Loneliness and social isolation have been increasingly recognized as a growing public health priority with extensive evidence that these issues take a significant toll on population health. Despite this escalating urgency, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, effective evidence-based interventions for mitigating social isolation and loneliness are lacking. Based on previous research by UBC researchers, this project proposes “acts of kindness” as an antidote to social disconnection. Our teams at UBC and UWBC will partner to co-develop and test the effects of an online intervention program to promote social connection in lonely BC residents. We expect that this project will provide an accessible, easy-to-implement program that will mitigate the isolation felt by participating BC residents in the periphery of social networks while also reducing the spread of loneliness throughout those BC residents’ social networks. We also expect this project will promote evidence-based approaches to tackle public health issues in the BC community extending beyond the issue of loneliness, so that UWBC (research users) can ensure that effective and high-quality programs reach British Columbians (ultimate research beneficiaries).
Team members: Jasica Grewal (United Way of BC); Tobias Jones (United Way of BC); Yeeun Archer Lee (UBC); Julia Nakamura (UBC); Rachel Hamilton (UBC).
This project aims to bring together a multi-stakeholder group, composed of patient partners as well as research, government, and health care decision-makers to co-develop a research agenda for digital innovation in perinatal health. We believe this work to be both timely and relevant, as the Ministry of Health and Perinatal Services BC refresh provincial strategies for health care digital transformation, which include aims to expand technology to support patient and family care. With this grant, we will conduct a review of the literature to inform the design of a stakeholder engagement plan. We will also organize and implement stakeholder engagement activities, to collaborate on research priorities and identify digital health needs related to perinatal care. We will develop a research agenda outlining a summary of activity findings and three to five evidence-based priorities, which will be shared with key partners whose work can be informed by the findings, through presentations and social media engagement. Through this work, we hope to set the foundation for future research collaboration and innovation in perinatal care to enhance patient, infant, and family health.
Team members: Tibor van Rooij (BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute); Punit Virk (UBC); Marianne Vidler (University of British Columbia); Quynh Doan (BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute); May Tauson (Government of BC); Dominik Stoll (Provincial Health Services Authority); Kathryn Berry-Einarson (Perinatal Services BC); Jennifer Krempien (BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre); Candice Taguibao (Women’s Health Research Institute); Beth Payne (BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute).
The COVID-19 pandemic and climate crises highlighted the need for renewed and strengthened systems to promote population physical activity (PPA) in BC. This need, coupled with calls for using complex systems methods, forms the basis for the proposed activities. Complexity can be seen as the context where numerous interacting elements (i.e. people, entities) in a system make it hard to see, describe, and assess what is happening in the whole. Complex systems methods are a way to gain clarity on complex problems by focusing on the patterns of what the system does or how it behaves. After the completion of a formative scoping review and interviews with stakeholders to assess the current state of systems for PPA in BC, we now plan to invite partners and stakeholders from many sectors and facilitate online group sense making sessions. These sessions will involve participatory processes to develop understanding of the current state of the systems for PPA. A second session will focus on identifying directions for strengthening systems for PPA in terms of policy, practice and research. The project team will provide recommendations for potential roles and responsibilities for the BCCDC to strengthen systems for promoting PPA.
Team members: Drona Rasali (BCCDC); Lori Baugh Littlejohns (BCCDC); Geoff McKee (BCCDC); Daniel Naiman (BC Ministry of Health).
Compared to the general population, people with spinal cord injury (SCI) report higher cigarette smoking rates, poorer health outcomes related to smoking, and lower engagement with smoking cessation treatments. Despite these inequities, SCI-specific smoking cessation supports have not yet been developed to help people with SCI stop smoking. SCI British Columbia (BC) is a community organization dedicated to helping persons with SCI adjust, adapt, and thrive. As our partner on this project, SCI BC identified a need for smoking cessation support for their clients. Using a partnership approach, this project aims to convene a diverse panel of researchers and research users to co-develop a smoking cessation intervention for people with SCI and the protocol for evaluating the intervention. During three meetings, the panel with experience in smoking cessation and/or SCI will review the literature and share their ideas to co-develop an evidence-based smoking cessation intervention. The panel will also help inform the intervention’s evaluation. The systematic co-development process will help to ensure the intervention is feasible, can be delivered by SCI BC, and has potential to support the health of persons with SCI.
