Public Health Commons^™

The Experiences And Challenges Of Community Health Volunteers As Agents For Behaviour Change Programming In Africa: A Scoping Review, Mary Ndu, Ellena Andoniou, Sorcha Mcnally, Francisco Olea Popelka, Marisa Tippet, Elysee Nouvet

Health Studies Publications

ommunity health volunteers are considered a vital part of the community health structure in Africa. Despite this vital role in African health systems, very little is known about the community health volunteers’ day-to-day lived experiences providing services in communities and supporting other health workers. This scoping review aims to advance understanding of the day-to-day experiences of community health volunteers in Africa. In doing so, this review draws attention to these under-considered actors in African health systems and identifies critical factors and conditions that represent challenges to community health volunteers’ work in this context. Ultimately, our goal is to provide a …

Perspectives Of Middle Eastern Immigrant Parents Regarding Accessing Healthcare Services For Children During The Covid-19 Pandemic In London, Ontario, Sarvenaz Mehrabi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrants have been disproportionally affected and faced difficulties in accessing healthcare services. While it has been reported that the rate of pediatric healthcare utilization decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reasons behind this decline are unclear. It has been suggested that immigrant children might be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions regarding accessing healthcare services. This study aims to understand the Middle Eastern immigrant parents’ perspectives regarding their access to healthcare services for their children in the London, Ontario, area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This qualitative study was conducted with an interpretive description methodology …

Learning From Lived Experience: Substance Use Policies, Emergency Shelters, And Harm Reduction In London, On, Jesse Cram, Dena Salehipour

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Since 2018, the number of overdoses reported by London housing and emergency shelter agencies to the city of London has increased by 790%.These agencies currently have inconsistent overdose response policies that lack research-based support, and want to establish comprehensive best practices that support those involved at all levels.

Through a community based course, we initially collected and analyzed survey data from managers and staff from various London housing and emergency shelter agencies with the aim of understanding the limitations of the current approaches to the opioid crisis. Wanting to expand on this, our current project focuses on those who are …

Improving Governance In Ontario Health Teams, Mausam Vadakkayil

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The aim of this research brief is to provide recommendations on how Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) can incorporate the three key functions of successful health systems, priority setting, performance monitoring, and accountability, within their governance structure.

The Coping Strategies Of Older Adults With Age Related Vision Loss (Arvl) – A Narrative Account, Zakara J. Stampp

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The goal of this study was to share the stories of older adults with age-related vision loss (ARVL) and how they have coped to maintain meaningful occupational engagement. Grounded in a constructivist paradigm, data collection and analysis were guided by the narrative inquiry methodology. The participants consisted of six older adults aged 60 or older, diagnosed with one of the following ARVL conditions: macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and/or glaucoma. Participants were recruited from vision loss non-profit organizations such as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and the Alliance for Equity of Blind Canadians (AEBC). One older adult was …

Effectiveness Of Machine Learning Classifiers For Cataract Screening, Ronald Cheung

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cataract is the leading cause of blindness and vision loss globally. The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the healthcare industry has been on the rise in the past few decades and machine learning (ML) classifiers have shown to be able to diagnose patients with cataracts. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to assess the diagnostic accuracy of these ML classifiers for cataracts currently published in the literature. Retrieved from nine articles, the pooled sensitivity was 94.8% and the specificity was 96.0% for adult cataracts. Additionally, an economic analysis was conducted to explore the cost-effectiveness of implementing ML to …

Does The Way We Pay Primary Care Providers Influence Emergency Department Use During After-Hours?, Michael Hong

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the early 2000s, Ontario introduced extensive primary care reforms to increase around-the-clock access to comprehensive primary care in response to inadequate access to primary care, including the way Ontario primary care physicians were paid. This thesis investigates the extent to which changes in physician payment could affect emergency department visits. First, a review evaluating the impact of access to primary care on primary care and emergency department utilization was conducted. Secondly, the impact of Ontario’s after-hours premium on emergency department visits was investigated, first within Ontario, then compared to four control provinces. Finally, rates of primary care services and …

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Of Tpmt Genotype-Guided Azathioprine Treatment Compared To Standard Treatment For Patients With Moderate/Severe Ulcerative Colitis, Ali Unsal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study assessed cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenomics (PGx)-based azathioprine (AZA) compared to standard AZA therapy for ulcerative colitis (UC) patients in Canada. A patient-level Microsimulation model was developed to compare the lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained by a hypothetical cohort of UC patients with age and sex characteristics. The parameters used in the model were derived from the published literature and costs from the Ontario Schedules of Payments and published sources. The results were summarized in terms of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Compared to standard AZA, PGx-based AZA care was the dominant strategy with 0.17 incremental QALYs …