Canadian Work Camps as a Setting for Health Promotion

With a boom in economy work camps have become common in the mining and other resource extraction industries of Canada. These places frequently experience various demographic and social disruptions. Researchers have identified potential impacts on the physical and psychosocial well being of camp dwellers. However, there is a big knowledge gap regarding appropriate health promotion tools and approaches for addressing the problematic health and social impacts associated with remote work camp settings. This article synthesizes results from existing Canadian and international research on socio environmental determinants of health and well-being of work camp workers, their families, their communities, and suitable tools for their health and wellbeing promotion. The ultimate goal of this project is to identify opportunities and ideas that work for health promotion at work camp site and how to get there. A review of relevant research literature including peer-reviewed journals, books, labour newsletters/websites, and "popular" information from a variety of sources has been conducted. The literature review indicates various knowledge gaps, and areas for future research, for example, investigating and evaluating support for the partners of workers, strategies that improve confidence in employee assistance programs, do fly-in/fly-out structures are responsible for enabling substance abuse, and work camp operation's implications for social issues. A setting based approach with socio-ecological lens of view can provide a comprehensive framework for health promotion in work camps. This approach enables us to recognize interactions between different health issues, and provides an opportunity to maximize the contribution of particular settings to joined-up holistic public health.