In LTC homes across the province, there has been a shift towards making the resident and the residentâs essential visitors (EVs) a key partner in care. One way that LTC homes can facilitate this change is through care conferences. Care conferences are collaborative care planning meetings that include health care providers, the resident and EVs to discuss and agree on a unique person-centred care plan to optimize quality of life. The success of care conferences relies on all parties being knowledgeable about the goals and purpose and taking an active role in the discussion. However, work by Dr. Baumbusch outlines that many EVâs are often not properly informed;aware;educated of how to meaningful participate in this process. Productive outcomes rely on the facilitation of mutual exchanges of information between participants, empowering all parties to engage as equals. Our team, comprised of academic researchers, embedded health care researchers, end users and industry partners will co-create on an online toolkit to empower EVs during LTC care conferences. Specific objectives include:
1) Raising awareness of the LTC care conference process for EVs
2) Empowering EVs to feel informed and confident in their role in LTC care conferences
Program: Reach Awards
Genetic Lipid Disorders and Premature Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: Raising Awareness to Save Lives
Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) and elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] are two of the most common genetic lipid disorders: 1 in 311 Canadians have FH and 1 in 5 have high Lp(a). Affected individuals have a higher risk for heart disease and stroke, but both diseases remain underdiagnosed and undertreated. To improve care, increased awareness through education, engagement and dissemination of research findings is vital. The goal of this event is to organize an Educational Patient Engagement Forum focusing on recent developments in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of FH and high Lp(a), and management in specific populations (Indigenous communities and children). The forum will include lectures by those with lived experiences, clinician-scientists, Indigenous researchers, allied health providers, and an interactive session with patientsâ testimonials. FH and Lp(a) Canada Registry members will also discuss identification of individuals with inherited lipid disorders, initiatives and resources for patients and health care professionals. The forum will empower patients to become advocates, increase awareness of these diseases, and recognize the importance of screening for early identification, treatment and heart disease reduction.
Evidence as a community ASSET â Establishing a circular data model to support integrated knowledge exchange in the Assessing Economic Transitions (ASSET) Study
The proposed project will expand and evaluate a circular data model that supports health and social service providers to directly access and use data from the Assessing Economic Transitions Study (ASSETS). ASSETS is a mixed-methods evaluation of the impacts of low-threshold economic opportunities for the health and economic well-being of People with Lived and Living Experience of Substance Use (PWLLES) in Vancouverâs Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood. Since 2019, ASSETS has featured multi-stakeholder engagement and an Integrated Knowledge Translation and Exchange (iKTE) platform. The proposed project seeks to expand this iKTE platform through a circular data model featuring: (1) the scale up of the study data dashboard and data literacy educational modules; (2) development of a web-based resource repository; and (3) evaluation of the effectiveness of this circular data model. Consultations with health and social service providers will refine the data dashboard, educational modules, and website. Partner feedback will support a process evaluation that produces evidence of progress on organizational outcomes. This project builds community capacity for using research data to directly inform health and social service provision.
Mobilizing Menopause Research in BC: Disseminating Results of the HER-BC Study with the Public and Practitioners
The âHER-BCâ study explored transitions throughout menopause for mid-life women in BC. The next step is to share the knowledge gained during this study, and promote awareness and use of this new knowledge amongst the public and healthcare providers. To reach as diverse an audience as possible, we will undertake a series of knowledge sharing activities with researchers and research users, including people with lived;living experience (PWLE) of perimenopause and menopause. Together, we will plan and put in place a series of knowledge translation (KT) activities that are widespread and varied in format. We aim to reach two target audiences: 1) PWLE and the public, and 2) health care practitioners. Planned KT activities include Facebook Live events, online webinars, podcasts, video interviews, and in-person presentations. We will also create a communications toolkit to share with community organizations, professional associations and the public. They will distribute findings of HER-BC to their networks, including on social media. The proposed KT activities aim to empower women to make informed decisions about menopause care, and to support health care practitioners to provide responsive and appropriate menopause care and services.
“Safety Lenses”: An Exhibition from the Community Voices on News Coverage of Police Violence Project
This proposal supports two phases of an art exhibit that brings attention to police violence as a source of public health inequity. Policing practices in Canada have long caused disproportionate harm and can extend to secondary health impacts caused by media exposure to violence. For over two decades, public health scholars in the U.S. have used a public health framing to improve understandings of health outcomes of, and the data that is collected on, police violence. This data is vital to track policing impacts, so if Canadians hope to understand the health outcomes related to police violence, Canadian health scholars will need to advocate for better information tracing and a public health approach to police violence. This proposal will support a community co-created art exhibit that examines health impacts of media exposure to police violence. The show will feature co-created works, an interactive mural, an infographic public report on the health impacts of police violence, a workshop, and a panel discussion with public health scholars. The in-person art exhibit will take place at Gallery Gachet in Fall 2024, the eight (8) subsequent presentations will share the findings to health and media scholars throughout B.C. and Ontario.
