For people who use substances who cannot or do not have access to a supervised consumption site, washrooms can provide a private space that feels safe. However, when people use in washrooms, they can face serious risks including the risks of overdosing alone and potentially not receiving life-saving help in time. There are ways of making washrooms safer, but it can be difficult to know how. Best practices have been developed in the past few years to provide guidance to community-based organizations, businesses, health care institution, and other settings where washrooms are publicly accessible. Despite best efforts to make these best practices known, gaps remain. This project is designed to make share this information more broadly and improve washroom safety across the province. To make this happen, we plan on conducting consultation with various groups and developing a safer washroom campaign.
Team members: Shannon Riley (Vancouver Coastal Health); Kali Sedgemore (Vancouver Coastal Health); Trevor Goodyear (University of British Columbia)
Over half a million Canadians live with bipolar disorder (BD), a long-term, serious mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings from depression to mania. With optimal treatment, care, and empowerment, people with BD can flourish, but this requires more than just medication. Mobile phone applications (‘apps’) can deliver knowledge on effective self-management strategies for BD and provide real-time support. Despite high interest in mental health apps, a CREST.BD survey showed that in practice few people with BD are using such tools, and clinicians do not feel well equipped to recommend apps to their patients.
This project will develop a suite of patient and clinician-facing educational resources (e.g. webinars, videos, blog posts) in collaboration with people with lived-experience and clinicians. A co-ordinated social media strategy will be developed to increase awareness of these resources.
Expected outcomes include: patients will better understand the potential benefits and risks of mental health apps; patients will improve their digital health literacy by learning strategies to identify safe and secure mental health apps; clinicians will improve knowledge about app evaluation frameworks and informed decision making.
Team members: Natalie Dee (CREST.BD); Emma Morton (UBC); John Torous (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre); Rosemary Xinhe Hu (CREST.BD); Caden Poh (UBC); Laura Lapadat (UBC); Linda Yang (UBC)
Cannabis was legalized in Canada with the introduction of the Cannabis Act in 2018. This rapid legalization has led to a knowledge gap in doctors. Although most users smoke cannabis, few doctors know the health effects of smoking cannabis in the upper airway. In previously funded work, our team has reviewed the scientific literature and summarized these health effects, both positive and negative. During the COVID19 pandemic, innovative knowledge translation activities are needed. We propose a two-part initiative to educate health practitioners about cannabis, targeting family doctors who are the patient’s gateway to the Canadian health system. First, we will co-design a webinar with the research users on our newly launched provincial ENTCME.org platform. This event will be recorded for asynchronous access. Second, we will co-create infographics to summarize the information and launch a social media campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Reach and effectiveness will be assessed by registration for the webinar and pre- and post-engagement surveys. Performance data from each social media platform will also be analyzed. Our goal is to help doctors guide patients to make informed, evidence-based choices on cannabis usage.
Team members: Brenna Lynn (UBC); Andrew Thamboo (UBC); Emily Deane (UBC); Joel Howlett (UBC); Jobanjit Phulka (UBC); James P. McCormack (UBC); Dinusha Peiris (BC Cancer Agency); M-J Milloy (British Columbia Centre on Substance Use and UBC); Christie A Newton (UBC)
This project builds on another study that resulted in the development of an evidence-based guideline for healthcare providers (HCPs) on the integration of patient-centred measurement (PCM) data to incorporate the voice of persons. Incorporating PCMs into routine practice is one way to attain patient-centred care. In this project, the guideline will be spread to decision makers and HCPs working in the Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU), specifically community psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery services in British Columbia and across Canada. In collaboration with practice and patient partners, two activities will be completed. First, we will develop and share clinical decision tools for HCPs to routinely integrate PCM. To increase awareness about the guideline, educational webinars will be developed, offered, and evaluated. These activities facilitate the wider uptake and sustainability of PCMs at the point of care. Expected outcomes of this project include: (a) development of clinical decision tools and webinars specific to MHSU to augment the PCM guideline, (b) enhanced awareness by HCPs and decision-makers about the guideline, and (c) delivery of person-centred care for psychosocial rehabilitation.
