Faculty of Health Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ professor and postdoc present big data research at Parliament Hill

muellerm — Tue, 31 May 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Faculty of Science mathematics Professor Jianhong Wu and Postdoctoral Fellow Yawen Xu were invited to participate in the Research Matters Parliament Hill Pop-Up Research Park, which took place May 18.

Professor Jianhong Wu explains his research to visitors attending the Research Matters event in Ottawa

Wu and Xu presented research from a collaborative project led by several scientists at 91��ɫ. In addition to Wu and Xu, the project involves Professors Aijun An in the Lassonde School of Engineering, Paul Ritvo in the Faculty of Health, and Peter Tsasis in the Faculties of Health and Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. The research was conducted in collaboration with Manifold Data Mining Inc. and several hospitals.

The project explores the Canadian Community Health Survey to identify statistically significant variables that influence the classification of an individual’s current health status and sentiment. The team will use these variables to build predictive models for informing behaviour changes that can lead to management of chronic diseases, improved wellness and quality of life. The project aims to advance both population and individualized healthcare in Canada.

“The purpose of the Pop-Up Research Park, organized by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), was to provide MPs, political staff, and senior government officials an opportunity to engage with Ontario university research teams and learn more about how their research is impacting Ontarians,” said Celia Haig Brown, associate vice-president research at 91��ɫ. “It was a great opportunity to showcase 91��ɫ’s leading role in working with industrial and hospital partners to mine big health data to inform healthy living.”

“COU provided a good platform to demonstrate the important role of data science in the integration of information and knowledge gained through research funded by the tri-councils to inform policy and action,” said Wu. “I was excited to be a part of sharing data scientists’ perspectives and progress at the Hill.”

Wu is the Canada Research Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics (Tier 1) and the director of the Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Xu is a postdoctoral fellow in statistics jointly supervised An, Wu, and Zhen Mei at Manifold Data Mining Inc. She is funded by an NSERC Collaborative Research Development grant and by BRAIN.

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Professor Laurence Harris wins the President's Research Excellence Award

muellerm — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 10:00:00 +0000

Laurence Harris

Laurence Harris, professor of psychology in the Faculty of Health, has been named the recipient of a 2014 President’s Research Excellence Award for his outstanding contributions to multi-sensory research and to 91��ɫ’s research community.

“Professor Harris is a tremendous credit to 91��ɫ and as such is a highly deserving recipient of this year’s Research Excellence Award,” said President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “Throughout his distinguished career at the University, he has demonstrated consistently strong leadership in research and academic excellence, as well as mentorship and student success. One of Canada’s best-known vision scientists, his pioneering research contributions have had far-reaching impact locally, nationally and internationally, and have significantly enriched research life at 91��ɫ and enhanced our reputation as a leading research-intensive university.”

“I am honoured to be the recipient of the 2014 President's Research Excellence Award,” said Harris, who is also the director of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Vision Research, an Organized Research Unit at the University. “The award acknowledges my research and that of my students, and recognizes my contributions to breaking down the artificial barriers that have historically been erected between the senses. The award emphasizes the respect and significance that 91��ɫ attaches to research.”

Introduced four years ago coinciding with 91��ɫ’s 50th anniversary, the award recognizes established, full-time, active faculty members with outstanding research achievement and significant contributions to advance the University’s international reputation for research excellence. It will be presented at the 91��ɫ U Research Leaders event, held on Tuesday, Feb. 25, in recognition of student and faculty research success and to celebrate 91��ɫ’s 2013-14 research achievements.

The Senate Committee on Awards selected Harris from eight nominees to receive this year’s award — a $10,000 internal research grant — for his many achievements as an internationally renowned scholar who has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of multi-sensory research.

Harris, who recently led a $1.9-million project funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to investigate the role of peripheral vision in balance and self-motion to help reduce the risk of falling in at-risk populations, has published more than 20 book chapters. His work has been published in some 100 peer-reviewed papers, including journals such as Nature, Science and PNAS. A past chair of the Department of Psychology, Harris has also been a dedicated teacher, mentor and citizen of the University.

