1. health and fitness

GENDER & HEALTH RROMOTION STUDIES UNIT (GAHPS UNIT)
RECENTLY FUNDED HEALTH RESEARCH & KTE GRANTS (2015)
SAVE THE DATE
1. Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (NSHRF): Knowledge Sharing Support Award
(March 2015-February 2016)
“Developing Culturally Competent Primary Health Assessment Approaches for LGBTQ
Populations in Nova Scotia”
Jacqueline Gahagan (PI), Brenda Merritt, Cybelle Rieber, Maria MacIntosh, Brian
Condran, Matthew Numer & Sarah Peddle
In keeping with the objectives of the NSHRF KSSA, our event is aimed at sharing research
knowledge on approaches to LGBTQ primary health assessments with partners in government,
public health, health researchers and the LGBTQ communities. This KSSA grant will help us to
develop Nova Scotia-specific, culturally competent primary health measurement approaches and
assessment tools that can be used to determine, for example, health access, health equity and
health service utilization, in addition to self-assessments of health status among LGBTQ
populations.
DATE: JUNE 11, 2015 LOCATION: DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY, HALIFAX, NS
2.Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research:
Patient Engagement-Collaboration Grant [In partnership with the Nova Scotia Health
Research Foundation] (March 2015-February 2016)
“The Importance of Patient Engagement and Collaboration in Improving LGBTQ Health in
Nova Scotia”
Jacqueline Gahagan (PI), Brenda Merritt, Matthew Numer, John O’Keefe & Cybelle
Rieber
The purpose of this CIHR Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Patient EngagementCollaboration grant is to: 1) collaborate with LGBTQ populations, health care providers, policy
decision-makers, health researchers and other relevant stakeholders across Nova Scotia to foster
health research that focuses on priorities and outcomes that are important to LGBTQ patients,
and, 2) use this evidence base to help inform LGBTQ culturally competent health policies,
practices, and standards for Nova Scotia.
The overarching rationale for this proposed grant is to address current gaps in knowledge in
order to improve the quality of health care for LGBTQ populations in Nova Scotia. Specifically,
this grant will allow us to share the findings of our research conducted to date on LGBTQ health
with a wide range of stakeholders and from there, determine strategic provincial directions on
improving pathways to primary health among LGBTQ populations.
Our goal in conducting this work and sharing the findings is to develop sustainable
collaborations with diverse stakeholders to set priorities for future research on improving patientoriented LGBTQ health care in Nova Scotia and to work together to produce and implement
solutions to advance pathways to primary health.
Specifically, we will:
1. Identify and involve citizens and patients in methods that promote consensus-building for
research priority setting and embedded knowledge translation. We propose to do this by hosting
the first provincial LGBTQ Patient-Oriented Health Research Conference.
2. Design an engagement plan to advance LGBTQ health in Nova Scotia based on the
proceedings emerging from the proposed conference and the findings of our research on LGBTQ
pathways to health in Nova Scotia;
3. Design additional LGBTQ patient engagement methods to overcome barriers among rural and
remote residents in Nova Scotia;
4. Develop LGBTQ patient engagement research roles within the research team;
5. Develop educational materials to prepare LGBTQ patients and others for their involvement in
the project; and
6. Develop peer-reviewed publications for open-access health services and health policy
journals.
DATE: JUNE 9 & 10, 2015 LOCATION: DALHOUSIE UNIVERSTY, HALIFAX, NS
3.Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grant: HIV / AIDS Community
Based Research (March 2015-February 2016)
“Community Preparedness in the Context of HIV Point of Care Testing in non-urban settings”
Jacqueline Gahagan (PI), Deborah Warren, Shabnam Asghari, John Kim, Frank Atherton,
Holly D’Angelo-Scott, Deborah Kelly, Lois Jackson, Zack Marshall, Gina Ogilvie, Brent
Oliver, Nitika Pai, Michael Schwandt, Michelle Swab, and Marc Steben
Following the key principles of community-based research (CBR), the aim of this Catalyst Grant
is to determine community preparedness for new testing innovations such as HIV POCT in rural
areas of Canada, starting with the Atlantic Provinces (PEI, NS, NB, NL). Access to HIV testing
and knowing one’s HIV status are important health promotion tools and yet many communities,
particularly rural communities, do not have access (Aral & Cates, 2012). Our CBR approach to
determining community preparedness will be accomplished through the hosting of a national
POCT consensus building workshop in June 2015 with stakeholders from community, public
health, and research sectors with experience and interest in HIV POCT. The findings of our
POCT scoping review, which is currently underway, will be used to develop the draft community
preparedness themes to be discussed at the CBR POCT consensus workshop.
