The concept of Dementia Friendly Communities (DFCs) is becoming popular worldwide, as communities, organizations, and policy makers work to make our society a place where people living with dementia can live in comfort, strive for wellbeing, and feel connected to others. However, people with dementia who live alone have not really been included in conversations about and planning for DFCs. This is a significant gap, especially since people with dementia who live alone are a growing group of people. This project aims to address this gap, and to include people with dementia who live alone in co-designing an Action Plan that will lay the groundwork for future planning of DFCs, that takes into account their voices and perspectives. This work will involve an Action Group (AG) of people with dementia who live alone in different communities across BC. 8-10 people will join the AG, and will participate in 5 online co-design workshops to develop an Action Plan. The co-design workshops will be led by a team of designers from the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. The Health Design team will work in partnership with the project team and AG to co-design the Action Plan, and plan next steps for ongoing work.
Program: Convening and Collaborating Awards
Learning Together: Co-Developing meaningful partnerships for spinal cord injury research with Indigenous Peoples
In Canada, 86,000 people are living with spinal cord injury (SCI), a serious and life changing health condition. Rates of SCI have grown considerably over recent years; however, rates of SCI in Indigenous people are almost 250% higher compared to non-Indigenous people. In addition, Indigenous people are known to experience poorer health outcomes overall, resulting from widespread discrimination and racism. There is a need to meaningfully work with Indigenous people with SCI to develop engagement and research priorities that inform services and solutions that can improve their health and wellbeing.
By working in partnership with Indigenous people with SCI, and other allies and partners, we will undertake three Gatherings in three regions of British Columbia. During the Gatherings, we will support relationship building, share experiences and priorities, and will learn together about the resiliencies of Indigenous people with SCI. We will then work together to create an engagement and research plan that will document the needs and priorities of Indigenous people living with SCI. Finally, we will support the development of a BC-wide Indigenous SCI network. We will share our findings through reports, summaries and a research article.
NOVA-HIV: Establishing a community advisory committee and co-leading a clinical trial
This project will bring together women living with HIV, HIV community organizations/allies, and researchers to establish a community advisory committee for the NOVA-HIV clinical trial. This committee will co-lead the clinical trial by reviewing study materials to ensure they are safe and appropriate, holding regular meetings to review study progress, and providing ongoing feedback on topics such as recruitment. A critical component of this community advisory committee will be capacity building among trainees through immersion in community engagement work and women living with HIV through pairing community members with less experience interfacing with research with a mentor community member to learn and develop their ability to contribute to additional research in the future.
Co-Developing a Research Plan to identify roles, optimal resource allocation, and educational preparation for Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in acute care settings in Island Health
Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have practiced in BC since 2005, predominantly in primary care settings. Our completed C2 grant addressed the facilitators and challenges for integration of NPs into primary care in Island Health from the perspective of Island Health NPs, family practitioners, the MOH Nursing Policy Secretariat and Nurse and Nurse Practitioners Association of BC (NNPBC). During that grant, the health care environment in BC became more resource depleted in both primary and acute care settings. Demand for NPs in acute care are driven by shortages of hospitalist physicians, gaps in integrated care models, patients utilizing emergency departments for primary care, and unresolved challenges related to alternative level of care (ALC) patients occupying acute care beds. This environment has created unprecedented demand for NPs and CNSs within acute care settings. A MOH strategy for optimal NP utilization in acute care settings does not currently exist, and NP education programs in BC have curriculum gaps preparing NPs for acute care roles. We aim to leverage established relationships between NPs, Island Health, UVic, MOH & NNPBC to map the model of care, resource supports and educational preparation for NPs in acute settings.
Identifying Priorities to Address First Nations-specific Racism in the Health Care System in Partnership with the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at First Nations Health Authority in BC
Indigenous-specific racism has been identified as an undeclared public health emergency by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (OCMO) at the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia (BC). The 2020 In Plain Sight report found that Indigenous-specific racism in the BC health care system was common and widespread. In response, our project will bring together a team of Indigenous health researchers, health systems leaders, physicians and a trainee to identify action-oriented priorities and pathways to address First Nations-specific racism in the BC health care system. Our objectives are to: 1) foster a collaborative partnership between Indigenous health researchers and research users (health systems leaders and physicians) from the OCMO ; 2) build research capacity in addressing First Nations-specific racism; 3) co-host a convening space to identify gaps, challenges, and research priorities to address First Nations-specific racism; and 4) co-develop a research priorities report and action plan to address First Nations-specific racism in the health care system. The outcomes of this project will help to catalyze collective action in advancing First Nations-led anti-racism strategies within the BC health care system.
