This project aims to support community and patient partner engagement in the development of our rural clinical trials program. Clinical trials are an important aspect of medical research as they advance therapeutic options and improve health care outcomes. Unfortunately, most clinical trials are conducted in urban centres making results from the studies difficult to generalize in the rural setting. Additionally, people from rural communities face significant challenges when looking to participate in clinical trials. To promote equity in clinical trial access, and to create evidence to inform health care delivery in rural communities, our team is building a clinical trial program in the rural community of Cranbrook, B.C. We will develop tools, resources, and knowledge to share with other rural communities wanting to participate in clinical trials. We will work collaboratively with knowledge users such as rural patients, families, clinicians, decision makers, institutions (i.e., UBC and College of the Rockies), local Indigenous Peoples, and the Interior Health Authority to identify research priorities, guide clinical trial implementation, promote community engagement, and ensure the project is responsive to local community needs.
Year: 2024
Identifying research priorities relating to stimulant use in the context of the unregulated drug poisoning emergency in British Columbia
Stimulants (i.e. cocaine and methamphetamine) are increasingly detected in drug toxicity (i.e. overdose) deaths in BC. Our recent analyses reveal high rates of chronic disease among people who have died of stimulant and;or opioid overdose in BC. For example, we identified high rates of heart disease and mental illness among people who experienced stimulant overdose. These analyses suggest possible opportunities for intervention across the health system in chronic disease care, to reduce overdose risk.
At the Provincial Health Services Authority, a new data platform holds health records for emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and primary care visits for all BC residents. In the context of rising stimulant use in BC, and this new data source, there is an opportunity to use these data to fill knowledge gaps on stimulant use and overdose risk in BC.
We aim to address this knowledge gap by bringing together a group of people with lived and living experience of stimulant use to form a Peer Advisory Group. The group will advise on how these data can be used to investigate the intersections of chronic health conditions and overdose risk, with attention to the specific risks faced by people who use stimulants.
Mindfulness as Medicine: Co-Developing a Program of Research to Improve Physician Wellbeing Through a Meditation Community of Practice
Burnout and suffering in health professionals reached epidemic proportions during the COVID-19 pandemic: between 60-80% of Canadian physicians reported burnout in 2021 (up from 30% in 2018) and 47% met the criteria for depression, while 75% of nurses experienced burnout. Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to decrease burnout and increase resilience and meaning in health professionals. However, further evidence is needed around its long-term impact.
We seek to close this gap by bringing together a collaborative team to co-develop a program of research that investigates the effectiveness of an intensive mindfulness meditation retreat and subsequent community of practice as a therapeutic intervention to improve wellbeing in healthcare professionals.
With research users and trainees, we will develop a study protocol that uses quantitative and qualitative design and analysis (using narrative interviews and clinical surveys) to evaluate the effects of a 5 day retreat, with follow-up at 1, 6 and 12 months. We will work together to ensure our engagement and the research are equitable, accessible, and inclusive for diverse healthcare professionals, and will identify funding opportunities to move our collaboration forward.
Climate Readiness in British Columbia’s Long-term Care Home Sector
Healthcare is one of the largest industrial contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, and is responsible for 5.2% of national emissions. We are also increasingly aware of the health impacts of climate change, which disproportionately affect older adults. Long-term care homes (LTC) homes, where frail older adults requiring complex care receive round-the-clock nursing care, are a critical component of the healthcare continuum of services. Yet, in comparison to hospitals, the LTC home sector receives relatively little attention in climate policy or research. The purpose of this project is to (a) assess climate readiness of the LTC home sector in British Columbia and (b) identify priorities for research, policy and practice in this area. We will assess climate readiness by: (1) conducting a cross-sectional survey of LTC homes in British Columbia to collect information related to sustainability and climate readiness, and (2) have a sub-set of LTC homes complete the Long-term Care Scorecard developed by the Canadian Coalition for Green Healthcare. After gathering this information, we will hold a virtual summit to share the findings and develop climate readiness priorities for research, policy and practice.
Hungry Stories: Nourishing food insecurity research that connects dietitians, artists, public health practitioners and communities to co-develop research towards food insecurity solutions
Rates of food insecurity reached an all-time high in 2023, where over 21% of people in BC and almost 9 million Canadians, including 2.1 million children, now live without stable access to food. Our team has spent decades doing research that repeatedly finds that food insecurity is a symptom of poverty that must be addressed by better social policies. Health researchers (like us) naively thought that once we showed the evidence about the causes and solutions to food insecurity, it would change the hearts and minds of policy makers and the public. But research alone has not been enough. Our goal now is to bring together researchers, artists, health professionals and community members to come up with new ways to do research and evaluate its impact that includes making art, writing stories and testing research approaches that will get people talking about and sharing evidence about the causes of food insecurity and about what we can do to make sure no one ever goes hungry. This project will build new research skills among students, researchers and community partners, spark change in research approaches and bring communities and scholars together in new ways to better address the crisis of food insecurity in British Columbia.