Team members: Christopher McBride (Spinal Cord Injury British Columbia); Kathleen Martin Ginis (UBC); Mary Jung (UBC); Guy Faulkner (UBC); Kelsey Wuerstl (UBC).
Chronic pelvic pain affects ~15 percent of women and an unknown number of gender diverse people. Despite its common and devastating effects, chronic pelvic pain is too often dismissed or mismanaged, which is in part due to physicians’ lack of education on the topic. This study will identify knowledge needs about chronic pelvic pain of BC health professionals-in-training, which will guide the development of a future online resource. To do this, we will 1) Convene a group of experts interested in improving education and care for people with chronic pelvic pain; 2) Assess the knowledge level and attitudes towards chronic pelvic pain in gynecology using a baseline survey completed by medical and nurse practitioner students; and 3) Collaborate with experts to review the needs assessment and co-create a plan for a future resource. We aim to improve the understanding of chronic pelvic pain in health professionals-in-training and ultimately improve care for people with this complex condition by addressing the specific knowledge needs and identifying meaningful information to be included in a future resource to address gaps in medical education.
Team members: Natasha Orr (UBC – School of Nursing); Paul Yong (UBC – Faculty of Medicine); Leanne Currie (UBC – School of Nursing); Karim Qayumi (UBC – Faculty of Medicine); Margaret Carlyle (UBC – Okanagan; Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Department of History and Sociology); Rachel Langer (UBC – Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Laboratory); Lan Randhawa (UBC – Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Laboratory); Helena Daudt (Pain BC); Jennifer Krist (UBC – School of Nursing).
South Asians make up 60 percent of the Canadian immigrant population, with Punjabis being the fastest-growing subpopulation of this demographic in BC. Because many Punjabi women have low health literacy skills and face cultural stigmas around mental health, community-based health promotion (CBHP) programs are needed; however, such programs have typically focused on supporting White affluent groups. This project will address these gaps and examine the CBHP program — Healing Through Ancient Teachings — developed for Punjabi women aged 50+ to develop coping mechanisms to manage their mental health. The 13-week program was originally created by community advocate Ms. Jas Cheema who has been serving the Punjabi community in BC for 35+ years. As a certified yoga teacher, Jas includes light yoga, meditation, and discussion in her CBHP program. The proposed project will provide an opportunity to convene the CBHP program to work with research users to collaboratively identify recommendations for future programs. Based on the findings, a report will be co-created with research users to inform the development of culturally appropriate and linguistically acceptable CBHP programs for Punjabi women and other growing ethnocultural communities in BC.
Team members: Sandeep K. Dhillon (Simon Fraser University); Jas Cheema (BC Association of Community Response Networks); Sherry Baker (BC Association of Community Response Networks); Eman Hassan (BC Centre for Palliative Care); Gary Thandi (Moving Forward Family Services); Theodore D. Cosco (Gerontology Research Centre).
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown failings in the care provided to older adults in care homes and a clear need for the voices of residents and their family to inform positive change. A group of residents, their family and friend carers, staff, physicians, nurses, leaders and researchers in care homes at Fraser Health will work together to agree on the most important research questions for people that live and work in care homes to improve the care that is given. Priority setting activities will be held with the goal to discuss key research topics and decide together the most important research questions in care homes at Fraser Health. Undertaking these activities also will build strong relationships between the different partners. The activities will be conducted so that the different partners in care homes, such as residents, their family and friends and staff, can contribute to the talks about research that is most important to them. The different research partners will also talk about plans for ongoing research projects to answer the top research questions together in the care homes at Fraser Health.
Team members: Adriaan Windt (Fraser Health); Laura Kadowaki (Simon Fraser University); Lucy Kervin (Simon Fraser University); Emma Leong (Kwantlen Polytechnic University); Annette Berndt (Fraser Health); Catherine Youngren (Fraser Health); Akber Mithani (Fraser Health); Suzanne Fox (Fraser Health); Clayon Hamilton (Fraser Health and Simon Fraser University); Valorie Crooks (Simon Fraser University); Nick Petropolis (Fraser Health); Amber Jarvie (Fraser Health); Gita Rafiee (Fraser Health); Anita Wahl (Fraser Health); Dan Levitt (Tabor Home Society)
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the scale of bereavement and those bereaved is becoming apparent, with an estimated 9 people affected by bereavement for each COVID-19 death. Social distancing measures have decreased opportunities for people who are dying to connect with their loved ones, and for bereaved people to access social supports such as traditional rituals and support groups. A potential impact of this is prolonged or complicated grief.