Team members: Anthony Neptune (Mental Health and Substance Use); Zohreh Yaghoub Zadeh (Mental Health and Substance Use, and Fraser Health); Lynn Musto (Trinity Western University); Vidhi Thakkar (Trinity Western University)
Effective approaches to prevent falls exist, yet barriers to their uptake exist. These barriers include: 1) patient knowledge of best-practices for falls prevention; 2) geriatrician time and a geriatrician shortage in British Columbia (BC); and 3) access to Otago Exercise Program (OEP) training across BC. To mitigate some of these barriers, we propose a series of videos guided by patient, clinician and physiotherapist champions. The Falls Prevention Clinic team includes patient partners, geriatricians, and physiotherapist champions who deliver the OEP. A primary goal of this video series will be to: 1) increase awareness using accessible language of best practices for falls prevention; 2) increase referrals to physiotherapists for falls risk assessment from geriatricians; and 3) provide access to resources for physiotherapists who would like training in the delivery of the OEP. The intent of these videos is to prevent falls and thus promote healthy aging by: 1) facilitate improved patient understanding of how to prevent falls; 2) address the geriatricians capacity burden through increased physiotherapist referrals for falls risk assessment; and 3) foster translation of the OEP to physiotherapists across BC.
Team members: Tracy Dignum (UBC); Teresa Liu-Ambrose (UBC); Linda Li (UBC); Kenneth Madden (UBC); Naaz Parmar (UBC); Larry Dian (UBC); Catherine Chan (UBC); Alison Chan (UBC); Lillian Morishita (Retired); Cassandra Adjetey (UBC); Eleanor (“Jean”) Ko (Retired); Mohammed Esfahaad (Retired)
The Strengthening Cultural Identity project will connect urban Indigenous youth in care to language learning resources and culturally centered coming of age activities in lək̓ʷəŋən territory (Victoria, British Columbia). These elements were identified by youth participants during the 2018-2021 Coming of Age Project, as a way to strengthen their Indigenous identities. Building on the partnership between Surrounded by Cedar Child and Family Services (SCCFS) and the University of Victoria, we are proposing a knowledge sharing project that will support two of SCCFS’s youth groups, the Xe’Xe’tuls’thut (leadership) group and the Youth Advisory Council, in determining how they would like to integrate language and cultural teachings into their lives.
We will do this by:
- Translating knowledge sharing resources into lək̓ʷəŋən’anthun (Lewungen’athun) to honour the territory where we work, and nuučaan̓uɫ (Nuu chah nulth), to recognize the diversity of the urban Indigenous youth-in-care community.
- Working with the youth to facilitate access to language learning (e.g. the KS tools, language resources/teachers) and cultural activities in self-determined ways
- Celebrating what we have learned at a community feast.
Team members: Jennifer Chuckry (Surrounded by Cedar Child and Family Services); Andrea Mellor (University of Victoria)
POR is an increasingly popular approach to research, involving meaningful partnerships with patients to improve the relevance and use of research. There is an increasing focus on how teams can best support partnerships, including fair compensation for patients partners and greater openness about research funding practices. This is particularly important when research is funded by private companies or donors, as COI can arise and may affect the ethical conduct or quality of the research.
A COI can happen when a research team member stands to gain status or financial advantages as a result of a research partnership and teams are faced with the need to find ways to address these. However, little is known about how to manage COI in POR. Our previous research has explored the research literature, as well as the perspectives of those engaged in POR. We found few examples of how COI can be managed and a need for practical resources and tools. In this planned research, we will work together to create a guidebook, including resources and tools, to help POR teams identify and manage COI. Designed to reflect needs of diverse audiences, we will share these widely to raise awareness, support best practices, and evaluate its usefulness.
Team members: Marc Bains (HeartLife); Stirling Bryan (BC Academic Health Science Network); Alison Hoens (UBC); Michelle Mujoomdar (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology); Trina Fyfe (University of Northern British Columbia); Iva Cheung (Freelance); Erin Michalak (UBC and BC SUPPORT Unit); Justin Otteson (BC SUPPORT Unit); Haydn Molcak (UBC); Daman Kandola (University of Northern British Columbia); Jennifer Brown (UBC); Nassim Adhami (University of Northern British Columbia); Shayna Dolan (University of Northern British Columbia)
The proposed Participatory Indigenous Nursing Knowledge Translation Project will provide opportunities for stakeholders from British Columbia’s health authorities, nursing educational institutes, professional nursing organizations and associations to participate in the integrated knowledge translation stakeholder’s forum to establish an Indigenous Health Professional’s (IHP) Network. The intent is to cocreate Indigenous wellness supports by and for Indigenous healthcare professionals to decolonize healthcare systems and structures. This work is in response to the Calls for Action on Truth and Reconciliation, and to respond to Interior Health and FNHA mandated strategy to address Indigenous workforce issues. A key outcome of the integrated knowledge translation activities will be the collaboration of community members, with multidisciplinary Indigenous health professionals coming together to address the growing inequities, racism, and discrimination. Through Indigenous health nursing leadership and guidance with Indigenous knowledge holders our team will co-create Indigenous wellness support systems, through policy development, and educational training in culturally informed ways through Intergenerational Indigenous mentorship.