The overall rationale for this Catalyst Grant is to determine community preparedness for HIV
POCT as well as other STBBIs, to develop a POCT community ownership and preparedness
model (Thomas et al., 2012) with particular consideration given to issues of rurality (Hart et al.
2005). Drawing from both the determinants of health (Raphael, 2009) and the social ecological
model of preparedness (Latkin & Knowlton, 2005) which take into consideration the complex
interplay between individual, relationship, community and broader societal factors in shaping
health, this Catalyst Grant will explore the community preparedness for the introduction of
POCT for HIV and STBBI testing innovation and models of implementation.
This work will be grounded in both the principles of community-based research and health
equity in addressing current gaps in our understanding of the complexity of both testing access
and testing uptake issues. Although a variety of conceptual models ranging from cognitivebehavioural to structural in focus can be used to provide a framework for understanding the
intersecting influences that can facilitate or prevent the uptake of testing, we believe that a social
ecological model offers an important framing to inform intervention development,
implementation and evaluation from the individual level through to public policy level (Baral,
Logie, Grosso, Wirtz, & Beyrer, 2013; Golden & Earl, 2012).
DATE: JUNE 19, 2015 LOCATION: MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY,
HALIFAX, NS
4.Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Planning and Dissemination Grant:
Institute Community Support (February 2015 – January 2016)
“Mobilizing Information, Preventing Infection”
Jacqueline Gahagan (PI), Michelle Proctor-Simms, Margaret Dykeman, Carla Densmore,
Anik Dube, Greg Harris, Lois Jackson, Michael Liddell, Jo-Ann MacDonald, Cindy
MacIssac, and Zack Marshall
The overarching purpose of this CIHR Planning and Dissemination Grant is to mobilize and
disseminate the key findings of the three-year study Our Youth, Our Response (OYOR)
aimed at informing the next generation of youth-oriented HIV/HCV prevention policies and
programs. While the OYOR research team has identified opportunities and strategies over
the course of the study to connect with key stakeholders, there is an urgent need to
disseminate our data to strengthen evidence-based, youth-oriented HIV and HCV
prevention policy and programmatic responses throughout Atlantic Canada. As such, the
key findings will be made available and accessible to a wide variety of HIV/HCV prevention
stakeholders.
Specifically, we will:
1. Support the translation of the key OYOR findings into sector-specific messages that
will speak to the needs of youth and HIV/HCV prevention by engaging a diverse
group of government, public health, community and research stakeholders in an
interactive knowledge translation and exchange workshop;
2. Initiate dissemination of the key messages by summarizing them into a series of
policy briefs/fact sheets that will be shared with regional and national partners
through HIV/HCV prevention and/or youth-service oriented networks;
3. Promote national information dissemination and mobilization of sector-specific
messages by two interactive webinars that will share the key messages with
HIV/HCV stakeholders in other resource-constrained regions of Canada; and
4. Develop an intervention research focused funding proposal to create and evaluate
effective HIV/HCV prevention interventions aimed at youth.
DATE: APRIL 20, 2015 LOCATION: PENTHOUSE, NORTHWOOD MANOR,
HALIFAX, NS
For more information regarding the above grants and how to engage with these
various knowledge translation and exchange opportunities, please contact the
principal investigator, Dr. Jacqueline Gahagan, Professor and Head of the Health
Promotion Division, and Director of the Gender and Health Promotion Studies
Unit (GAHPS Unit) at [email protected] or 902.494.11555