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Research
Kora DeBeck and Molly Cairncross awarded CIHR Project Grants
Congratulations to public policy Distinguished SFU Professor Kora DeBeck and psychology assistant professor Molly Cairncross on receiving funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) through the Fall 2024 Project Grant competition.
The CIHR Project Grant program is designed to capture ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes. Learn more about CIHR Project Grants and view the Fall 2024 results.
Kora DeBeck
Responding to the toxic drug crisis: Examining novel substance use interventions for young people who use drugs in British Columbia
Illicit drug toxicity deaths are the leading cause of unnatural death in British Columbia (BC). While illicit drug use has always posed serious morbidity and mortality risks for young people, the last eight years have been the most dangerous and deadly for people who use drugs in BC. Responsive, high-quality, and actionable research evidence is urgently needed to help policymakers implement interventions to reduce the harms related to illicit substance use.
To address this gap, the proposed research draws on an established open prospective cohort of street-involved youth (age 14-26) who use drugs in Vancouver, BC. At baseline and six-month follow-up periods participants complete a questionnaire that includes information on behaviours and exposures occurring throughout the lifespan and in the previous six months. Through the integration of Community Research Associates and an Indigenous Collaborators Circle, the perspectives of people who use drugs are centered. With the BC Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions as partners, an integrated Knowledge Translation approach will be used to generate evidence that is grounded in community and responds to government's needs for data-driven adaptive actionable solutions to the toxic drug crisis and other substance use related harms.
Specific objectives are to: (1) examine the impacts of safe supply interventions; (2) evaluate the impact of the decriminalization of personal possession of drugs; and (3) characterize changes in access and outcomes of newly restructured and expanded addiction treatment services. Through generation of high-quality, new knowledge that meaningfully centers the perspectives of people who use drugs, the proposed project is ideally positioned to support decision-makers to take action that reduces drug-related harms and improves the health and well-being of people who use illicit drugs and their communities in BC, across Canada and beyond.
Molly Cairncross
Mindfulness App for Concussion Recovery (MACRO) feasibility trial: A digital mindfulness-based intervention for adolescents with persisting symptoms after concussion
Concussions are extremely common amongst adolescents. While many recover without complication, a third will have prolonged recovery that lasts months or even years. This leads to challenges with daily activities, such as completing schoolwork, returning to sports, and socialization with peers. Mental health problems (anxiety, depression, stress) are extremely common after concussion and can complicate recovery. Despite this, very few interventions exist that target psychosocial adjustment to concussion. Mindfulness-based interventions may be effective, but they are often inaccessible to the average adolescent and their family (e.g., expensive, located in city centers, occur during work and school hours). A low cost, easily accessible intervention is urgently needed. Our goal is to complete a large study to determine if a digital mindfulness-based tool can improve quality of life for adolescents with prolonged concussion recovery compared to a control intervention.
Before we can conduct a randomized trial to compare the two interventions, we will test the feasibility of our intervention and study methods (i.e., can the study be done). We will recruit adolescents who sustained a concussion and are still symptomatic one month after injury. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive an 8- week digital mindfulness-based intervention or a health education control intervention.
We will determine: (1) how many participants we can recruit, (2) how many participants we can retain in the trial, (3) how credible the interventions are to participants (i.e., whether they expect the interventions will help them get better), (4) how many participants complete the interventions as designed, and (5) how satisfied participants are with the interventions. Findings from this study will help inform our future randomized clinical trial to determine if our digital mindfulness-based intervention is effective for helping adolescents cope with prolonged concussion recovery.