Emerging insights from a novel 2SLGBTQIA+ Liaison Nurse role
Date: February 11 2025
Presented by: Dr. Allie Slemon, Dr. Ingrid Handlovsky
Summary:
It is well known that Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, and asexual (2SLGBTQIA+) people experience discrimination in their day-to-day lives that greatly contributes to poorer health outcomes and diminished well-being. Indeed, many 2SLGBTQIA+ people feel unsafe accessing health services, particularly due to fear of mistreatment during health encounters, leading to reticence to access essential health services altogether. To enhance safe and meaningful health services for 2SLGBTQIA+ people, the Island Health Authority has launched a revolutionary role: the 2SLGBTQIA+ Liaison Nurse – the first of its kind nationwide. The potential for this role to support the health of 2SLGBTQIA+ people is immense and thus our team has been collecting data to capture how the role is conceptualized, practiced and experienced. In this brief presentation, Ingrid and Allie will share emerging insights from the Liaison Nurse project with the vision for implementation of this role in settings across British Columbia and beyond.
Bios:
Dr. Ingrid Handlovsky [she/her] is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Victoria. Her research is informed by a commitment to health equity with an emphasis on situating discrimination (structural and interpersonal) as a determinant of health. In particular, she examines how complex and multi-faceted social environments-inclusive to historical, political and cultural dynamics – inform health practices, perspectives and experiences for 2SLGBTQ+ groups and other equity-owed groups. Her work is informed by social justice and critical perspectives to from the strengths and capacities exhibited by individuals, groups and communities in the wake of adversity. She is the co-founder of the AdJust Research Collective with Dr. Allie Slemon, which aims to lead collaborative research to address inequities and advocate for justice through embedding insights into community and systems.
Dr. Allie Slemon [she/they] is an Assistant Professor in Nursing at the University of Victoria. Her research focuses on enhancing equity within health services, towards remediating structural inequities – in particular, among 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and people who experience structural inequities. Additional research interests include: stigma and discrimination, nursing education, critical perspectives on safety and risk, discourse analysis, and social media research. She is the co-founder of the AdJust Research Collective with Dr. Ingrid Handlovsky, which aims to lead collaborative research to address inequities and advocate for justice through embedding insights into community and systems.
Planning a dissertation project: Perspectives of a PhD candidate, a recent grad, and a prof
Date: November 26, 2024
Presented by: Kerry Marshal, Dr. Sunny Jiao, Dr. Fuchsia Howard
Summary:
In this session, Fuchsia Howard (Associate Professor), Kerry Marshall (PhD Candidate), and Sunny Jiao (recent PhD graduate) at the UBC School of Nursing, share experiences and discuss a variety of considerations related to planning a dissertation project. Topics include students’ diverse journeys, managing logistics, strategies related to skills development and professional development, and navigating other aspects of life as a PhD student.
Bios:
Kerry Marshall (she/her) is a UBC School of Nursing PhD candidate interested in gender equity, reproductive justice, and 2SLGBTQ health. She is currently in data collection for her dissertation titled “Contraceptive care in BC: A critical discourse analysis.”
Dr. Sunny Jiao recently completed her PhD at the UBC School of Nursing. She is extremely passionate about improving care provision for people who use unregulated substances and/or struggle with mental health challenges. Her doctoral dissertation examines facilitators and barriers to implementing harm reduction interventions in the Emergency Department setting.
Dr. Howard is an Associate Professor in the UBC School of Nursing, whose research focuses on the health, social, and informational needs of survivors of critical illness and those with endometriosis and chronic pain. She advocates for socially responsive scholarship by generating survivor perspectives to improve healthcare accessibility and quality. Her work includes patient-oriented co-design with clinicians and patients, using innovative and digital methods to share evidence. The overarching goal of her research is to create patient-centered health care that addresses long-term health and disability challenges.
A to Z’s and Beyond of Research Grant Navigation: Application to Study Completion
Date: April 3, 2024
Presented by: Dr. Shahin Kassam and Dr. Vicky Bungay
Summary:
Whether you are an early career researcher, a new faculty member, making pathways to enter academia, or somewhere in between, financing and managing your emerging program of research is a topic requiring planning ahead and mapping out of processes. In this discussion between Dr. Vicky Bungay and Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Shahin Kassam, two core areas are examined: (i) preparing for grant submission, and (ii) managing a successful grant. Engaging with each other’s grant development and management experiences, this discussion will follow a journey that highlights core considerations for grant preparation. It also moves through management of a successful grant including finance, human resources, and knowledge creation. From discussing practical strategies to engaging with thoughtful processes, this presentation is a pragmatic exploration of iteratively traversing through the A to Z’s of research grants and the “now-what’s” of putting that grant into action.
