Chronic Dis Can
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The current study provides a critical review of Canadian studies on ethnicity and mental health with respect to the definition, conceptualization and operationalization of ethnicity. It provides a discussion on the methodological issues related to these factors and their implications to guide future research and enable comparability of results across studies. Sociological Abstracts, PsycINFO, MEDLINE and CINAHL were used to identify relevant Canadian articles published between January 1980 and December 2004. The review highlights a number of key issues for future researchers to consider such as the need for: 1) clear rationales as to why ethnicity is important to their outcome of interest; 2) clarity on the definition of ethnicity, which affects its conceptualization and operationalization; 3) a theoretically driven conceptualization of ethnicity, which should be related to the research question of interest; and 4) clear rationales for the decisions made regarding the data source used, the operationalization of ethnicity, and the ethnic categories included in their studies.
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Gun deaths and injuries in Canada are a serious public health problem, claiming more than 1200 lives each year and resulting in over 1000 hospitalizations. While the issue has been hotly debated in recent years, considerable research in an international context suggests that there is a relationship between access to firearms and deaths and injuries caused by firearms. ⋯ Although domestic controls can affect the supply of guns, efforts are being co-ordinated increasingly on an interjurisdictional basis to decrease the illegal trafficking of firearms. As well, the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Commission recently passed a resolution encouraging all countries who have not done so to strengthen their domestic gun controls since weak controls in one country can affect security in others.