TOPICS

How To Use HealthSTATS

The HealthSTATS dashboards organize and manage public health data and provide an interactive display for users to view the data using different sources and indicators.

The dashboards are viewed best on a desktop or laptop computer. To open a dashboard in a new window, click the link above the dashboard.

Individual dashboards will vary depending on the content, the data and the type of analyses presented. This resource is a general guide to help you navigate the different interactive dashboards and through the data inside the dashboards.

HealthSTATS Dashboard Resource_v22

There are several pages within each dashboard. You can navigate between pages using the Page Navigator across the top. The page currently being displayed is purple, and unselected pages are light blue.

OR, you can use the < > arrows at the bottom of the dashboard to move through pages.

Dashboards will have different types of pages depending on what’s included in the dashboards. General types of dashboard pages may include:

Overview: Provides an overview or high-level summary of all the data in the dashboard.
Subpopulations: Provides analysis broken down by subpopulations such as age group, sex, gender, income or material deprivation, and/or education level. Subpopulation analysis also includes a rate ratio comparing the rate or likelihood of the indicator of interest across groups, and may also include a population impact number calculation. Multiple years of data may be combined together for these analyses.
Geographic Areas: Provides the measure of interest over sub-health unit geography if possible, including by municipality and by public health planning area. Multiple years of data may be combined together for these analyses.
Topic-specific Pages: Data may be presented on specific topics, combining elements of the above-mentioned overview, subpopulations and geographic areas pages (e.g., individual pages for Self-Rated Mental Health and Stress in the Adult Mental Health dashboard, or Cancer Incidence, Cancer Mortality and Cancer Screening as separate pages in the Cancer dashboard).
Technical Notes: All HealthSTATS dashboards have a Technical Notes page that contains the following:

For More Information: Links to additional resources at the health unit or at external organizations such as Public Health Ontario.
Interpretation: Any additional information that is relevant to understanding what is included in the dashboard. This can include additional context about the data, links to glossary terms, and detailed description of the indicators and how they are calculated.

Data Sources: Reference to the specific data sources used in the dashboard.
Dashboard Last Updated: The date when the content of the dashboard was last updated.

Filters allow you to select different data (e.g. by Indicator or Year) to view. Selected filters are purple, and unselected filters are light blue. There may be multiple available filters on a page to allow you to sort by different subgroups, time periods, geographies or other factors.

Filters may be clickable buttons or drop-down menus. Drop down menus are purple and include a small arrow at the right end of the filter button that allows you to select an alternative option from a drop-down list.

PowerBISlicers

Selecting filters can change the content of graphs, maps, tables and text boxes. Titles on graphs and tables will also update to clarify what data are being displayed based on the filters selected.

When moving between pages of a dashboard, be aware that the filters are not connected. Different options may be available, or you may need to re-select filters to view data by specific filters again, (e.g., selecting Breast Cancer on the Cancer Incidence, Cancer Mortality and Cancer Screening pages of the Cancer dashboard).

Titles describe the data presented in graphs, maps and tables, including the type of calculation, the type of data, what geographies are being considered, if any subgroups, such as age are included, and the time period. These are responsive to changing filters, and so will describe what data are displayed in the graphs, maps or tables based on the combination of filters selected on that page.

PowerBITitles

When visiting a dashboard on a laptop or desktop computer, hovering your mouse over a graph or map may provide additional information about that specific part of the display. This can include information that doesn’t fit, such as place names, or it can provide the exact values for a measure.

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Clicking on specific objects in graphs or maps, or specific rows in tables can select an item, which will filter all connected visuals to that specific item (e.g., Huntsville). To remove this filtering, simply click again on the same visual (e.g., the graph) to return to showing all records in all connected visuals.

PowerBISelectingData

The order of rows in tables can be re-ordered by clicking on column headers. For example, you could sort a table by geography or by rate. Clicking a second time on the same column will re-order the rows in the reverse order (e.g., rate from lowest to highest or highest to lowest).

Some objects (tables and text boxes) have too much content to show all at once. A thin grey scroll bar can be found down the right side of an object. You can click and hold the bar or use a scroll wheel to scroll down to see more content.

Power BI allows you to focus in on specific visuals, and to view the content of graphs and maps as a table. To activate focus mode, hover your mouse above the top right corner of a visual and click on the “Focus mode” button. Once you’ve opened focus mode, you can right click on a graph and select “Show as a table” to see the data in table format.

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You can adjust the level of zoom within a dashboard using the zoom bar in the bottom right corner of the Power BI dashboard or using your computer’s keyboard (Ctrl +/- for Windows and Option-Command =/- for Mac) or your mouse scroll wheel.

Where possible, we have included information for Simcoe Muskoka and Ontario, as well as sub-health unit geographies. Sub-health unit geographies include Simcoe County and Muskoka District, as well as municipality and public health planning areas. This is not available from all data sources. For more information about area-based analysis and sub-health unit geographies, see our resource on Area-Based Analysis on HealthSTATS.

We are working on making this feature available. While we are working on this, data included in HealthSTATS dashboards can be provided on request.

Generic citation: SMDHU. HealthSTATS Topic Dashboard [dashboard]. Barrie, ON: Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit; Dashboard Last Updated: Date [Date Accessed: Date]. Dashboard URL

Example: SMDHU. HealthSTATS Cancer Dashboard [dashboard]. Barrie, ON: Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit; Dashboard Last Updated: 2023 September 20 [Date Accessed: 2023 October 20]. https://www.simcoemuskokahealth.org/Health-Stats/HealthStatsHome/ChronicDiseases/Cancer