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Researchers find brain's default network shrinks in healthy aging and dementia

muellerm — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 08:00:00 +0000

Researchers at 91��ɫ and Cornell University have found the brain’s default network, a collection of brain regions thought to be involved in cognitive functions such as memory, declines in volume with both normal aging and in Alzheimer’s disease.

These new findings suggest that structural changes in this collection of brain regions may be critical to Alzheimer’s disease onset and this could eventually lead to patients being diagnosed earlier.

“The default network was a vulnerable area and it was more vulnerable in those who would go on to develop the disease,” says 91��ɫ psychology Professor Gary Turner of the Cognitive Aging Neuroscience and Neurointervention Lab in the Faculty of Health.

The network of brain regions highlighted in red and yellow show atrophy in both healthy aging and neurodegenerative disease. These regions are susceptible to normal aging and dementia

Turner and Cornell University Professor , the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow and director of the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at Cornell, found that the brain’s grey matter in the default network shrinks with normal aging across the lifespan, but it does so much more sharply in those who go on to develop dementia, as well as those with a genetic predisposition for the disease. These changes were also associated with declines in general cognitive ability.

“Our data suggest that these structural brain changes may be detectable many years before behavioral signs appear,” says Turner. This could allow for much earlier interventions for Alzheimer’s disease than is currently possible. Their paper, “”, was published this month online and in-print in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Turner and Spreng, co-principal investigators, measured brain volume using the brain images of 848 people, from age 18 to 94, to determine the role of the default network in neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s. They were able to analyze data collected as part of the Open Access Series of Imaging Studies, which provided a cross-sectional data set, and the longitudinal Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which looked at the same people multiple times over several years. By combining these two large datasets, the authors were able to measure brain changes from young to older adulthood and from healthy aging to neurodegenerative disease.

Gary Turner

“What we were really interested in doing with this work was looking at how the brain is altered across the lifespan,” says Turner. “The default network is already known to be implicated in Alzheimer’s disease[…]but we believe this is one of the first reports demonstrating these structural network changes across the lifespan from young to older adulthood and into Alzheimer’s disease. And we were able to look at changes simultaneously across the whole default network.”

Core areas of the network include the posterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, the medial temporal lobes and the lateral parietal cortex.

They also found that these declines in brain volume were greater in the cohort who carried the APOE4 gene, a genetic marker for potentially developing Alzheimer’s disease, and those with cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer’s. This shows that structural changes in the default network may be associated with genetic risk of the disease.

“These results help us to better understand the pattern of brain change that occurs across the lifespan and into neurodegenerative disease,” says Turner, who received a two-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant of $85,000 to complete the project. “While not a central focus of this study, we hope that with further exploration these findings may, over time, help to inform diagnostic and prognostic decision-making in the clinic.”

In the future, Turner said this research could lay the groundwork for a new series of studies leading to better biomarkers for the disease. “Certainly, these findings highlight the importance of this network as a constellation of brain regions that warrants further study in terms of early identification of the disease.”

The focus of Turner’s research, he says, is to translate these cognitive neuroscience research findings into rehabilitation interventions to enhance cognitive functioning in healthy aging and acquired brain injury and slow the trajectory of cognitive decline in brain disease.

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Regular exercise leads to better energy distribution in muscle

muellerm — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 08:00:00 +0000

Looking to boost energy levels and stave off degeneration of aging muscle? Add workouts to your daily routine to become more energetic and perform day-to-day activities better, say 91��ɫ muscle health researchers.

“Our recent study shows that exercise leads to expansion of the mitochondrial network and, as a result, energy is distributed to muscle in a more effective manner,” says Professor David Hood from the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health.

David Hood

On the other hand, the research shows that mitochondria become smaller or more fragmented when the muscle is not used – due to aging, for example – which leads to cellular damage and degeneration of muscle cells.

The study, “Expression of Mitochondrial Fission and Fusion Regulation Proteins in Skeletal Muscle During Chronic Use and Disuse”, assesses the effects of aging on mitochondrial morphology and has been accepted for publication by the peer-reviewed journal Muscle and Nerve.

