and experiences with play-based teaching in kindergartens. Alth…
An exploration of citizen science for population health research in retail food environments
An introduction to the healthy corner store intervention model in Canada
Political rhetoric from Canada can inform healthy public policy argumentation
Household food insecurity (HFI), insufficient income to obtain adequate food, is a growing problem in Canada and other Organisation of economic cooperation and development (OECD) countries. Government political orientations impact health policies and outcomes. We critically examined Canadian political rhetoric around HFI from 1995 to 2012 as a means to support effective healthy public policy argumentation. We analysed a data set comprised of Hans…
An evaluation of the impact of a restrictive retail food environment intervention in a rural community pharmacy setting
This study was among the first to examine the impact of a restrictive retail food environment intervention, and found a non-significant decline in CSD sales at the community level. It is the first study to examine a retail food environment intervention in a community pharmacy. Pharmacies may have an important role to play in creating healthy retail food environments
A great or heinous idea
Comprehensive agri-food policy includes food waste reduction as an important policy goal. Food bank donor indemnification is codified in law in several countries to support the charitable food sector. Other policy instruments to address waste reduction have emerged recently, among them tax measures to incentivize private sector action. These have been increasingly linked to the discourse on hunger in many jurisdictions. We asked 17 Canadian food …
Retail food environments research in Canada
A framing analysis of Canadian household food insecurity policy illustrates co-construction of an intractable problem
Household food insecurity (HFI), lack of access to food because of financial constraint, is a persistent and growing problem in Canada. Framing theorists Donald Schön and Martin Rein explain that in ‘intractable policy controversies’, policy issues that are particularly stubborn or resistant to change, the frames policy actors apply permit them to talk past each other without resolution. This paper examines how HFI is framed in Canadian legislati…
Household Food Insecurity in Canada
The objective of this study was to bring to light legislators' construction of household food insecurity using a data set of debate texts from the Hansard records of four Canadian jurisdictions over approximately the last two decades. We found that legislators' fundamental problematization of food insecurity was one of insufficient income but that certain groups were of greater policy concern than others. Proposals to address food insecurity link…
Policy options for healthier retail food environments in city-regions
In”-sights about food banks from a critical interpretive synthesis of the academic literature
In”-sights about food banks from a critical interpretive synthesis of the academic literature
Household Food Insecurity in Canada
The objective of this study was to bring to light legislators' construction of household food insecurity using a data set of debate texts from the Hansard records of four Canadian jurisdictions over approximately the last two decades. We found that legislators' fundamental problematization of food insecurity was one of insufficient income but that certain groups were of greater policy concern than others. Proposals to address food insecurity link…
Glossary for the implementation of Health in All Policies (HiAP)
Health in All Policies (HiAP) is becoming increasingly popular as a governmental strategy to improve population health by coordinating action across health and non-health sectors. A variety of intersectoral initiatives may be used in HiAP that frame health determinants as the bridge between policies and health outcomes. The purpose of this glossary is to present concepts and terms useful in understanding the implementation of HiAP as a cross-sect…
Using Vignettes to Tap Into Moral Reasoning in Public Health Policy
In this article, we describe a process for designing and applying vignettes in public health policy research and practice. We developed this methodology for a study on moral reasoning underpinning policy debate on food advertising to children. Using vignettes prompted policy actors who were relatively entrenched in particular ways of speaking professionally about a controversial and ethically challenging issue to converse in a more authentic and …
Using internet data sources to achieve qualitative interviewing purposes
In this research note, we examine the function, merits, and challenges of using internet data sources, namely, social media discussion analysis and email interviewing, alongside data collected for the same study from traditional face-to-face interviewing. This comparison opportunity arose from recruitment challenges in our study, which investigated kindergarten teachers' perspectives and experiences with play-based teaching in kindergartens. Alth…
Policy options for healthier retail food environments in city-regions
Ready for Policy? Stakeholder Attitudes Toward Menu Labelling in Toronto, Canada