Extending the Reach of the Flipping Stigma on its Ear Toolkit: Translating and Transforming the Toolkit for the Chinese Community
The purpose of this knowledge translation project is to extend the reach of the Flipping Stigma on its Ear Toolkit, a research output that is a web-based education and advocacy tool developed by an Action Group of people with lived experience of dementia. Currently this toolkit (flippingstigma.com), which is focused on addressing dementia-related stigma and discrimination, is only available in English. This project will focus on translating and transforming the toolkit for the Chinese community. We will do this by working closely with a Knowledge Translation Team (KTT) of people with lived experience of dementia, care partners, health care professionals, and other members of the Chinese community. We will first arrange for a translation of the toolkit into Traditional Chinese characters. A beta version of the Chinese toolkit will be created online. Then our team will meet with the KTT over a series of online meetings to review the beta version. The goal of these KTT meetings will be to explore the beta version (translated) of the toolkit and help to transform it into a culturally relevant and sensitive tool for the Chinese community. As a final outcome of this project, a Chinese version of the toolkit will be officially released.
What healthy aging means to me: a community-collaborative knowledge mobilization initiative with, by, and for, women living with HIV.
UBC researchers, Ribbon Community, and local service organizations, such as Central Interior Native Health Society, will harness our collective experiences in supporting WLWH to host five women-centred knowledge mobilization (KM) events. Ribbon Community has supported the HIV community since 1983, with services including peer-to-peer programming, case management, and grocery support. Researchers at UBC are investigating healthy aging in women living with HIV, from cell-to-society, in the community-based British Columbia CARMA-CHIWOS Collaboration (BCC3) study. We aim to host a series of âmini-retreatsâ – or full-day KM events that will be held in natural settings (e.g. Loon Lake). Here, WLWH and organizers will share nourishing food and discuss research findings through interactive activities surrounding the theme âWhat is healthy aging.â Events will take place in the five geographical regions visited by the research team during prior study enrollment. KM topics will focus on womenâs sexual and reproductive health as they age, with specific topics chosen in consultation with WLWH. Participants will leave each event with a lay-language KM summary and an appreciation bag of health-promoting items.
Improving new parents’ mental health via an educational video about infant-related harm thoughts
The purpose of this project is to evaluate and disseminate a novel, animated, educational video about unwanted, intrusive thoughts (UITs) of infant-related harm, and their relationship with mental health and infant safety. To our knowledge, this is the only educational video on this topic.
Our primary aim is to distribute the video to audiences throughout BC, including pregnant and postpartum people, their families, care providers and organizations involved in providing care to perinatal people.
Prior to dissemination, we will evaluate the video by administering it to pregnant people to see if it reduces postpartum mental health symptoms which can arise in response to UITs of infant-related harm. One half of study participants will view our video and the other half will view a different video not related to infant harm. We expect that participants who view our video will experience fewer UITs of infant harm, find them less distressing, and report fewer symptoms of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Testing allows us to share the video with confidence, knowing it is effective in improving parents’ mental health.
Supporting the effective provincial implementation of the Serious Illness Conversation Program (SICP) through a quality improvement toolkit.
This project aims to support the integration of the evidence-based Serious Illness Conversation Program (SICP) into everyday clinical practice. Based on previous research identifying the barriers and facilitators that clinicians encounter when having Serious Illness Conversations (SICs), we will develop and pilot a practical toolkit. The goal of this toolkit is to support health organizations, teams, and clinicians in conducting quality improvement projects aiming to improve the implementation of the SICP into their relevant setting. The toolkit will include recommendations about best practices, workflows and evaluation strategies. We will pilot the toolkit in multiple sectors of the healthcare system in one geographic region within Interior Health Authority. The evaluation data from this pilot will inform any required updates to the toolkit. Finally, we will disseminate the toolkit widely across the province for use in clinical areas.
From policy to practice: Provincial outreach to optimize the Clinical Nurse Specialist workforce in British Columbia
Nurses spend the most time with patients and caregivers. More than other professions, nurses have been negatively affected by the health human resource crisis. In BC, there is an urgent need to retain and recruit nursing talent and expertise.
We now have new knowledge about what is needed to strengthen the impact of Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs), advanced practice nurses with graduate education and specialized clinical expertise. CNSs are nursing leaders who use their clinical knowledge and leadership to improve both patient outcomes and how healthcare operates overall. The role of CNSs in BC is underdeveloped and significantly underutilized. This is why we recently completed a BC-based study with nurses and leaders to create policy recommendations and action plans to help strengthen and better support the CNS role across BC.
The goal of this project is to extend the reach of this important evidence. We will (1) create a âBC CNS Workforce Toolkitâ that includes the new consensus policy recommendations, and (2) hold a series of implementation workshops with high impact stakeholder. We also aim to increase the knowledge translation skills of BC nurses to help address the challenges of the healthcare staffing crisis.