STARS — STARting off Right: Best Supports for New Graduate Nurses
Reflecting the global nursing workforce shortage, the province of British Columbia is facing a nursing staffing crisis: in addition to high numbers of experienced nurses choosing to retire, many new graduate nurses are leaving the profession within a few years of graduation (British Columbia Nurses Union, 2022). To address this crisis, we will host a co-design workshop that will bring together research users and researchers focused on better supporting new graduate nurses as they transition to clinical practice. During the workshop, we will share best practice research, innovative solutions, co-design scaling solutions, prioritize research gaps, and determine how best to share information. Specifically, the workshop will include examination on support for groups of nurses with high barriers when transitioning to practice, including Indigenous, Black, and internationally educated nurses. Our intended outcomes centre on co-designing a research agenda with priority areas for future research and co-design best practice KT products. Finally, we will increase the capacity of knowledge translation for researchers and research users through co-development and exposure to consultant design experts in visual knowledge translation.
Shared journeys in mental health: Building community partnerships for mental health support in older adults
Our mission is simple: We want to make mental health research better by involving the community more actively. When communities participate, research improves, stigma reduces, and more people benefit from the findings.
Here’s our plan for the year:
1. Reconnect: We’ll start by chatting with our Research Advisory Panel, which consists of a group of older adults in the community, to understand their experiences and needs post-pandemic.
2. Reach Out: We’ll spread the word about our project in community centres, via newsletters, and online platforms, inviting everyone interested to join us.
3. Learn Together: Through workshops, we’ll work with our partners and the Panel to brainstorm research questions and designs.
4. Collect Insights: We’ll host focus groups, interviews, and send out surveys to gather a wide range of perspectives on mental health research.
5. Empower: We’ll host training sessions on research methods to equip our partners with the tools they need to actively participate in the research and use the findings in their communities.
Our approach is rooted in respect, reciprocity, and co-learning. By involving the community at every step, we aim to make our research more meaningful and impactful.
Development of a Culturally Resonant Clinical Intervention to Support South Asian (SA) Men who use Substances
Substance use disorder is a growing chronic disease in Canada, with increasing harms. Racialized South Asian (SA) men living in the Lower Mainland have been shown to be particularly vulnerable to the harms of alcohol and opioid use, with many struggling to access support due to a variety of systemic and intrinsic barriers. Ensuring that research users are engaged as equal partners alongside researchers, the team will have shared leadership between SA men who use substances, health service providers, community organization representatives, and researchers. The goal of the project is to design an evidence-informed, culturally resonant intervention to support SA men who use substances, as well as identify next steps for further research and study of culturally resonant interventions. This will be completed during 5 collaborative meetings between the team and various stakeholders, guided by an experienced facilitator who will use an anti-racist approach to facilitation. Overall, this initiative will produce a culturally resonant intervention designed by researchers and research users and an agenda for future research that embodies anti-racist ideas and centres the experiences and ideas of SA men who use(d) substances.
Health Equity in the Digital Age: Enhancing Virtual Care for South Asians in British Columbia
Three in four South Asians in British Columbia live within the Fraser Health (FH) region. South Asians in Canada experience higher rates of chronic disease compared to the general Canadian population. These health disparities may be due, in part, to the ways in which social and environmental factors impact health and contribute to health inequities.
Virtual care services involve the delivery of health services through remote technologies (e.g., telephone, video calls, internet). Virtual care has the potential to improve healthcare access for marginalized populations; yet, South Asians in Canada are less likely to use virtual care services. They also face significant barriers in accessing culturally appropriate services. There is a need to develop and implement more equitable policies and virtual care services to improve access and reduce disparities.
This study aims to understand the barriers to, and facilitators of, virtual care services faced by South Asians in the FH region to help inform the development of more equitable and accessible virtual care solutions within FH.
Defining research priorities for trauma-informed design of digital health interventions in sexual health
There has been an increase in the adoption of digital health interventions, especially among people with sensitive and potentially stigmatizing sexual health challenges. While digital health technologies can be convenient and cost-effective, there are concerns that negative online activities could inadvertently trigger emotional trauma among end-user patients. Trauma-informed design has emerged in response to the threats of technology-mediated trauma. Yet, this important field is lacking clear research direction on the best and meaningful ways to conduct research that satisfies the collective interest of all the stakeholders that are typically involved in the design and deployment of digital health interventions. This proposed interdisciplinary stakeholder engagement brings together experts in digital health, trauma-informed care, and patient partners in sexual health to explore research priorities on trauma-informed design of digital technologies. This project will identify key research priorities on trauma-informed design that reflect the collective interest and priorities of the stakeholders.