Led by Hood, director of the Muscle Health Research Centre at 91��ɫ, the study was conducted by his graduate students Sobia Iqbal, Olga Ostojic, Kaustabh Singh and Anna-Maria Joseph.

The findings indicate that the proteins involved in maintaining the size and shape of mitochondria are also regulated by exercise, or lack thereof. According to the researchers, this can have important implications for energy production in muscle, the benefits of exercise and the consequences of chronic inactivity on our health.

The research received support from a Natural Science & Engineering Research Council of Canada grant.

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Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Institute explores research from lab to community

muellerm — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 08:00:00 +0000

From the lab to community-based research is the theme of the second Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Institute at 91��ɫ.

The one-day institute, organized by Echo’s Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research in partnership with the Faculty of Health, will take place Friday, Sept. 27, from 9am to 4pm, at 280N 91��ɫ Lanes, Keele campus. Lunch will be provided. RSVP to owhchair@yorku.ca by Sept. 13.

The keynote address will be delivered by the inaugural Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Postdoctoral Fellow Chang Su, looking at the effects of life stress, social support and cultural norms on parenting styles among mainland Chinese, European-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian immigrant mothers.

The day will also feature four researchers in the field of maternal-child health and several student poster presenters, as a chance for students, faculty and community members to share and learn.

Professor Deborah Davidson of the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional studies will discuss familial and professional support during pregnancy and early motherhood for women with pre-existing diabetes. She will give a preliminary analysis of a view from the professionals in England and Canada.

Professor Nazilla Khanlou, the Echo Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research and academic lead of the Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Health Scholars Program, of the School of Nursing in the Faculty of Health, will talk about social support for immigrant mothers of children with disabilities.

Professor Tsorng-Yeh Lee of the School of Nursing will examine Chinese women’s experiences with maternity health-care services in Canada.

Professor Rebecca Pillai Riddell of the Department of Psychology will ask the question: Can pain tell us more? She will also look into understanding the relationship between early childhood mental health and parent-child immunization behaviours.

The student presenters include:

Bramilee Dhayanandhan (PhD candidate);
Michael Miceli (PhD candidate);
Jennifer Noseworthy (RN, MScN);
Monica O’Neill (masters candidate); and
Nicole Racine (PhD candidate).

For more information, visit the Echo’s Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research website.

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Psychology prof co-lead in $1.8 million government funded program

muellerm — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ psychology Professor Jonathan Weiss is one of the co-leads in a research program that was recently awarded $1.8 million over three years from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Health System Research Fund.

The program, Health Care Access Research in Developmental Disabilities (H-CARDD), aims to enhance the overall health and wellbeing of individuals with developmental disabilities through improved health-care policy and services.

H-CARDD is directed by Yona Lunsky from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and the University of Toronto. Weiss, the Chair in Autism Spectrum Disorders Treatment and Care Research in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health, is a member of the program’s core team, which includes scientists, clinicians and policymakers from across Ontario.

Jonathan Weiss

Individuals with developmental disabilities are one of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations when it comes to accessing healthcare. The goal of H-CARDD is to reduce disparities in health outcomes of Ontarians with developmental disabilities.

Four vulnerable subgroups will be examined over the next three years. The four subgroups are as follows:

Aging Adults with co-leads Lynn Martin of Lakehead University and Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz of Queen's University
Women with co-leads Virginie Cobigo of the University of Ottawa and Simone Vigod of Women’s College Hospital.
Youth Transitioning to Adult Services with Weiss and Barry Isaacs of Surrey Place Centre
Individuals with “Dual Diagnosis” with Rob Balogh of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Elizabeth Lin of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Researchers already know that youth with developmental disabilities visit emergency rooms more often than others and have higher rates of psychiatric hospitalization than youth without disabilities. What is needed is more research at the individual and system level on the factors that lead to these high rates and that is what Weiss and Isaacs will be doing.

Young people with developmental disabilities have difficulty in transitioning into adult health care services. For those who need mental health services, it is even more difficult especially with an already difficult to navigate health-care system. That can lead to a worsening of issues.

“Understanding patterns of service use as adolescents with developmental disabilities transition into adulthood can help us to identify barriers and gaps in the health service system,” says Weiss. “Doing so can lead to improved primary care and addressing problems before they become severe.”