Bios:
Shahin Kassam, PhD, RN, is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Capacity Research Unit in the UBC School of Nursing. Shahin’s emerging program of research centers on women living with the impacts and health sequelae of forced migration including gender-based violence, social exclusion, and racial discrimination. Shahin engages in community-based research approaches that collaboratively advance engagement between health and migration sectors. During her fellowship, Shahin has thus far managed a SSHRC Partnership Engagement Grant, a UBC School of Nursing Lyle Creelman Endowment Fund, and a Michael Smith Health BC Research Trainee Award
Vicky Bungay, PhD, RN, is a Canada Research Chair Tier II in Gender, Equity, and Community Engagement, Professor with the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, and Scientific Director of the Capacity Research Unit. Her work tackles strategies for effective community engagement to advance health and social care for women affected by violence. She has an extensive research program and holds over $8.2 million in research grants that include scholarship specifically to the intersections between gender-based violence and psychological, physical, and emotional well-being and innovative trauma-informed service delivery to address unmet health needs of women living in poverty.
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Look at Current Knowledge and Practices
Date: January 31, 2024
Presented by: Michelle Gagnon, RN, PhD(c)
Summary:
After decades-long dormancy, psychedelic research for treating various mental health conditions has undergone a revitalization since the early 2000s. In 2020, Health Canada granted landmark legal psilocybin (magic mushrooms) exemptions for end-of-life distress. In light of the pandemic and worsening mental health crisis, psychedelics are emerging as a promising approach for a number of clinically challenging conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction. As psychedelics approach mainstream healthcare use, we are faced with vital practice considerations of psychedelics and healthcare; notably in developing a highly skilled workforce who will contribute to the care of individuals undergoing psychedelic-assisted therapy. In this presentation, Michelle will share a brief history of the psychedelic landscape and contemporary psychedelic-assisted therapy features and components with attention to the Canadian context.
Bio:
Michelle Gagnon is a PhD Candidate in the School of Nursing at UBC. Her research examines how contemporary psychedelic-assisted therapy is being experienced among patients and providers within the Canadian context along with the ways in which contextual features shape these experiences. The overall aim of her work is to increase the evidence-base concerning the current practices and contexts of psychedelic-assisted therapy which may be used to inform best practices within the Canadian healthcare setting. This research has been influenced by her work with community partners, including her Visiting Researcher position with Vancouver Island University’s Naut sa Mawt Centre for Psychedelic Research as well as her membership of the Ethics Working Committee with the Psychedelic Association of Canada. She is currently working as a Research Assistant with the Capacity Research Unit.
Can Conventional Criminal Justice Systems Deliver Justice for Rape Victim-Survivors?
Date: November 23, 2023
Presented by: Dr. Lara Hudspith
Summary:
The criminal justice response to sexual violence in England and Wales has been subject to criticism for decades and continues to face scrutiny today. One key criticism is that victim-survivors do not receive justice after reporting their experiences to the police and engaging with the trial process. In this presentation, Lara will share findings from her PhD research undertaken in the U.K. that explored the experiences of victim-survivors who engaged with the criminal justice process in England and Wales. She will consider whether the criminal justice system can deliver justice to rape victim-survivors, or whether we must look beyond conventional adversarial systems to ensure justice is had.
Bio:
Dr Lara Flynn Hudspith is a gender-based violence researcher whose research interests center around the justice needs of victim-survivors of sexual violence. Lara was awarded a PhD in Psychology from the University of Huddersfield (U.K.) in 2022. She explored the criminal justice response to sexual offences via the conduction of interviews with rape victim-survivors and criminal justice system stakeholders. She then expanded upon this research while working as a research associate on a project concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on victim-survivors’ justice journeys. She is currently working as a Research Assistant within the Capacity Research Unit at UBC on the “Scaling Up” project which explores the process and impact of implementing an outreach program with women affected by gender-based violence.
Exploring the perceived impacts of safer supply program engagement on criminalized income-generating activities: Perspectives of program clients and service providers
Date: October 19, 2023
Presented by: Dr. Katherine Rudzinski
Summary:
In response to the devastating drug poisoning crisis, Canada is piloting safer supply programs (SSPs) which provide individuals who use illicit opioids with an ‘off label’ prescription for pharmaceutical-grade alternatives. Although the main purpose of these programs was to reduce overdose deaths and health-related harms stemming from exposure to toxic ‘street’ drugs, SSPs are having a broader impact. This project investigated the implementation of four SSPs in Ontario through semi-structured qualitative interviews with 27 service providers and 52 program clients. In this presentation, Dr. Katherine Rudzinski will discuss the ways in SSP clients and service providers saw program engagement impacting clients’ reliance on criminalized income-generating activities (e.g., theft and sex work) and their interactions with police and the criminal legal system. Katherine will share some of the broader impacts of SSPs on safety and stability for people who use drugs, including ways SSPs improve social and structural determinants of health (income, food, housing security) and self-identity among program clients.
Bio:
Dr. Katherine Rudzinski is an adjunct assistant professor and an interdisciplinary postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Social Work, University of Windsor. She is also a postdoctoral research fellow with the Capacity Research Unit, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia and a research associate and sessional lecturer at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Katherine has over 15 years of experience working with and for people who use drugs on various community-based research projects. Her recent research explored the opportunities and challenges of implementing supervised consumption services in healthcare settings, including considerations around funding for harm reduction programs and co-creating a toolkit for client-centred supervised consumption services. Katherine’s current work is focused on examining the women’s experiences of safer supply programs (SSPs) in Ontario using an arts-based and theoretically-informed approach to understand how these programs may potentially impact the victimization and criminalization of women.