This research supports earlier literature that indicates strong public support for menu labelling alongside perceived barriers among the restaurant and foodservices sector. Leverage points for effective operator engagement for menu-labelling adoption were identified, nonetheless, highlighting the need for public health support
The application of 'valence' to the idea of household food insecurity in Canada
An introduction to the healthy corner store intervention model in Canada
Exploring food shopping behaviours through a study of Ottawa social media
An exploration of citizen science for population health research in retail food environments
A framing analysis of Canadian household food insecurity policy illustrates co-construction of an intractable problem
Household food insecurity (HFI), lack of access to food because of financial constraint, is a persistent and growing problem in Canada. Framing theorists Donald Schön and Martin Rein explain that in ‘intractable policy controversies’, policy issues that are particularly stubborn or resistant to change, the frames policy actors apply permit them to talk past each other without resolution. This paper examines how HFI is framed in Canadian legislati…
Eating well with Canada's food guide? Authoritative knowledge about food and health among newcomer mothers
Shokuiku
This paper examines the issue of public health governance in a globalized context through the lens of nutrition policy in contemporary Japan. I focus upon the case of shokuiku (food education), institutionalized in the 2005 national-level Basic Law on Food Education. First, I consider the emergence of shokuiku within the context of recent public health policy developments, specifically, a shift towards a decentralized and personalized view of pub…
What’s Public? What’s Private
Shokuiku
This paper examines the issue of public health governance in a globalized context through the lens of nutrition policy in contemporary Japan. I focus upon the case of shokuiku (food education), institutionalized in the 2005 national-level Basic Law on Food Education. First, I consider the emergence of shokuiku within the context of recent public health policy developments, specifically, a shift towards a decentralized and personalized view of pub…
Another Look at the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Experience in Canada
Policy debates about immunization frequently focus on classic trade-offs between individual versus collective well-being. Publicly funded immunization programs are usually justified on the basis of widespread public benefit with minimal individual risk. We discuss the example of the policy process surrounding the adoption of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Canada to consider whether public good arguments continue to dominate immunizatio…
Local Food Policy in Canada and the Next 20 Years of the Toronto Food Policy Council
Local Food Policy in Canada and the Next 20 Years of the Toronto Food Policy Council: An Interview with Lauren Baker. Un article de la revue Cuizine (Foodways in Transition: Reasons for and Signs of Change) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit
Glossary for the implementation of Health in All Policies (HiAP)
Health in All Policies (HiAP) is becoming increasingly popular as a governmental strategy to improve population health by coordinating action across health and non-health sectors. A variety of intersectoral initiatives may be used in HiAP that frame health determinants as the bridge between policies and health outcomes. The purpose of this glossary is to present concepts and terms useful in understanding the implementation of HiAP as a cross-sect…
Ready for Policy? Stakeholder Attitudes Toward Menu Labelling in Toronto, Canada
This research supports earlier literature that indicates strong public support for menu labelling alongside perceived barriers among the restaurant and foodservices sector. Leverage points for effective operator engagement for menu-labelling adoption were identified, nonetheless, highlighting the need for public health support
Using Vignettes to Tap Into Moral Reasoning in Public Health Policy
In this article, we describe a process for designing and applying vignettes in public health policy research and practice. We developed this methodology for a study on moral reasoning underpinning policy debate on food advertising to children. Using vignettes prompted policy actors who were relatively entrenched in particular ways of speaking professionally about a controversial and ethically challenging issue to converse in a more authentic and …
In”-sights about food banks from a critical interpretive synthesis of the academic literature
Eating well with Canada's food guide? Authoritative knowledge about food and health among newcomer mothers
Political rhetoric from Canada can inform healthy public policy argumentation
Household food insecurity (HFI), insufficient income to obtain adequate food, is a growing problem in Canada and other Organisation of economic cooperation and development (OECD) countries. Government political orientations impact health policies and outcomes. We critically examined Canadian political rhetoric around HFI from 1995 to 2012 as a means to support effective healthy public policy argumentation. We analysed a data set comprised of Hans…
