Prevention System Quality Index (PSQI): An inaugural report evaluating Ontario’s efforts in cancer prevention

Abstract

The 2015 Prevention System Quality Index (PSQI) report begins Cancer Care Ontario’s (CCO’s) annual monitoring and evaluation of the cancer prevention system in Ontario. The PSQI reports on the effects of system-level policies and programs in Ontario, which encompass all large-scale initiatives taking place across the province. The PSQI identifies achievements, as well as gaps at the system level to encourage system improvement. This focus on system-level policies and programs stems from evidence showing that healthy public policy and community-wide programs facilitating healthier individual choices are more effective in reducing the prevalence of modifiable risk factors at a population level than trying to change behaviours one person at a time. It also recognizes that all levels of government, a range of government ministries and divisions, policy-makers, decision-makers and sectors have a role in influencing cancer prevention.