Promoting sleep health for families in British Columbia foster and kinship care
Children in foster and kinship (i.e. cared for by a non-relative and a relative, respectively) families often experience health and developmental concerns. Sleep is essential for health and development, yet little is known about foster;kinship family sleep. The insights of the foster;kinship community are needed to develop sleep research (and a sleep resource) that is useful, meaningful, and relevant to foster;kinship families. We will bring together an Indigenous elder, foster;kinship caregivers, adults with childhood foster;kinship experiences, community organizations, healthcare professionals, and researchers to co-develop a sleep health research agenda and co-design a sleep resource blueprint to support foster;kinship family sleep health in British Columbia. We will offer foundational training to build our partnersâ (e.g. foster;kinship caregivers, adults who experienced childhood foster;kinship placements, graduate trainee) capacity and will hold seven virtual team engagement sessions. This project will result in a research agenda and tailored sleep resource that are relevant to the foster;kinship community, which will lead to increased uptake of future findings and ultimately better sleep health for foster;kinship families.
Engaging ethnocultural communities in health-promoting programs: the role of trust
There is a pressing need to find effective ways to promote health and well-being of ethnoculturally-diverse older adults. To do so, it is important to foster trust between researchers and ethnocultural communities; yet our understanding of how to do so is limited. Therefore, we propose to convene scholars from implementation science, ethno-gerontology and healthy aging; community partners that serve diverse groups of older adults; and older adults themselves to explore the idea of trust and how to foster trust between researchers and ethnocultural communities in Canada. Using a âCafĂ© Scientifiqueâ approach that encourages âdeepâ discussion these groups will get together to: i. explore the role of trust in health-promoting programs for older adults from ethnocultural communities and identify effective approaches that foster trust; ii. co-create a âTrusted Partnership Roadmapâ with guidelines for research and practice, that identifies culturally appropriate trust-building strategies, and iii. plan for a CIHR Project Grant in cultural adaptation of Choose to Move-an effective health-promoting program for older adults.
Prioritizing Steps to address oncofertility and supportive care needs with young adults identifying as men in BC
The purpose of this project is to work together with a group of young adults with cancer who identify as men in BC to better understand their experiences seeking support for cancer related infertility and achieving other life-stage specific milestones. In a recent review of research exploring reproductive concerns in cancer survivors, Dong et al. (2023), highlights that studies focus on women cancer patients, with relatively less attention given to those who identify as men, including those who are racialized and those who identify as trans-gender men, creating a lack of support for them when confronting the risk of cancer-related infertility and other life-stage specific challenges. Guided by participatory action and patient-oriented research, we will host two workshops over 12 months, one virtual and the other in-person, with young men (ages 15-39). Our aim: understanding their views on fertility;infertility, support-seeking experiences, and co-establishing a research agenda;communication strategy to challenge cultural and gender stereotypes in oncofertility and supportive care and enhance engagement of men in research and the co-development of programming.
Examining unregulated drug use among construction workers in the South Asian diaspora
Amidst the ongoing toxic drug overdose public health emergency, it is urgent to understand how to better support South Asian people who use drugs. Although race and ethnicity-based data is not collected by the BC Coroner service for toxic drug fatalities, a review of medical charts from 2015 to 2018 by the Fraser Health Authority found that fatal overdoses disproportionately rose among South Asian people compared to non-South Asians. The current proposal is in collaboration with the Surrey Union of Drug Users, a peer-led community-based organization that has raised concerns about the lack of supports for South Asian people. We seek to bring together South Asian people who use drugs with research users and researchers for a series of workshops, facilitated in Punjabi, to co-design a culturally meaningful and language-accessible research agenda and questionnaire. If successful, the proposed activities will enhance the quality of our research tools and provide insight on priorities for this population, ultimately leading to more relevant and culturally sensitive research findings and improved care for one of the fastest growing populations in Canada.
Building Relationships and a Reciprocal Research Agenda for the Unlearning & Undoing White Supremacy and Indigenous Specific Racism Lab for Population and Public Health in BC
First Nations, MĂ©tis, and Inuit Peoples have a right to health. BC laws affirm this right. Settler health systems have not yet fulfilled our obligations. Evidence is clear that Indigenous-specific racism persists across BCâs health system.
But how can we change what we are doing to uphold Indigenous rights and eradicate Indigenous-specific racism? This is the question we get most from our colleagues in population and public health.
Getting at the âhowâ is the focus of a newly created âUnlearning & Undoing White Supremacy and Indigenous-Specific Racism Lab.â
The U&U Lab brings together 3 provincial population and public health organizations: BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer, the BC CDC, and Provincial Health Services Authority-Indigenous Health.
To start our work in a good way, we need to come together to:
1. Undertake territorial protocols with Coast Salish Nations
2. Build relationships
3. Map our vision, grounding principles, and research agenda for the next 5 years
We will host a meeting bringing together representatives from Coast Salish Nations, Indigenous health thought leaders, and settler population and public health leaders to set vision, grounding principles, and research agenda for the U&U Lab.