Adolescence (ages 12-18) and young adulthood (ages 19-29) are typically the time when individuals establish autonomy and independence, develop healthy habits (e.g., exercise and nutritional food preferences), form and maintain healthy relationships, and build capacity for economic success. Poor physical health and health habits in these life periods contribute to later risks for disease and associated costs. Yet, we do not have Canadian data that connect health across adolescence and young adulthood to long-term health in early mid-life (ages 35-45). The proposed project builds on an existing and robust community-based sample, the Victoria Health Youth Survey (V-HYS) which began in 2003 (N=662; ages 12-18). Our team will partner with Drs. Fyfe and Kay (Island Health) and Dr. Thumath (Ministry of Health) to develop a plan to collect follow-up data from these now adults including evidence-based measures of physical health, mental health, substance use, healthy relationships, and social determinants of health. Our partnerships will ensure findings provide information about what matters for health long-term for Canadians and inform policy responses that can support midlife health, mental health, education, labour, and social supports.
Year: 2024
Exploring the role of seniors centres within the primary healthcare system
Seniors centres play a key role in promoting well-being and social connectivity of older adults. Yet, discussions on how to better align them with primary healthcare are typically led by the healthcare sector, often in isolation and without incorporating perspectives of seniors centres. Hence, the proposed initiative aims to expand the role of seniors centres and their potential impact through strategic collaboration and opportunities for research. By convening key stakeholders, including representatives from four Vancouver-based senior centres and four healthcare providers, we will co-develop a research and practice agenda through five workshops structured around a Theory of Change (TOC) framework. The TOC will guide the creation of long-term goals, identify necessary conditions for success, and establish measurable indicators to track progress and effectiveness. Key intended outcomes are to foster a collaborative approach to integrating seniors centres in shaping healthcare delivery; improve cross-sectoral collaboration to develop insights on how integrated efforts can better support health outcomes for older adults; and establish a research and practice agenda to explore the role of senior centres within primary healthcare.
Reproductive Aging and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss: Establishing A Research Advisory Board
If a couple experiences ≥ 2 pregnancy losses before 24 weeks gestation, it is called recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Losing pregnancies doesn’t affect only the body, it also means losing the hopes a couple has for their future child. Getting older increases the chances of pregnancy loss. Over the past 10 years, the RPL Research Program at BC Women’s Hospital has grown, however, there’s still much we don’t know about RPL. We believe that it’s important to include the community in RPL research so that the research focuses on what patients truly care about. Our aim is to create an RPL research advisory board to involve patient partners in our research program. This board will include patient partners, community organizations, researchers, and medical leads who will meet 5 times over a year, with many activities outside the meetings. They’ll decide what topics are most important and develop an application for another funding opportunity to study them more. The board will engage more community members by sharing research findings and shining light on RPL research. Involving trainees in our work will help develop their skills. This project improves our research program by including an advisory board at the heart of our work.
Chronic Pain and Women’s Health: Developing and Scaling Out Sex and Gender Informed Resources to Nursing Students and Educators in BC
In 2021, the Canadian Pain Task Force released the Action Plan for Pain in Canada, which included six recommendations to advance action on pain in Canada, including the need to increase awareness, education, and specialized training in pain. The Task Force also identified that women are among the populations disproportionately affected by chronic pain, and that health care professionals require additional knowledge and skills to effectively treat and manage pain. This project will respond to the recommendation and subsequent recommendations for action identified by CEWH researchers.
The purpose of this project is to create a research and educational agenda that improves how women’s health, and important sex and gender related considerations related to the experience of chronic pain and opioid use for pain management, are integrated into the BC nursing curricula. The project will: gather nursing students, nurse educators, chronic pain researchers, and people with lived and living experience of chronic pain in a hybrid learning event; prepare a research and educational agenda that identifies opportunities and priorities for women’s chronic pain in the nursing field; and create training resources for nursing students and educators.
Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning into Youth Suicide Prevention Efforts in Schools: The development of a comprehensive toolkit for Island Health’s School Health Promotion Specialists
Suicide is the leading cause of non-accidental deaths in children in BC. The number of youth suicide attempts and hospitalization rates associated with self-inflicted injury rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing calls for public health to consider more universal prevention approaches that promote strength and protect against suicide before a crisis emerges. Upstream, universal prevention strategies help all youth learn about and build skills to identify and manage emotions, especially when feelings of distress become too intense. Fostering skills related to emotional regulation, healthy relationships, and responsible decision-making are core competencies of social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL holds promise in being an integral part of comprehensive youth suicide prevention, but more research is needed to determine how SEL can be applied to complement existing targeted approaches and general suicide awareness campaigns. Our proposed work aims to review best practices of SEL promotion in the context of suicide prevention in schools with the goal of developing a toolkit and training workshop for Island Health’s newly appointed team of School Health Promotion Specialists to support their suicide prevention efforts in schools
XR Technology to Support Students with Mood Disorders: Co-Developing a Research Agenda
Mood disorders (depressive and bipolar disorders) affect many Canadian post-secondary students and can severely impact functioning. Many affected students do not access treatment due to limited finances, time and available resources.