Team members: Judy Sturm (Interior Health); Rose Mylnek (Thompson Rivers University); Christina (University of Victoria); Melba D’Souza (Thompson Rivers University); Colleen Seymour (Tk’emlups Knowledge Holder); Leslie Bryant (Interior Health); Tracy Mooney (Interior Health); Shirlie Delacherois (Interior Health); Shesley Callison-Hanna (Thompson Rivers University)
| Co-lead:
|
Team members:
- Jessica Nelson
Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre
- Lindsay Zibrik
BC Cancer – Vancouver
- Kirstin Brown
Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre
- Kevin Sauve
Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre
|
The Personalized Oncogenomics (POG) program at BCC is a patient-driven clinical research project which uses genome sequencing to inform cancer treatment and care. Delivery of the POG program involves a diverse group of stakeholders, all with varying health literacy levels. To close the literacy gap, POG must explore new knowledge translation channels to improve health literacy and education.
Knowledge translation is becoming increasingly common in clinical practice. Best practices recommend the use of lay language and to present material in popular, engaging and creative formats such as video and online content to reach and engage a large audience. Research suggests one of the most effective methods is through animated videos (Meppelink et al., 2015; George et al., 2013).
The goal for this project is to develop a short, patient- and public-focused animated video about the POG program and to showcase the video to our knowledge users in a web-based format. Outcomes include improved awareness about the POG program, improved health literacy for patients considering POG or healthcare professionals new to POG, and improved understanding of how POG supports and enhances patient care in BC.
Award Update: March 2022
The POG Knowledge Translation working group produced an animated video that explains cancer, genomics, and precision medicine using vocabulary and engaging graphics (in six languages) suitable for many audiences, from experts to those with no knowledge of the science.
Learn more on Genome Sciences Centre’s website.
|
Co-lead:
- Jiak Chin Koh
Providence Health Care
|
|
Team members:
- Douglas Manuel
Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Health Analysis Division of Statistics Canada
- University of Ottawa Departments of Family Medicine, and Public Health
- Kimberly McGrail
Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
- Health Data Research Network Canada (and SPOR Canadian Data Platform)
- Population Data BC
- UBC Health
- UBC School of Population and Public Health
- Deirdre Hennessy
Health Analysis Division of Statistics Canada
- Natalie Walshaw
Cardiac Clinic, Royal Columbian Hospital, FH
- Courtenay Hopson
University Hospital of Northern BC, Northern Health
- Jennifer Brown
The Ottawa Hospital Bariatric Centre of Excellence
- Alison Quinlan
BC Ministry of Health
- Food, Nutrition and Health Program, UBC
- Carol Anderson
Interested Public / Community User
- Adelia Jacobs
Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Food, Nutrition and Health Program, UBC
- Julia Chen
Dietetics, UBC
|
A healthy lifestyle is the cornerstone of disease prevention and improvement of health. While most Canadians know that healthy eating can reduce the risk of chronic disease, they may not appreciate their own dietary pattern, and specifically may not know its associated health risks, or ways of improving it. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern is effective for reducing high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart disease (cardiovascular disease) risk, yet adherence to this dietary pattern in Canada is low. With this grant support, our team of healthcare professionals and researchers will develop and distribute a web-based, mobile-friendly DASH-Dietary Pattern Calculator that addresses this gap by providing a personalized estimate of the DASH dietary pattern and cardiovascular disease risk. The tool, which we call the DASH-Heart and Stroke (DASH-HAS) calculator will also provide individualized suggestions on how to improve dietary patterns to be in line with established DASH dietary recommendations.
