Congratulations to The Michael Smith Health Research BC recipients, announced November 27, 2024.
November 27, 2024
Recipients for the Convening and Collaborating (C2) program are Dr. Jennifer Baumbusch, Dr. Vicky Bungay, Catherine Liao (PhD Student), Dr. Lillian Hung, and Dr. Scott Ramsay. Reach awardees include Dr. Helen Brown, Dr. Fuchsia Howard, Dr. Sandra Lauck and Dr. Leah Lambert.
Reach Award Recipients
Helen Brown et al | Pacific Public Health Foundation
Art for connection and wellbeing: Integrated Knowledge Translation to support health literacy with and for men in prison in BC.
Our team, co-led by incarcerated Research Users, will strengthen, expand and finalize arts-based and trauma-informed health literacy content, in partnership with BC Researchers working to address overlapping public health emergencies that disproportionately impact people in prison and parole. Building on previously created digital literacy and art creation and inspiration content, our team will host two Health Fairs – an initial event in the community will welcome BC Health Researchers and trainees, and criminalized Researcher User-artists who will provide feedback and expert guidance on the accessibility and acceptability of presented public health information. Resulting knowledge will be captured using arts-based methods, and outputs will be uploaded onto Tablets and shared in a prison. A final Health Fair will be hosted in the prison, providing opportunities for health Researchers, Trainees and Research Users to strengthen shared understandings of prison health and public health emergency priorities, and empower health advocacy with and for people in prison. The Tablets will be left in the prison, and feedback mechanisms built into the software will support ongoing learning, reciprocal benefit and public health advocacy.
A. Fuchsia Howard and Jessica Sutherland
Women’s Insights Shared and Empowered (WISE): Amplifying the Voices of Asian Women with Endometriosis
Endometriosis affects approximately 2 million people in Canada. Despite the high prevalence of this condition, a lack of awareness, normalization of painful and debilitating symptoms, and ongoing medical discrimination remain. Racialized communities, including Asian populations, face additional barriers to diagnosis and care. Asian individuals, compared to their White counterparts are more likely to have their endometriosis-related pain dismissed by healthcare providers and have a higher burden of disease before referral. We aim to share findings from our EndoPhoto research, utilizing images, text, and narratives from East, South, and Southeast Asian individuals to depict their experiences with endometriosis before, during, and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. Our research highlights mental health challenges, the complex symptom burden, healthcare access barriers, and coping strategies employed for self-care and seeking support. We plan to (1) develop an interactive website to showcase the EndoPhoto study findings, and (2) share the website via a social media campaign. Sharing this research will address a significant gap in knowledge around endometriosis experiences generally, and for Asian individuals specifically.
Sandra Lauck and Leah Lambert | BC Cancer
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 “BC CNS Workforce Toolkit” 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.
C2 Award Recipients
Jennifer Baumbusch and Lara Croll
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.
Vicky Bungay and Denise Gagnon
Enhancing Well-Being in the North: Co-Developing a Community-Based Participatory Action Research Strategy to support mental health & redress health inequities with precariously housed people in BC
This grant will support research planning with community health and social service providers and men, women and gender diverse people living at the margins of poverty, precarious housing and poor mental health in rural and remote northern BC. We will build relationships with both provider and people with lived experience (Research Users) through World Cafés, and the inclusion of Research Users in all activities. Guided by community-based, participatory approaches, we will: (i) conduct a literature synthesis on mental health promotion and housing strategies with a focus on remote communities; (ii) conduct a synthesis of recent community-led consultations with Research Users on the strengths and challenges of mental health care and housing support in their region; (iii) undertake 2 inclusive World Cafés with Research Users to share outcomes of the literature synthesis and consultations and generate key research priorities necessary to support optimal mental health and housing security. Collaboratively, we will plan and develop a CIHR grant application to support subsequent research to co-develop an intervention that simultaneously enhances mental health care and housing security for people precariously housed in rural and remote BC.
Dzifa Dordunoo and Catherine Liao | BC Nurses' Union
Creating a roadmap for critical care nursing retention
Nurses specializing in critical care handle the most severe cases in hospitals. Typically, they undergo additional training beyond their initial four-year nursing education to work in intensive care units (ICUs). During the COVID-19 pandemic, shortage of ICU-trained nurses led to non-ICU-trained nurses having to care for these patients. Anecdotal evidence suggests following the pandemic, many ICU-nurses have resigned because they experienced significant moral distress due to feeling unprepared to provide safe and ethical care. This has worsened the shortage of ICU-trained nurses particularly at Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
The federal Chief Nursing Officer released a toolkit on nursing retention, but its recommendations are broad, thus tailoring to suit specific practice environments is needed. We propose this convening and collaborating grant to bring together ICU-trained nurses and managers to brainstorm strategies tailored to retain ICU-trained nurses. We will develop an evidence-informed, nurse centred implementation research roadmap to support the recruitment and retention of ICU-trained nurses within Fraser Health, with a specific focus on Abbotsford Hospital due to its rural location and unique challenges.
Lillian Hung and Grace Park | Fraser Health Authority
Empowering Integrated Care for Healthy Aging: Co-developing a Collaborative Plan with South Asian and Chinese Communities for Inclusion and Equity
In 2021, 20.3% of BC's population was 65 and older. Our older population is expected to grow to 25% in 2041 – a super-aged society. An integrated and inclusive care approach is needed for diverse and complex needs of older people to promote healthy aging for all. Fraser Health has implemented two regional initiatives to support healthy aging: social prescribing and the frailty pathway. Meanwhile, half of the population in the Fraser Health region are visible minorities, and 60% of the population are South Asian and Chinese. To ensure a culturally inclusive integrated care model, this project will bring health practitioners, community partners, policymakers, South Asian and Chinese older adults, and families together to discuss research priorities that can empower communities and increase health system capacity. Utilizing Appreciative Inquiry and WHO’s Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) methodology, we will co-plan two citizen workshops to build shared visions and collaborations across sectors. Collectively, all partners will identify strengths, potentials, and actionable strategies to enable research collaborations for an inclusive integrated model of senior care.
Scott Ramsay and Whitney MacRae
Modernizing brain injury services in British Columbia: Developing research priorities for children, youth, and young adults
Acquired brain injury is a pressing and under addressed issue in Canada, especially in children and youth. These brain injuries can lead to an array of health outcomes, including issues with physical, cognitive, mental, and emotional health. Given the vast impacts of brain injury, children and youth access services in a variety of settings, including acute care, rehabilitation, and community settings. Despite the extensive personal and societal burden of a pediatric brain injury, research relevant to children, youth, and those transitioning to adulthood is limited across hospital, rehabilitation, and community services for these groups during their injury. This proposed multisectoral engagement project brings together researchers, clinicians, community organizations, not-for-profit groups, and partners with lived experienced in acquired brain. These individuals interact with acquired brain injury in acute care, rehabilitation, and community settings. This project will identify key research priorities on health and care services for children, youth, and those transitioning to adult services with acquired brain injury in B.C.
