Concurrent Session A

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Oral Presentations

October 23, 10:00am - 11:00am 

This session will feature a series of oral presentations highlighting current research, evaluation and quality improvement projects. Each speaker will have 15 minutes to share their work, followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussion. Join us to hear in-depth presentations, gain new insights, and engage directly with presenters during the Q&A.

PRESENTATIONS: 

 

  • Title: Navigating the Grey, Evaluation as Advocacy in MHSU
    • Speaker: Stephanie Lowe

    • Description: Advocacy in MHSU An emerging evaluator learning the basics, transitioning from patient-facing care, shares her journey from burnout and frustration with the health system to using evaluation as a tool for advocacy and equity. Focusing on Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU), Stephanie navigates emotionally charged spaces where she draws on previous clinical experience to inform evaluation approaches.

      Building on the basic foundations of evaluation, Stephanie champions the health system to foster innovation and address systemic issues by:
       
      - Collaborating with Project/Portfolio Sponsors: Building a foundation of embedded evaluation within programs/initiatives. Involves exploring the role of an embedded evaluator within a complex organization and understanding her unique position to influence change from within.
      - Incorporating Equity Science Principles: Integrating the principles of equity science into evaluation work planning. Championing co-design in a hierarchical system to ensure all those with living and lived experiences are heard and valued in the evaluation process.
      - Adopting a Continuous and Responsive Evaluation Approach: Shifting from start/stop projects to an ongoing and adaptive evaluation method.
       
      This approach supports the dynamic MHSU landscape and changing workforce, continuously centering equity even in a high-demand resource environment. Through these efforts, she aims to transform the health system from within, using equity science and advocacy to create more just and effective health outcomes for all.
       
  • Title: The Medicine Bundle Pilot: An Indigenous Two-Spirit Approach to HIV and STBBI Health in British Columbia
    • Speaker: Emma Ronayne
    • Description: The social determinants of health and the determinants of Indigenous health, including the historical and ongoing effects of settler-colonialism across Turtle Island, contribute to increased rates of HIV and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) facing Indigenous people in Canada. Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous folks face further systemic barriers to accessing sexual health resources. The Medicine Bundle Pilot project takes a strengths-based approach to addressing health inequities in HIV and STBBI awareness and prevention. The Medicine Bundle Pilot was developed by the Community-Based Research Centre’s Two-Spirit Program to address barriers and increase culturally safe access to sexual health resources for Indigenous people in British Columbia. The Medicine Bundle is an Indigenous-developed approach to the HIV self-test kit and dried-blood spot test, combining traditional Indigenous medicines with Western sexual health resources. Medicine Bundles were distributed to Indigenous communities and community members across British Columbia, fostering safer pathways to care. My thesis used mixed methods Medicine Bundle Pilot survey data to (1) understand participants’ experience with the Medicine Bundle Pilot, and (2) determine barriers and access limitations to sexual health resources for Indigenous people in British Columbia. Existing barriers include limited access to sexual health resources within communities and being wrongfully denied access to services. Results demonstrate that the Medicine Bundle is a very effective sexual health resource for Indigenous people, and participants reported improved experiences with testing through the Medicine Bundle.
       
  • Title: Engaging Sexual and Gender Minority Communities to Stem Cell Donation
    • Speaker: Victoria Bleecker
    • Description: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) and rural/northern populations both face unique barriers to donation and are underrepresented as stem cell donors. Saving Lives with Pride (SLWP), a grassroots Queer-led nonprofit, organizes inclusive donor drives at Pride events across North America. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the SLWP 2025 campaign to engage SGM and rural/northern populations to donation.