Professor Bonnie Stevens has received a Foundation Scheme Grant from the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR). This new program, which first awarded funds to researchers in 2015, is designed to give researchers stable, long-term support for innovative and high-impact research. In 2016, Stevens is one of only three nurse researchers selected to receive funds under this program. Entitled “Effective knowledge translation strategies for enhancing impact and improving outcomes in infant pain,” Stevens’ project aims to develop a comprehensive research program that both generates new research evidence on effective pain treatments and identifies effective strategies for implementing research results, changing health care professionals’ practice. Her program will ultimately address how the integration of newly-generated research evidence and effective knowledge translation studies will impact and enhance infant health outcomes to inform future clinical, research and policy agendas.
Also new for 2015, the CIHR Project Scheme awards funds to support the best new health ideas that will make a difference. For the 2016 funding year, several researchers are serving as co-investigators on Project Scheme grants:
- Lisa Cranley will work with co-principal investigators Adrian Wagg and Carole Anne Estabrooks to give healthcare aides the skills they need to deliver better care to their clients.
- Cindy-Lee Dennis will work with principal investigators Nicole Letourneau and Panagiota Tryphonopoulos to test the effectiveness of a video feedback interaction program on maternal-infant interaction, infant cortisol levels, infant development, and maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Lianne Jeffs will work with principal investigators Paula Rochon and Susan Bronskill on a project exploring prescribing cascades, where patients may be prescribed additional medications to treat a condition that may actually be a side effect of another prescription. Little is known about the process; this research project will analyse databases and conduct interviews to find out more about how prescribing cascades happen and how they can be prevented.
- Linda McGillis Hall is co-investigator on a grant led by Brenda Coleman. This program of research looks at how many health care professionals have a true physical reaction to influenza vaccinations.
- Kelly Metcalfe is working with principal investigator Joanne Kotsopoulos on a project that will evaluate the use of a biomarker in the blood to accurately predict who will develop breast cancer.
- Sioban Nelson is a co-investigator on a research project led by Elise Paradis that will use historical and social science evidence to change how healthcare professionals are educated.
- Louise Rose will work with principal investigator Elisavet Papathanasoglou on a research project investigating the effectiveness of relaxation techniques (including music and massage) in managing inflammation, delirium and pain.