Women Impacted by Forced Migration: A Community-Academic Research Partnership
Date: September 21, 2023
Presented by: Dr. Shahin Kassam and Ms. Diana Ospina
Summary:
Women living within intersections of migration, gender, race, class, and additional social locations are inequitably affected by limited social support, gender-based violence, and poverty. Despite these understandings of inequity, minimal programming and policies are informed by the experiences of this population. In this presentation, Shahin Kassam, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Nursing and Diana Ospina, senior manager of the Surrey Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) will describe their community-based research partnership goals and the resulting project funded through a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, that aimed to better understand lived and living realities of women impacted by forced migration. They will share their story of teaming up and engaging in a collaborative journey across the research process from the generation of the research questions to their integrated knowledge mobilization activities as well as initial findings and next steps.
Bios:
Shahin Kassam, PhD, RN is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Capacity Research Unit in the UBC School of Nursing. Shahin’s emerging program of research centers on women living with the impacts and health sequelae of forced migration including gender-based violence, social exclusion, and racial discrimination. Shahin engages in community-based research approaches that collaboratively advance engagement between health and migration sectors. Framed by her analytical lens, Shahin targets locating and addressing broader interrelated structural violators including racism, classism, and sexism which shape women’s health and contribute to inequitable access to health and social services.
Diana Ospina has been in the settlement sector since 2011 and has held various instructional, coordination, management, and senior management roles with Immigrant Services Society of BC, Multi-lingual Orientation Service Association for Immigrant Communities of BC, and DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society. Currently, Diana supports the work of the Surrey LIP, Refugee Readiness Team, CARE for Migrant Workers, and the BIPOC Unified Inclusive Leading Organization-development for South Fraser (BUILDS) project. Diana is the Senior Manager Surrey LIP and Collaboration, with interests in assets-based approaches to community partnerships which are deeply rooted in principles of decolonization, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Health Care Organization – Graduate Student Partnerships: Navigating Research Relationships and Engaging in Integrated Knowledge Translation through Embracing Reciprocity
Date: March 30, 2023
Presented by: Cindy Elliott and Sunny Jiao
Summary:
In this session, Cindy Elliott, Program Director for Emergency Services at Providence Health Care, and Sunny Jiao, PhD Student at the UBC School of Nursing, share how they partnered to conduct student-led research with implications for care provision in the real world. Cindy and Sunny share their story of how they approached one another, how their relationship grew, and how they created a space where they could talk about their respective needs. They speak to what they mean by partnership in light of Sunny’s work, and what partnership looks like beyond finding a space to gather information. They also discuss considerations related to engaging in integrated knowledge translation through delicately balancing organizational and student needs.
Bios:
Sunny Jiao is a PhD Candidate at the UBC School of Nursing and a Research Assistant at the Capacity Research Unit. She holds a Masters in Health Administration and is extremely passionate about improving care provision for people experiencing health inequities, especially people who struggle with mental health challenges and / or use unregulated substances. Her doctoral dissertation is focused on examining facilitators and barriers to implementing harm reduction interventions, as applied to unregulated opioid use, in the Emergency Department setting.
Cindy Elliott, RN MSN, has over twenty years of healthcare experience including operational leadership and professional practice expertise. With a clinical background as an Emergency Nurse, Cindy’s roles have included Patient Care Manager, Practice Consultant, Director of Professional Practice and her current role as Program Director for Emergency at Providence Health Care, Site Director, Mount St Joseph Hospital and Regional Director, Emergency Services VCH. Cindy leads her teams within Patient and Family Centered Care principles and is passionate about contributing to best practice, including advancing equity, respect and inclusion in healthcare.
Nurses’ enactment of equity-promoting practices in the emergency department: A discourse analysis
Date: November 4, 2022
Presented by: Dr. Allie Slemon
Summary:
In this session, Dr. Allie Slemon will present an overview of findings from her dissertation research. Her dissertation responds to the significant and persistent inequities in the provision of health care, and the calls for nurses to respond to structural inequities by enacting values of equity and social justice. This study used discourse analysis to examine how nurses working in emergency department (ED) settings enact equity-promoting practices in the institutional context of the ED. Drawing on individual interviews with nurses and key nursing professional and institutional texts, this study illuminates how discourse foundationally shaped ED nursing work, including constraining nurses’ potential to enact equity in this setting. Dr. Slemon will discuss the implications of positioning equity as ‘optional’ within the nursing profession, and examine directions for supporting nurses in enacting equity-promoting practices across diverse health care settings.
Bio:
Dr. Allie Slemon is a Registered Nurse and recent graduate from the PhD program in Nursing at UBC. She is currently working as a nursing instructor at the University of Victoria (UVic), and as a postdoctoral researcher on a project implementing trauma- and violence-informed care in childcare settings. In January 2023, she will begin a new position as an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at UVic. Her program of research focuses on equity and social justice in nursing practice, and further interests include mental health, research methodology, nursing education and pedagogy, and social media.