This project aims to help bereaved people access effective supports. We propose hosting a provincial roundtable discussion, where every participant can contribute equally to a structured conversation on how existing bereavement services could be improved. We will invite service providers, bereaved people, policy makers, researchers, and others doing relevant work to participate in the roundtable. The discussion will be guided by recently collected information from bereaved people and service providers in BC about their experiences and views of bereavement care.
After the discussion, the participants will work together to recommend actions to improve the bereavement experience in BC. The recommendations can also be used to inform the development of supportive policies and future research.
Team members: Marney Thompson (Victoria Hospice Society); Kathleen Yue (BC Centre for Palliative Care); Rachel Carter (BC Centre for Palliative Care); Nicolas Starkes (UBC Okanagan); Heather Mohan (Camp Kerry Society); Jessica Lowe (BC Bereavement Helpline); Shelly Cory (Canadian Virtual Hospice); D’Arcy Wingrove; Annette Berndt
Supervised consumption services are an essential part of health care and community services for people who use substances in British Columbia. These services are particularly important for people who inject substances because they offer a safer place to inject and an opportunity to access harm reduction supplies, connect with resources, and receive care if needed. Using in a supervised consumption services can make the difference between life and death in the context of the overdose crisis because staff can quickly detect an overdose, administer naloxone, and call emergency services. Therefore, it is essential to remove any barrier that may prevent people who inject substance from accessing such services. One barrier that is consistently reported is the lack of assistance for people who need help injecting. Nurses are not currently allowed to provide any assistance. This project is designed to explore this issue and find ways to improve access to supervised consumption services for people who need help injecting.
Team members: Tim Gauthier (Nurse Practitioner); Kirstin McLaughlin (University of Victoria); Sandra Ka Hun Chu (HIV Legal Network); Virginie Dalpé (Université de Montréal)
BC is facing dual public health emergencies of COVID-19 and a public health emergency of overdose, first declared in 2016. New interventions have been introduced to reduce overdose in BC, including efforts to decriminalize drug possession and the introduction of pharmaceutical alternatives to the toxic drug supply, known as “Risk Mitigation Guidance” (RMG) prescribing. RMG allows physicians to prescribe pharmaceutical medications (e.g. opioids, stimulants) to people at risk of overdose. While provincial evaluations of pharmaceutical alternatives are ongoing, little is known about the impact of these interventions on people who have been incarcerated, who face a disproportionate burden of overdose risk and mortality in BC, particularly in the weeks immediately following release from correctional institutions.
We aim to address this knowledge gap by convening a Peer Advisory Group of people with lived and living experience of substance use and incarceration. The group will advise on how data sources created in response to the 2016 public health emergency (BC-ODC) can be used to investigate interventions to reduce overdose, with attention to the unique and context-specific overdose risks faced by people who have been incarcerated.
Team members: Ana Becerra (BC Centre for Disease Control); Helen Brown (UBC); Jane Buxton (BC Centre for Disease Control); Ruth Elwood Martin (UBC); Kurt Lock (BC Centre for Disease Control); Tonia Nicholls (UBC); Erin Wilson (University of Northern British Columbia); Chloe Xavier (BC Centre for Disease Control); Sofia Bartlett (BC Centre for Disease Control); Cameron Geddes (UBC); Heather Palis (BC Centre for Disease Control); Marnie Scow (UBC); Chas Coutlee (Indian Residential School Survivors Society); Nicholas Crier (UBC’s Transformative Health and Justice Cluster); Jade Hoffman (Prince George Urban Aboriginal Justice Society); Patrick Keating (UBC’s Transformative Health and Justice Cluster ); Jenny McDougall (BC Centre for Disease Control); Rick Meier (Coalition of Substance Users of the North); Elder Roberta Price (UBC’s Transformative Health and Justice Cluster); Glenn Young (Unlocking the Gates Services Society); Pam Young (Unlocking the Gates Services Society); Andrew Ivsins (Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions); Carrie McCully (BC Corrections); Angus Monaghan (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services); Justine Patterson (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services); Kathryn Proudfoot (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services); Vijay Seethpathy (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services)
