22 June 2022
Many ISM researchers have received grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to support their various projects in the Enhancing Health Care Research in Minority Communities in Canada competition.
Represented within 5 projects out of 11 selected, ISM achieved a rate of 45% in this competition, therefore, affirming through its research department, its status as a pioneer in the mobilization and valorization of knowledge in French.
A research community to improve health services for francophone minority communities in Canada.
Funded to the extent of $100,000, this project is led by Dr. Lise Bjerre, holder of the Chair in Family Medicine, Dr. Marie-Hélène Chomienne, Dr. Alain Gauthier, Dr. Josette-Renée Landry, Dr. Denis Prud’Homme, Dr. Peter Tanuseputro and supported by a group of researchers. The goal of this project is to build and validate a reference tool on linguistic information in order to foster a collaborative research that will improve health services for Francophones living in minority situations in Canada. This objective will be achieved by bringing together a national network of researchers and collaborators working on or interested in the study of health and health care in Francophone minority communities. The network will produce recommendations and tools to strengthen research capacity and collaboration across Canada.
Effect of a coaching intervention on the well-being and distress of francophone physicians in official language communities: a randomized controlled trial.
This project received a $100,000 grant and is led by Dr. Sylvain Boet and Dr. Manon Denis Leblanc and other researchers. The goal is to evaluate life coaching on quality of life, distress and burnout among francophone physicians in francophone minority communities in Canada. To do this, the researchers will conduct a study in which French-speaking physicians, serving French-speaking minority patients, will be randomly divided into two groups: either they will receive coaching by a professional coach (intervention group) or no intervention (control group). Participants in the coaching group will receive a total of 3.5 hours of coaching in sessions spread over 5 months. Participants in the control group will receive no intervention. Coaching by certified professional coaches is a promising, concrete and immediately applicable solution that can support the well-being of Francophone physicians working in Francophone minority communities. By reducing distress and burnout among francophone physicians, coaching can improve the availability and quality of care in French for francophone minority patients.
Understanding the barriers to accessing health care and the health information and community resource needs of official language minority communities in Canada, exploring the interaction between minority language status and cultural and community contexts.
Led by Dr. Sharon Johnston, Dr. Sylvie Grosjean Dr. Bill Hogg and colleagues, this study will conduct a secondary analysis of patient-reported data to examine the barriers to accessing health care and the health and community resource information needs of members of official language minority communities (CLOSM) in Canada. It will take into account the intersectionality of minority language status and cultural and community contexts. This study will use mixed methods analyses of combined data from two ongoing cross-sectional evaluation studies involving 340 primary care providers caring for approximately 450,000 patients. This study received a grant of $99,740
Addressing the shortage of professional resources in CLOSM: Strengthening recruitment and retention strategies for New Brunswick’s Francophone and Acadian communities.
Dr. Martin Lauzier, in collaboration with a team of researchers from the Moncton University, led by Professor Stéphanie Collins, will soon be studying the issues related to the retention of health care personnel in linguistic minority communities (commonly known as CLOSM). This project was recently funded by CIHR for a total amount of $97,357. Professor Martin Lauzier is involved in this important research project through the Addoceo Research Chair in Health Human Resource Development (ISM-UQO).
Since 2008, the Vitality Health Network (Réseau de santé Vitalité), which operates in French, has been serving CLOSM in four geographic areas. There are approximately 100 physician positions and 200 registered nurse positions to be filled in the territory administered by the Network. Faced with this reality, combined with the current health crisis, it is imperative to strengthen the network’s recruitment and retention strategies to ensure its viability and maintain health care services that meet the needs of CLOSM. In a dynamic of knowledge co-creation, this group of researchers has established a partnership with the aforementioned network. The results of this study will allow our partner to identify and implement concrete solutions that emanate from its context in order to increase the recruitment rate and promote the retention of professionals.
Effect of language used in cognitive assessment of minority francophones with varying levels of bilingualism: Towards the development of guidelines for the safe screening of cognitive disorders using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
Dr. Jacinthe Savard, co-holder of the University of Ottawa and Institut du Savoir Montfort Research Chair on the Health of Francophones in Ontario, will lead this research with Dr Geneviève Lemay and Dr Katrine Sauvé-Schenk and other researchers. This project aims to identify the effect of the language used during a cognitive assessment (MoCA) with bilingual participants. Specifically, the project seeks to evaluate whether the results of the MoCA taken in French differ from those taken in English for Francophones in minority language settings, depending on the participant’s degree of bilingualism and level of cognitive functioning. The study will recruit 200 participants over the age of 55 who will answer questions about their bilingualism profile (age of acquisition, use, and proficiency in each of the two languages), take the MoCA in both languages, and take objective assessments of their language proficiency in both languages. The results will be used to suggest guidelines for assessing bilinguals. This project received a grant of $90,989.