Publications
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Procedural pain management in children & youth: A toolkit for health professionals
Toolkit: Children’s Healthcare Canada and Solutions for Kids in Pain, April 2023
Medical procedures are common. They are amongst the most distressful and painful aspects of medical care for children and youth.
This toolkit shares evidence-based solutions so #ItDoesntHaveToHurt
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It Is Time to Call a Code for the Healthcare Crisis: Canada is Failing Children’s and Youth’s Mental Health
Opinion Editorial: Ottawa Citizen, Jan 2023
People say the world is recovering from COVID-19, but the crisis has expanded far beyond the pandemic. Hospitals and emergency rooms across Canada are reporting an unprecedented number of visits and significantly higher wait times, especially for mental health-related concerns. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), during the first year of the pandemic, almost 25% of hospitalizations for children and youth (between the ages of 5 to 24) were mental health-related. Debra Lefebvre, an Ontario Mental Health Registered Nurse, explains that the “uncertainty, unpredictability, and isolation” brought on by the pandemic have escalated children and youth’s mental health to “crisis proportions.” Examples, such as those below, highlight the negative impact of COVID-19 on children’s and youth’s mental health.
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Response to Building the Future of Clinical Trials at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) defines a clinical trial as “a research study involving human participants that evaluates the safety and/or effect of one or more interventions on health outcomes”. While the involvement of human participants is central to this definition, historically and presently subsets of the Canadian population (e.g., Indigenous Peoples, individuals from racialized communities, members of the rare disease community, individuals with disabilities, paediatric and maternal health patients) have been underrepresented in these trials. As persons who self-identify or work alongside members of a group who may be underrepresented in health research or clinical trials, we have provided responses to specific questions outlined in this consultation to facilitate the development of an inclusive and equitable long-term clinical trials strategy for CIHR (Nov 2022).
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Insights on the Covid-19 Pandemic: Youth Engagement Through Photovoice
Int. Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Nov 2022.
Youth engagement in disaster risk reduction is a growing area of research, practice and policy. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for improved opportunities for youth to participate and have their voices heard. Our Photovoice study explores experiences, perceptions, and insights of youth regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, while providing an opportunity for youth to participate in disaster risk reduction and contribute to resilient communities. We conducted nine focus groups from February 2019 to August 2020 with four teenaged youth; we analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis and hosted two virtual Photovoice exhibitions. Our results explore youth experiences of public health measures, impacts of the pandemic, pandemic magnification of social inequities, and the power of youth to create change. We provide six calls to action, focusing on a holistic, upstream, all-of-society approach for stakeholders to collaborate with youth in creating change on complex social justice issues to support COVID-19 recovery.
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“It’s like youth are talking into a microphone that is not plugged in”: Engaging youth in DRR through Photovoice
Qualitative Health Research, Nov 2022.
Over the last decade, youth have been acknowledged as agents of change in the fight against climate change, and more recently in disaster risk reduction. However, there is a need for improved opportunities for youth to participate and have their voices heard in both contexts. Our Photovoice study explores youth perceptions of the capability of youth to participate in disaster risk reduction and climate change action. We conducted six focus groups from February 2019 to June 2019 with four teenaged youth participants in Ottawa, Canada, hosting two virtual Photovoice exhibitions in 2021. Our results highlight 11 themes across a variety of topics including youth as assets, youth-adult partnerships, political action on consumerism, social media, education, accessibility, and art as knowledge translation. We provide four calls to action, centering youth participation and leadership across all of them, to guide stakeholders in how to improve disaster risk reduction and climate change initiatives by meaningfully including youth as stakeholders
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Photovoice and Instagram as Strategies for Youth Engagement in Disaster Risk Reduction
Qualitative Health Research, Aug 2022.
Community involvement is essential for an all-of-society approach to disaster risk reduction. This requires innovative consultation methods, particularly with youth and during pandemic restrictions. This article outlines methods used for a Photovoice project where we brought together student co-researchers from multiple levels (high school, undergraduate, and graduate health sciences) to explore the topic of youth engagement in disaster risk reduction. Over a two-year period, our team used Photovoice as an arts-based participatory method to collaborate with members of our EnRiCH Youth Research Team. We adapted the protocol to continue our project during the COVID-19 pandemic and presented our work in a Photovoice exhibition using Instagram. This article was written from the perspectives of high school and university students on the project. Our hybrid Photovoice protocol facilitated participation through the pandemic, including a virtual presentation at an international conference and online consultation with the Canadian Red Cross.
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Response to the Standing Committee on Health: Study on Children’s Health
The Young Canadians Roundtable on Health is pleased to submit this report to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health Study on Children’s Health (June, 2022).