H-CARDD’s program of research will provide new information that profiles vulnerable developmental disability subgroups and will translate research into action by facilitating the uptake of evidence-based practices in primary and emergency care.

H-CARDD’s partners include the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Surrey Place Centre, the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, 91��ɫ, Lakehead University, Sunnybrook Hospital, and Women’s College Hospital.

For more information about the H-CARDD program, contact Julie Klein-Geltink, H-CARDD manager, at julie.kleingeltink@camh.ca.

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Donation will help fund research into dancing and Parkinson's disease

muellerm — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ neuroscience Professor Joseph DeSouza of the Faculty of Health received a $20,000 donation last week to support his research looking into brain activity in dance and its therapeutic applications for people suffering with Parkinson’s disease.

Peter Cipriano, president and representative of the Irpinia Club, was at 91��ɫ to present the cheque Thursday. Cipriano has donated time and energy to various healthcare ventures over the years, including Humber River Regional Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital, Princess Margaret and Sunnybrook Hospitals, the Canadian Cancer Society and the United Way.

From left, Peter Cipriano of the Irpinia Club hands 91��ɫ Professor Joseph DeSouza a cheque for $20,000 for his research

“It feels fabulous to get early support for our project,” said DeSouza, who conducts research out of his in 91��ɫ's Sherman Health Science Research Centre. “It will really help this research get off the ground.”

DeSouza and National Ballet dance instructor Rachel Bar will expand their research to study the neuromechanisms of dance, rhythm and beat of music, and their potential therapeutic benefits to Parkinson's patients. Parkinson’s is a disease of the central nervous system that limits the motor capabilities of patients. They will monitor and record changes in brain patterns of dancers with the ultimate goal of figuring out a therapy to help Parkinson’s patients improve their mobility.

"There is anecdotal evidence that improvement in motor function may be achieved, and if we can prove this through scientific research, it could mean a great deal to the quality of life of those coping with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers," said DeSouza.

Preliminary data, conducted by , showed increased supplementary motor area (SMA) activation in the brains of dancers after listening to music they are practicing and performing dances to, compared to control dancers that are not learning the dance. The researchers are interested in how the brain is overcoming motor difficulties during diseased brain states like Parkinson's disease, and how dance therapy for Parkinson's disease can help these patients can move more.

The sensorimotor regions of the brian activated when subjects visualized dancing to music

Using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to determine the learning process, the research team hopes to determine the neural mechanisms that occur between listening to music, learning the dance and eventually the dance becoming an automatic association for the brain – the pre-learning brain and the post-learning brain.

National Ballet dancers were scanned for short periods of time in an fMRI machine before, during and after learning routines to measure the blood flow to different areas of their brain to determine how different areas respond to learning movements. Researchers monitored the neural circuits (medial frontal areas – SMA) that focus on the sequencing of movements. By looking at these highly trained areas of the brain in professional dancers, they hope to conduct further research to figure out therapies for patients that will allow Parkinson’s patients to learn new movements.

Peter Cipriano takes a turn in the fMRI

Working in partnership with scientists at McMaster and Western University, the team will train National Ballet dancers to lead dance and movement classes for Parkinson's patients.

"We are extremely grateful for the support of the Irpinia Club and its members," said DeSouza.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Seniors fare better in acute geriatric care units with function-focused approach

muellerm — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

A study led by 91��ɫ researchers has found seniors fare better – have fewer falls, less functional decline at discharge and shorter stays – in acute geriatric care units where staff have a function-focused approach to care.

The purpose of the research was to determine the effectiveness of care for seniors in the acute phase of illness or injury admitted to acute geriatric units compared to seniors not admitted to these specialized centres.

“It is the first study to quantify the effectiveness of an innovative function-focused approach to older adults' acute hospital care,” says 91��ɫ Professor Mary Fox of the graduate program in nursing in 91��ɫ's School of Nursing, Faculty of Health. She is the first author of the article, “”, published online Friday in the . It will also be published in an upcoming print version of the journal.

