Program: Reach Awards

We aim to create a website that health economics researchers, policy makers and Northern BC community members can use to explore issues related to resource allocation in the north, to interact with each other and generate new aligned research questions. We are merging health economics research with arts-based research to expand the reach of the and impact of our research activities and attract the attention of diverse audiences. 

We will use qualitative methods to explore how contextual factors in rural and remote settings in Northern BC might challenge common assumptions of efficiency, imply different priorities and what this means for health economics methods. We will combine traditional qualitative methods of data collection — focus groups — with novel, arts-informed research to fully represent diverse ways of knowing and experiencing the world, and build relationships with rural communities that goes beyond academic inquiry. In the context of rural and remote health, visual ways of expression will create more impactful results and emphasize unique challenges people face in accessing health care such as scarcity of resources, low population density and isolation, which may not be appreciated by those living in urban settings.
 

Endometriosis is a debilitating disease characterised by tissue similar to that from inside the uterus growing outside the uterus affecting ~10% of females. Chronic pain, menstrual pain, infertility and painful sex are common, but endometriosis often goes undiagnosed for years due to stigma and normalization of symptoms.   Painful sex can be particularly challenging to discuss with partners and healthcare providers. Imagine fearing intimacy, ridicule, degradation of relationships and an inability to conceive because sex is too painful and having limited resources for validation and trustworthy information.

Over the last 10 years, the Endometriosis Pelvic Pain Laboratory has built a patient-oriented research program with over 70 scholarly publications. In 2018, we established a multidisciplinary team to design an online educational resource. The Sex, Pain & Endometriosis website, launching in Fall 2020, provides a respectful, inviting and visually appealing environment of evidence-based information. The proposed campaign will create awareness of this resource and establish the site within the endometriosis community. Success will be determined by website visits and measured by tracking online engagement and visitor metrics.

The proposed project will provide opportunities for multidisciplinary trainees to develop and strengthen their science communication skills by learning from experts and gaining hands on experience translating knowledge using multiple mediums—a women’s health podcast, video series and blog. These KT products will draw attention and dispense knowledge to the public and the scientific community about women’s health research. Why is this important to convey? Although funding agencies mandate the inclusion of both sexes, women’s health is much more than how they differ from men. Women’s health is directly influenced by physiological and  societal challenges that are unique to women. There is a critical need to convey how different physiological experiences (menstruation, pregnancy, menopause) influence women’s health and how gendered experiences and expectations drive disparities in women’s health (e.g. greater misdiagnosis in women compared to men). For example, oral contraceptives influence depression risk depending on a woman’s age or whether she is pregnant, postpartum or menopausal, as these factors differentially influence drug efficacy. MSFHR funding will provide payments for research users and trainees to produce outputs.