Extended reality (XR) can address some of these barriers. XR includes virtual reality, which creates interactive 3D representations of the real world, or augmented reality, which overlays digital stimuli on to the real world. XR has been successfully used to deliver therapy for mental health disorders including depression. Users can also access XR therapies at a low cost, and at times and locations of their choice. Despite these advantages, the potential of XR to aid students with mood disorders has not been explored.
This project will bring together students with lived experience, clinicians, administrators and community mental health organizations to develop a research agenda to guide future investigation of how XR can support students with mood disorders. It will also create a User Advisory Committee to advise on the design of XR treatments. The outcomes of this project will ensure that future research will generate XR treatments that are effective and relevant for BC post-secondary students.
Enhancing Well-Being in the North: Co-Developing a Community-Based Participatory Action Research Strategy to support mental health & redress health inequities with precariously housed people in BC
This grant will support research planning with community health and social service providers and men, women and gender diverse people living at the margins of poverty, precarious housing and poor mental health in rural and remote northern BC. We will build relationships with both provider and people with lived experience (Research Users) through World Cafés, and the inclusion of Research Users in all activities. Guided by community-based, participatory approaches, we will: (i) conduct a literature synthesis on mental health promotion and housing strategies with a focus on remote communities; (ii) conduct a synthesis of recent community-led consultations with Research Users on the strengths and challenges of mental health care and housing support in their region; (iii) undertake 2 inclusive World Cafés with Research Users to share outcomes of the literature synthesis and consultations and generate key research priorities necessary to support optimal mental health and housing security. Collaboratively, we will plan and develop a CIHR grant application to support subsequent research to co-develop an intervention that simultaneously enhances mental health care and housing security for people precariously housed in rural and remote BC.
Modernizing brain injury services in British Columbia: Developing research priorities for children, youth, and young adults
Acquired brain injury is a pressing and under addressed issue in Canada, especially in children and youth. These brain injuries can lead to an array of health outcomes, including issues with physical, cognitive, mental, and emotional health. Given the vast impacts of brain injury, children and youth access services in a variety of settings, including acute care, rehabilitation, and community settings. Despite the extensive personal and societal burden of a pediatric brain injury, research relevant to children, youth, and those transitioning to adulthood is limited across hospital, rehabilitation, and community services for these groups during their injury. This proposed multisectoral engagement project brings together researchers, clinicians, community organizations, not-for-profit groups, and partners with lived experienced in acquired brain. These individuals interact with acquired brain injury in acute care, rehabilitation, and community settings. This project will identify key research priorities on health and care services for children, youth, and those transitioning to adult services with acquired brain injury in B.C.
Building Age and Dementia Curriculum to Address Ageism and Support Development of Meaningful Intergenerational Connections
We live in an ageing society where the number of older adults, including those living with dementia will increase forming a significant portion of the population in the next decades. As our population ages, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified ageism as a significant global health issue. Negative attitudes towards older adults and people living with dementia are associated with negative health outcomes, loneliness, and poor quality of life. Stigmas associated with age and dementia begin in childhood driven by familial, societal, and media influences. Subsequently, the WHO has recommended addressing ageism through education and intergenerational connections. Our project aims to address age and dementia related stigmas by bringing together a diverse team to work collaboratively on the design and development of age and dementia learning activities aimed at students in grades K-5. Typically, intergenerational education has been developed outside of mandated curriculums. Our project addresses this important gap by aligning intergenerational education activities with the BC curriculum objectives, making it easier for classroom teachers to find opportunities to incorporate these activities within their educational planning.
Sexual and reproductive health of women and LGBTQ+ international students from India
The purpose of this activity is to build a research team. The team members will meet to talk about how to improve the sexual and reproductive health of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer (LGBTQ+) international students from India. Organizations and health care providers that serve South Asian people in B.C. will be invited. Together we will plan a full day gathering in February 2025. At this meeting we will decide on the most important issues to focus on. We will plan a research study and decide what questions to ask. We will also plan how to make sure we share information with those that serve women and LGBTQ+ people.
The project began in November 2023 when we hosted an event titled Intersectional Conversations on Gender-Based Violence within the Panjabi Diaspora. We were asked at the event to continue this work by building a community-based research team.