Several members of the Mount Saint Vincent University faculty are the latest recipients of new funding from the Canadian Health Research Institutes totaling to more than $2.5 million.
The federal funding body for health research in Canada is called the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). They are a group of 13 Institutes who work with collaborators and researchers to support discoveries and innovations that advance our understanding of human health and the health care system.
CIHR PROJECT GRANTS
Dr. Derek Fisher
A $462,825 CIHR Project Grant: Fall 2022 (announced in February 2023) was given to Dr. Derek Fisher, Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department, and his colleagues to research the brain characteristics of bipolar disorder sufferers who hear voices and how they affect daily life. Given the number of people with bipolar disorder who experience voice hearing, this information is desperately needed, but is currently lacking. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric illness that affects around 2% of people.
The effect of auditory hallucinations in bipolar disorder on functioning, quality of life, and suicide risk will be clarified by this two-site study (Halifax and Ottawa). It will examine how hallucinations affect the brain, which will help doctors provide better care and, ultimately, enhance the quality of life for those who have bipolar disorder. Dr. Fisher and Dr. Natalia Jaworska are co-principal investigators at the Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research in Ottawa.
Dr. Janice Keefe
For their multi-site study beginning in April 2023 that aims to enhance the quality of work life for staff in long-term care, Dr. Janice Keefe, Professor and Chair, Family Studies and Gerontology Department, and Director of the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging, and colleagues also received a $2.1 million CIHR Project Grant: Fall 2022 (announced in February 2023) award.
This study focuses in understanding the effects affect the conditions of care of the residents by working conditions in residential long-term care settings may. It will examine the effects of the workplace on staff well-being in long-term care and, ultimately, resident outcomes for high-quality care in Atlantic Canada. There are currently few data available for the Atlantic region to understand the quality of work life of LTC staff and what can be done to support these staff. In the end, this study will make it possible to implement practical interventions that will enhance the working conditions, work-life balance, and resident care standards for LTC staff.
CIHR PLANNING AND DISSEMINATION GRANT
For their research titled Leveraging family voice and social media to build protective factors in early social and emotional health, co-investigators Drs. Tracy Moniz and Jessie-Lee McIsaac and collaborator Dr. Ellen Shaffner received a $10,000 CIHR Planning and Dissemination grant.
At the Faculty of Education and Department of Child and Youth Study, Dr. Jessie-Lee McIsaac holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Early Childhood: Diversity and Transitions. Associate Professor and Department Head for Communication Studies, Dr. Tracy Moniz. The department of communication studies’s assistant professor is Dr. Ellen Shaffner.
With the help of this grant, researchers will collaborate with a varied family advisory committee to develop a social media strategy to enhance access to evidence-based knowledge that addresses the requirements of different families in terms of early social and emotional health. The program will end in a virtual symposium that brings together practitioners, policymakers, and families to address future opportunities and priorities for enhancing families’ ability to support their children’s long-term wellbeing and social and emotional health.
More to this story at MSVU researchers awarded $2.5 million in new funding from CIHR – Mount Saint Vincent University
Reference and photo credits to:
https://www.msvu.ca/