Mary Fox

As the principal investigator of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded study, Fox conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 trials involving 6,839 acutely ill or injured octogenarians. Acute geriatric units are those with at least one Acute Care for Elders (ACE) component, either patient-centred care, frequent medical review, early rehabilitation, early discharge planning or prepared environment. The goal of ACE components is to prevent hospital-acquired complications and functional deterioration associated with common hospital medications, treatments and procedures for older adults.

The researchers also found that seniors admitted to acute geriatric units had less delirium and were more likely to be discharged home as opposed to a nursing facility.

“It demonstrated that this approach has significant beneficial effects in improving both patient- and system-level outcomes over usual care,” says Fox. “Hospital administrators may anticipate cost savings of approximately $246 per person, per length of hospital stay (in US dollars, standardized to year 2000) and a reduced length of hospital stay by more than half a day, when compared to usual care.”

Seniors aged 65 and older are considered the “core business” of hospitals. They account for 40 per cent of all hospital care days even though they comprise only 14 per cent of the Canadian population.

“As older adults account for 50 per cent of Canadian hospital expenditures,” says Fox, "this cost difference may represent a significant future source of financial saving to Canada's health-care system while improving patient outcomes.”

It is known that older adults face a higher risk of functional decline, falls, pressure ulcers and delirium when hospitalized, which is associated with increased hospital costs, institutionalization and death. “These poor outcomes are more often not related to their illness, but to other things, like not getting up and walking around while in the hospital or receiving treatments, such as drugs and catheters that make it difficult to move around. There are things that fall through the cracks,” says Fox. Early intervention is crucial in helping to circumvent these risks.

The goal is to develop senior-friendly hospitals by informing and engaging decision makers – clinicians, hospital administrators, policymakers and funders – about the best interventions to prevent physical, cognitive and psychosocial functional decline. Acute geriatric care units would not only save hospitals money, but provide the most beneficial care for seniors.

91��ɫ nursing Professors Malini Persaud, Deborah Tregunno and Ellen Schraa, along with 91��ɫ librarian IIo-Katryn Maimets, were co-authors of the study, which included a team of researchers from 91��ɫ, Ryerson University and the University of Toronto.

The study was also supported by a 91��ɫ Faculty of Health Junior Faculty award.

By Sandra McLean, YFile deputy editor

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Talk looks at filling in puzzle of social justice framework for health

muellerm — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ nursing Professor Sannie Tang will talk about a social justice framework for critical health research at the next Women’s Mental Health and Well-Being Speakers Series.

The talk, “Filling in the Puzzle of a Social Justice Framework for Critical Health Research: Lessons Learned from Iris Young and Paulo Freire,” will take place Tuesday, Nov. 20, from noon to 1pm, at 280N 91��ɫ Lanes. Lunch will be served.

As an immigrant woman of color who sometimes is still reminded that she speaks English “with an accent,” Tang is interested in issues that concern access to health and healthcare for racialized social groups, including how race and racism operate to reproduce social and health/healthcare inequities in the everyday.

Moreover, Tang of 91��ɫ’s School of Nursing in the Faculty of Health feels a commitment to participate in the larger project of social justice in her capacity as a critical health researcher and nurse educator. Her most recent research is a qualitative study that examines how social justice education is perceived and implemented in nursing.

To RSVP, e-mail owhchair@yorku.ca by Friday, Nov. 16. The event is sponsored by the Office of Echo Chair in Women's Mental Health Research at 91��ɫ.

For more information, e-mail www.yorku.ca/nkhanlou.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Undergrad health students wrap up coveted grants-funded research

muellerm — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Summer may be over, but for three undergraduate students from 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health who were successful in snagging coveted research funding this summer, they are busily wrapping up their research.

Bachelor of health studies program students Alexandra Veres (left)��Ի� Seungree Nam both conducted research for (TAP) at Southlake Regional Health Centre under the mentorship of 91��ɫ Professor Liane Ginsburg of the Faculty of Health’s School of Health Policy & Management. Veres explored the theme of hope in several of the patient education programs offered by TAP, while Nam’s project looked at whether or not the Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale (HADS) was a valid outcome measurement tool in TAP’s outpatient fibromyalgia education program.

