Program: Reach Awards

Co-leads: Debra Sheets University of Victoria Marilyn Malone Island Health

Trainee: Mathilde Cervantes University of Victoria Timothy Lukyn University of Victoria Michaella Trites University of Victoria Sebastian Santana University of Victoria

Over half a million Canadians are living with dementia, and 25,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The estimated costs of dementia exceed 10.4 billion per year (Alzheimer Society of Canada, 2018). Dementia refers to a set of symptoms that include progressive, degenerative declines that affect memory, reasoning, the ability to communicate, judgment, and mood (Dugeon, 2010; Wetzels et al., 2010).

Alzheimer's is the most common cause of irreversible dementia and the numbers of people with dementia are projected to double by 2031. One of the biggest issues facing people living with dementia is the stigma and social isolation they face within their communities. Social isolation and loneliness significantly affect the quality of life of persons living with dementia and their caregivers. Social engagement can delay or reduce dementia symptoms and possibly decrease the rate of disease progression (Tuokko & Smart, 2018).

An intergenerational dementia choir can allow persons living with dementia to participate and contribute in meaningful ways to the broader community. Our research on intergenerational choirs indicates that they can significantly reduce the stigma of dementia and the social isolation. Choirs are inexpensive and common in most communities but a social movement is needed to make them dementia friendly.  Knowledge mobilization of our research findings will encourage stakeholders to explore ways to sustain and replicate our innovative intergenerational choir program.  

Co-leads: Liam Brunham  University of British Columbia  Fred Hazen St. Paul's Hospital

Team Members: Lubormira Cemakova BC FH Registry  Dr. Durhane Wong-Rieger Canadian Organization for Rare Diseases

Trainee: Dr. Miles Marchand University of British Columbia

Familial Hypercholesterol (also called FH) is the most common inherited form of high cholesterol, and affects 1 in 250 British Columbians. FH leads to lifelong elevation in blood cholesterol and up to 10-times increased risk for developing heart disease, which often occurs at a young age. Most patients with FH have not been diagnosed, and may not be receiving appropriate treatment.

Research into FH has advanced rapidly over the past several years, and we now know significantly more about the genetic causes of FH, how to diagnose it, and the best available treatments. Communicating and disseminating the results of this research to patients and their family members are critical to translate these research findings into improvements in care of these patients. The purpose of this proposal is to hold a patient forum on FH which will include lectures from physicians, nurses, dieticians, genetic counsellors and patients, as well as interactive small group sessions.

The goals of the forum are to disseminate research advances to patients with FH and empower patients to become advocates for the community with FH. With this funding we will be able to offer a number of travel grants to support patients from outside Vancouver to attend. 

Co-leads: Mario Brodani University of British Columbia  Kinnon Ross Providence Health Care

Trainee: Dr. Abiola Adeniyi Michael Siarkowski Maxine Harjani

Canadians suffering from drug addiction and mental illness experience higher rates of poor oral health than their counterparts. They may also experience stigma and discrimination by dental and dental hygiene providers while accessing much needed dental care services. There has been a call 'to teach cultural diversity' broadly within dental and dental hygiene education to foster practice that is inclusive, sensitive to diversity, socially responsible, and without prejudice.

The project team will:

1. Include those in the community affected by drug addiction and mental illness to co-develop an evidence-based undergraduate dental curriculum that will inform dental and dental hygiene practices within the University of British Columbia, and
2. Pilot this curriculum with the incoming class of 2020/21 undergraduate students to aid in skill-set development.

The team will co-develop an interactive curriculum based on a flipped classroom concept in a safe environment focused on educating oral heath care providers who are compassionate, fair, and socially responsible. The central research question is:  'How can we foster an interactive and open dialogue about social responsibility, in a transformative learning environment, when caring for those suffering from mental illness and/or addiction?'  

The above question is broad enough to be transferable to other health care disciplines and this new curriculum will be made available to them.  

Co-leads: Richard Sawatzky Trinity Western University Jae-Yung Kwon International Society for Quality of Life Research, University of British Columbia

Trainee: Ronak Brahmbhatt Trinity Western University

Patient reported outcomes (PROs), which allow patients to report on their physical and mental health and wellbeing, are increasingly used in clinical practice and decision making. However, patients may not be consistent in how they interpret and respond to these questions.

Differences in the meaning of PROs across individuals or over time are known as differential item functioning (DIF) and response shift (RS). Ignoring these differences could lead to erroneous healthcare decisions. Although there are statistical methods to adjust for DIF and RS, these are complex to interpret and apply. To address this, our team is developing resources on DIF and RS (introductory video, webinar, and analysis software code).

Building on this prior work, we now propose to facilitate wider uptake of knowledge for interpreting and analyzing PROs by developing a webinar that includes case studies and an online interactive learning module specifically for clinically-oriented audiences (clinicians and decision support analysts).

Expected outcomes include:

1. Increased awareness of DIF and RS and their implications for clinical practice and decision making, and
2. increased ability to analyze and interpret PROs data while accounting for DIF and RS. 

 

Co-leads: Martha MacKay University of British Columbia  Nardia Strydom Providence Health Care, Vancouver Coastal Health

Trainee: Rachel Neal Concordia University

Heart disease patients have twice the risk of having depression compared to others. This results in poor quality of life and higher rates of death and complications. Treatment for depression can reduce depression symptoms, improve quality of life, and may lessen poor outcomes.

A first step to treating depression is diagnosis. We have implemented pre-discharge depression screening on the cardiac inpatient units at St. Paul's Hospital. This information is then sent to their primary care provider (PCP). However, we are unsure of the best way to get this information to PCPs. We also believe there are barriers to PCPs helping cardiac patients with depression, such as low awareness of its association with bad cardiac outcomes, little time for screening and few community mental health resources. We propose a 4-phase approach to address these barriers.

To start, we will solicit input from some PCPs (from urban and rural settings) on ways to receive information about depression screening of recently hospitalized patients, and the barriers faced in helping depressed cardiac patients.

We will then develop resources for both patients and PCPs, such as an infographic (patients) and web-based resources on the 'Pathways'site (PCPs), followed by implementation of the PCP communication process and evaluation of the web-based resource usage.

Finally, we will introduce our screening protocol to nursing leaders at BC's large cardiac centres, to promote broad uptake of this practice.