Priorities for Rural and Remote Health Resource allocation in Northern BC (PLURAL North)

We aim to create a website that health economics researchers, policy makers and Northern BC community members can use to explore issues related to resource allocation in the north, to interact with each other and generate new aligned research questions. We are merging health economics research with arts-based research to expand the reach of the and impact of our research activities and attract the attention of diverse audiences. 

We will use qualitative methods to explore how contextual factors in rural and remote settings in Northern BC might challenge common assumptions of efficiency, imply different priorities and what this means for health economics methods. We will combine traditional qualitative methods of data collection — focus groups — with novel, arts-informed research to fully represent diverse ways of knowing and experiencing the world, and build relationships with rural communities that goes beyond academic inquiry. In the context of rural and remote health, visual ways of expression will create more impactful results and emphasize unique challenges people face in accessing health care such as scarcity of resources, low population density and isolation, which may not be appreciated by those living in urban settings.