At-a-glance - The Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep (PASS) Indicator Framework

Background

Physical activity surveillance in Canada has traditionally focussed on measuring and reporting on the most active end of the activity spectrum. Emerging research suggests that in addition to insufficient moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sedentary behaviour and inadequate sleep are also important risk factors for chronic disease. In order to create effective public health policy and program initiatives to target all levels of activity (MVPA, light physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep), the demand for reliable, nationally representative data and information on the patterns of all of these behaviours among Canadians has increased. As a result, the need for a broader, modernized approach to national physical activity surveillance, with the inclusion of sedentary behaviour, sleep and the proximal and distal factors that impact all of these behaviours, was identified as a priority for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in 2014.

An important first step in modernizing PHAC’s surveillance approach was the development of an indicator framework to identify and systematically organize key indicators for routine reporting. The PASS Indicator Framework was informed by the research literature and developed through an iterative, consultative process with scientific experts and policy and program makers from across the country at various levels of government. In its final form, containing 55 unique indicators, the PASS Indicator Framework provides comprehensive, high quality information on the outcomes and risk and protective factors related to physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for Canadian adults (aged 18+; see Table 1), children (aged 5–11 years; see Table 2) and youth (aged 12–17; see Table 2).  The PASS Indicator Framework is centred around a conceptual model that incorporates a socioecological approach—addressing outcomes and factors at the individual and broader social and built-environment levels. It provides surveillance indicators and measures as well as calculated estimates using traditional and nontraditional data sources. Its target audience is key stakeholders such as provincial, territorial and regional public health officials as well as the federal Health Portfolio and other relevant government departments, organizations, ministries and public health units.

The PASS Indicators will be made publicly available on the PHAC Public Health Infobase website through an interactive data tool alongside the Canadian Chronic Disease Indicators and the Positive Mental Health Surveillance Indicator Framework. The interactive data tool can be used to monitor trends over time and offers the ability to break data down by key variables; it will support PHAC and stakeholders in targeting and monitoring intervention strategies. This issue of the HPCDP Journal contains the first Quick Stats documents containing the PASS Indicators.

Future work

The PASS Indicators are evergreen. Although measures and data exist to report on many indicators identified within the Indicator Framework, there are still gaps, especially at the environmental levels. Active enhancement and data development using surveys and nontraditional data sources, including administrative databases, is currently underway, as is targeted research and surveillance to address these data gaps.