Both students were awarded research grants as part of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR) mobility, musculoskeletal health and arthritis undergraduate summer studentship. The funding was designed to provide undergraduate and health professional students with opportunities to undertake research projects with established health researchers in an environment that provides strong mentorship.

Seungree Nam

The third student, Julia Salzmann, also of the bachelor of health studies program, conducted an extensive data collection and analysis on the effects of the use and integration of Internet communication/e-health technologies (ICTs) as a growing resource for addressing First Nations’ mental health. She received a research grant from the (NAMHR), which is funded by the through the CIHR. Salzmann requested to work under the direction of Professor Naomi Adelson, associate dean, research in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, who is a collaborator on NAMHR and whose own research has focused on e-health technologies and the Internet as a health resource.

Julia Salzmann

What Nam found after helping to administer the HADS questionnaire to patients on the first and last day of the Fibromyalgia Education Program, entering all the data, conducting a statistical analysis, as well as a literature review, was that it was a relevant and appropriate tool to measure the program’s effectiveness in helping manage patient anxiety and depression.

HADS was developed to identify the possibility of anxiety and depression in patients involved in hospital clinics outside of the mental health department. Patients were also given a fibromyalgia impact questionnaire and a fibromyalgia history form.

“We did find a significant and meaningful outcome from the three surveys,” Nam says.

Left: The graph Seungree Nam prepared for his research

According to the data, patients had a 10 to 13 per cent lower score for depression following the program. Their level of survey reported anxiety, however, remained the same, but when the patients were verbally asked during the program’s last session about their anxiety, they said they felt it had improved. Nam believes the discrepancy had to do with two or three questions on the post-survey which the patients found confusing.

Nam’s poster abstracts for the research were accepted at two different conferences: the Canadian Association of Ambulatory Care conference (held in September) and the in the United States in November. He is currently in the process of writing up his research.

As part of Veres’ research, she worked with four groups in TAP – inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and fibromyalgia. “We were building on a 2009 pilot study done by TAP that explored the theme of hope in the inflammatory arthritis patient education program,” she says. “That study found that the patients not only wanted the program, they wanted it to be delivered with an element of hope. They wanted to come out of it with hope.”

What TAP wanted to know, says Veres, was whether this theme of hope carried through all four of the programs in TAP and what the patient learning needs were. After collecting and qualitatively analyzing the data, what the research found was that “the theme of hope permeated through all four programs,” she says. Up until now, hope was not a popular theme in patient education programs. Veres says she thinks the findings will make “a big difference in how these patient education programs will be run in the future.”

The information could lead to better patient adherence to treatment plans and improved quality of life, as well as reduced disability.

Veres abstract was accepted at the Canadian Association of Ambulatory Care conference recently and she hopes her forthcoming article will be published in a scholarly journal.

As there is little or no other research looking into the theme of hope in education programs from a patient’s perspective, Veres believes the research could be quite significant for the patient education community.

Salzmann wishes to pursue further research in Aboriginal health policy. So having the chance to look at e-health in a First Nations context was exciting to her.

This research looked at the importance of incorporating the First Nations’ holistic, traditional and cultural approach to healing, wellness and mental health services using ICTs. “Generally speaking, Aboriginal peoples have a much more holistic approach to health,” she says. “They incorporate the individual, the community and the environment, and look at all realms of health, including the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual parts of a person.”

This research explored the use and integration of ICTs in addressing Aboriginal mental health as a growing resource. “Research has shown that tele-health is a great tool, but we must consider who will finance this initiative, will it be sustainable and will it contribute to the overall health of the community? It’s a very politicized issue,” says Salzmann.

In researching the issues involved, Salzmann completed an extensive national literature review on ICTs. “Tele-health is a huge hot button topic now,” she says. “To be equitable in health in the long term, Aboriginal health has to be on the agenda.” What it comes down to is that the Aboriginal people’s own ways of seeing health, as well as their culture, has to be included in any ICT initiatives.

Salzmann’s will be presenting her work at the at Queen’s University later this month. She also hopes to have her forthcoming article on the research published in a scholarly journal and she is hoping to pursue a master’s degree in public policy or public administration in the future.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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