An evaluation of the impact of a restrictive retail food environment intervention in a rural community pharmacy setting
This study was among the first to examine the impact of a restrictive retail food environment intervention, and found a non-significant decline in CSD sales at the community level. It is the first study to examine a retail food environment intervention in a community pharmacy. Pharmacies may have an important role to play in creating healthy retail food environments
A great or heinous idea
Comprehensive agri-food policy includes food waste reduction as an important policy goal. Food bank donor indemnification is codified in law in several countries to support the charitable food sector. Other policy instruments to address waste reduction have emerged recently, among them tax measures to incentivize private sector action. These have been increasingly linked to the discourse on hunger in many jurisdictions. We asked 17 Canadian food …
Retail food environments research in Canada
A framing analysis of Canadian household food insecurity policy illustrates co-construction of an intractable problem
Household food insecurity (HFI), lack of access to food because of financial constraint, is a persistent and growing problem in Canada. Framing theorists Donald Schön and Martin Rein explain that in ‘intractable policy controversies’, policy issues that are particularly stubborn or resistant to change, the frames policy actors apply permit them to talk past each other without resolution. This paper examines how HFI is framed in Canadian legislati…
Household Food Insecurity in Canada
The objective of this study was to bring to light legislators' construction of household food insecurity using a data set of debate texts from the Hansard records of four Canadian jurisdictions over approximately the last two decades. We found that legislators' fundamental problematization of food insecurity was one of insufficient income but that certain groups were of greater policy concern than others. Proposals to address food insecurity link…
Policy options for healthier retail food environments in city-regions
An exploration of citizen science for population health research in retail food environments
An introduction to the healthy corner store intervention model in Canada
Entrepreneurialism and health-promoting retail food environments in Canadian city-regions
The retail sector is a dynamic and challenging component of contemporary food systems with an important influence on population health and nutrition. Global consensus is clear that policy and environmental changes in retail food environments are essential to promote healthier diets and reduce the burden of obesity and non-communicable diseases. In this article, we explore entrepreneurialism as a form of social change-making within retail food env…
Using internet data sources to achieve qualitative interviewing purposes
In this research note, we examine the function, merits, and challenges of using internet data sources, namely, social media discussion analysis and email interviewing, alongside data collected for the same study from traditional face-to-face interviewing. This comparison opportunity arose from recruitment challenges in our study, which investigated kindergarten teachers' perspectives and experiences with play-based teaching in kindergartens. Alth…
Store patterns of availability and price of food and beverage products across a rural region of Newfoundland and Labrador
The application of 'valence' to the idea of household food insecurity in Canada
Validation of a province-wide commercial food store dataset in a heterogeneous predominantly rural food environment
Objective: Commercially available business (CAB) datasets for food environments have been investigated for error in large urban contexts and some rural areas, but there is a relative dearth of literature that reports error across regions of variable rurality. The objective of the current study was to assess the validity of a CAB dataset using a government dataset at the provincial scale. Design: A ground-truthed dataset provided by the government…
Feasibility and measurement error in using food supply data to estimate diet costs in Canada
Objective: The cost of food is a key influence on diet. The majority of diet cost studies match intake data from population-based surveys to a single source of food supply prices. Our aim was to examine the methodological significance of using food supply data to price dietary intakes. Methods: Nationally representative 24-h dietary recall data from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey-Nutrition (CCHS-N) was matched to the 2015 Canadian Cons…
Exploring food shopping behaviours through a study of Ottawa social media
Political science (24 works) · Medicine (15 works) · Business (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Economics (12 works) · Food security (10 works) · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations (10 works) · Geography (9 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (9 works) · Psychology (9 works)