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June 2006
Barbara Bourrier-LaCroix – – Information Centre Coordinator

The Canadian Women's Health Network’s (CWHN) collection, which includes our list of web resources and the organizations and materials listed our databases, reflect the World Health Organization definition of health as a complete state of physical, emotional and social well-being and not simply the absence of disease. The collection includes a balance of illness and wellness materials. A particular attempt it made to emphasize the determinants of health, including gender as a determinant of health.

CWHN’s collection serves as a repository for all documents and reports produced by the CWHN and other groups and projects funded by the Women’s Health Contribution Program (Bureau of Women’s Health and Gender Analysis, Health Canada) that includes the following organizations:

• Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (ACEWH);
• National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH);
• Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE);
• British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (BCCEWH);
• Women and Health Protection;
• National Coordinating Group Health Care Reform and Women; and,
• Aboriginal Women’s Health and Healing Research Group.

The CWHN also collects materials for consumers (at various levels of literacy and knowledge) and to support the work of researchers, policy makers and care providers, on priority themes that impact on women’s health and women’s health policy in Canada as they appear, as well as the content areas or gaps identified through outreach, health information requests (HIRs), policy consultations and media enquiries. For 2006-2007, the priority theme and content areas are:

1. Health Canada’s Women’s Health Strategy
2. Women’s Mental Health and Addictions
   • Services & treatment issues
   • Tobacco use
3. Women and Access to Health Care Services
   • Timely access to appropriate care
   • Health issues for women of colour, women with disabilities, francophone women living outside of Quebec, Aboriginal women, immigrant & refugee women, women living in poverty, women living in rural, remote or Northern regions, lesbian, bisexual & transgendered women
   • Access to emergency contraception (ECP)
4. Gender-based Analysis in Health Research
5. Health Care Reform
   • New models for community-based, long-term and home care
   • Health service delivery models
   • Models of women-centred care
   • Paid & unpaid caregiving
6. Health Protection
   • Consumer-empowerment materials
   • Medicalization of women’s cycles
   • Breast implants
7. Mothering, Maternity, and Women’s Reproductive Health
   • Elective C-sections & other childbirth interventions
   • New reproductive & genetic technologies
   • Access to midwifery care

The collection contains resources from the bio-medical literature, the health services literature, alternative and complementary health literatures, the social sciences literature, and consumer health information. This includes books, periodicals, web sites, audio-visual resources, newspapers, practice guidelines, consensus statements, government documents, reports, and information available electronically.

CWHN values the health experiences of diverse women, recognizes that expertise and includes personal stories, self-help and consumer authored materials in our collections.

Resources (including individual and organization web sites, print materials and other electronic information) considered for inclusion in the CWHN collections are evaluated using the following criteria:

1. Credibility
Consideration is given to the credibility of the author and/or organization, their credentials, including the author’s education, training and/or experience in the field, the sponsoring or publishing organization (if any) and the author’s reputation among her/his peers. Web sites linked to the CWHN web site should include the mission statement or purposes of the site, as well as a description of the sponsoring organization. In the case of web sites, if user data is requested and collected, reasons must be provided and privacy guidelines must be stated.

2. Currency
Consideration will be given to the currency of the resource. Given the content, information must be updated or reviewed on a timely basis. Web sites linked to the CWHN web site must be updated at least quarterly. Outdated information will not be considered.

3. Accuracy
CWHN recognizes that some health information is controversial. Also, there are areas where the evidence is still inconclusive and evolving. Consideration will be given to the manner in which such issues and controversies are described. CWHN includes resources that are well researched and promote the total health and well-being of women (e.g. consensus statements, practice guidelines and best practice models).

4. Conflicts of Interest and Bias
Materials are reviewed in order to identify possible conflicts of interest or bias. CWHN acknowledges the potential for bias in all research. Any claims relating to the benefits of a specific treatment, product or services must be supported by appropriate, balanced evidence. The CWHN will not link to web sites that sell materials or products via their site, particularly those that sell products directly targeting women with a specific medical condition or disease, or those that sell pharmaceutical products. We will also not link to sites that advertise for their own medical procedures at a profit. Any commercial sponsorship must be clearly indicated and presented as distinct from any health information.

5. Relevance
Resources and organizations linked from CWHN or entered in the CWHN databases must touch on some aspect of women’s health services, promotion, policy development, education or research. They must also be free of hatred or stereotyping of groups of people.