Online Presence of the Funeral Industry: The Example of the Quebec Federation of Funeral Cooperatives

The digitalization of modern societies has offered new tools for funeral industries to reach the communities they serve, ranging from using technologies in funeral planning, in commemoration of the dead, or to support the bereaved. The COVID-19 pandemic only pushed this need for online presence of the funeral industries further. We explore the digitalization of funeral industries through the example of Quebec (Canada), where many funeral institutions are regrouped under a federation of funeral cooperatives. We analyze how this influences the delivery of funeral services and allows the development of common services answering various needs of the population (e.g., a funding program for youth funerals, an ecological memorialization program, online grief support). Finally, we discuss how the federation's online presence contributes to its mission, and more largely whether it changes the perception of the industry.

Practical Implications of Understanding Community Health Through Vitalism in Canadian Community Health Centers

Definitions and understandings of the term “community health” are numerous, but generally orient themselves around an expanded understanding of health exceeding biomedical imperatives. Rethinking the conception of community health through a vitalistic approach with the idea of health, and thus the community, at its core allows for a deeper understanding of health experiences’ complexity and could eventually inspire practice innovations in community health centers. In this paper, we will present this theoretical conception of health and discuss how it can help to understand the innovative interventions approach conducted within community health centres in Canada. Specifically, the practical implications of this theoretical conception will be illustrated through two Canadian community health centres. A new perspective on health could have numerous implications for health professionals with the development of cutting-edge interventions potentially leading to change benefiting the community, but also for teaching and research innovations empowered by a deeper understanding of the wider story behind health issues.

COVID-19 and digital inequalities: Reciprocal impacts and mitigation strategies

With more than three billion people in isolation, the status of digital spaces is switching from an amenity to a necessity, as they become not only the main way to access information and services, but also one of the only remaining vectors for economic, educational, and leisure activities as well as for social interactions to take place. However, not all are equals in terms of access to networks or connected devices, or when it comes to the skills required to navigate computerized spaces optimally. Digital inequalities were already existing, yet the COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating them dramatically. On the one hand, the crisis will worsen digital inequalities within the population. On the other hand, digital inequalities represent a major risk factor of vulnerability for exposure to the virus itself, and for the non-sanitary consequences of the crisis. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring the reciprocal impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and digital inequalities, and to propose operative solutions to help fight the nefarious consequences of the crisis. We first describe how digital inequalities are a determinant of health. We then investigate how COVID-19 can potentiate digital inequalities, and how digital inequalities potentiate vulnerability to COVID-19. Finally, in order to contribute to the mitigation of this crisis, we propose a set of multi-layered strategies focusing on actionability that can be implemented at multiple structural levels, ranging from governmental to corporate and community levels.

Grieving in the digital era: Mapping online support for grief and bereavement

OBJECTIVE

To describe the landscape of digital resources available for grief and bereavement, and to explore cultural variations through the analysis of patterns in three languages with a multinational repartition (English, French and Spanish).

METHODS

For each language, websites were collected through a systematized approach and classified according to their category (governmental, health, educational, social media, conventional media, spiritual), their country of origin, and the type of support they offered (practical support, services, peer support, informational support, resources).

RESULTS

A total of 2587 websites (English: 1003; French 678; Spanish: 906) were analyzed. Cultural variations were observed both for the websites' categories and the types of support. Half of the websites presented at least one type of support, informational support being the most prevalent, followed by practical support. English websites presented significantly more support than Spanish websites, with French websites in between.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

By using an extensive survey, our results allow for a general mapping of online websites that is comparable across languages, but also unveil digital dynamics unknown to date. These results further the multicultural understanding of digital support for grief and bereavement, propose an innovative and operational typology for online support and raise awareness of the current support landscape.

Understanding online health information: Evaluation, tools, and strategies

OBJECTIVE

Considering the status of the Internet as a prominent source of health information, assessing online health material has become a central issue in patient education. We describe the strategies available to evaluate the characteristics of online health information, including readability, emotional content, understandability, usability.

METHODS

Popular tools used in assessment of readability, emotional content and comprehensibility of online health information were reviewed. Tools designed to evaluate both printed and online material were considered.

RESULTS

Readability tools are widely used in online health material evaluation and are highly covariant. Assessment of emotional content of online health-related communications via sentiment analysis tools is becoming more popular. Understandability and usability tools have been developed specifically for health-related material, but each tool has important limitations and has been tested on a limited number of health issues.

CONCLUSION

Despite the availability of numerous assessment tools, their overall reliability differs between readability (high) and understandability (low). Approaches combining multiple assessment tools and involving both quantitative and qualitative observations would optimize assessment strategies.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Effective assessment of online health information should rely on mixed strategies combining quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Assessment tools should be selected according to their functional properties and compatibility with target material.