SHRF and SCPOR’s 2019-20 Sprout Grant Announced

Elevating Patient-Oriented Research for a Healthier Saskatchewan
Funding Results from SHRF and SCPOR’s 2019-20 Sprout Grant Announced

Eleven research teams that engage patients as partners throughout the research process join the ranks of Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) and Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR) Sprout Grant recipients.

Patient-oriented research goes beyond merely involving patients in the research process and instead focuses on answering questions and researching topics that are driven by patient concerns and priorities. This engagement of patients as partners has been changing the research landscape in Saskatchewan over the past five years. As part of the national Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research, Saskatchewan’s support unit, the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR), was created through a partnership of eight provincial organizations, including SHRF.  

Together over the past four years, SHRF and SCPOR have offered six funding competitions that have supported the growth of patient-oriented research in Saskatchewan. The latest funding recipients of Sprout Grants include research teams that are tackling topics such as developing mental health interventions for Saskatchewan farmers and their families; improving emergency care for patients who use opioids; and developing a better understanding of medicinal cannabis use for inflammatory bowel disease.  

The changes to Saskatchewan’s health research ecosystem go beyond the impacts of the 44 projects and multidisciplinary teams that have been funded by SHRF and SCPOR over the years. In offering these funding opportunities that asked teams of researchers, health care practitioners, decision makers, and patients to come together, it was necessary to look at the processes used to review and evaluate these research proposals.

That is how patients became involved in the review process. This involvement grew from two patient and family advisor representatives involved in the review of applications, to training and executing a full patient review committee for patient-oriented research funding competitions. Now research proposals are evaluated by both patient and peer reviewers who collectively determine the success of projects based not only on scientific merit, determined by peer reviewers, but also in the quality and depth of patient engagement and patient-driven priorities, determined by patient reviewers.

“This was my second opportunity to review research grants, evaluating applications from a patient engagement lens,” says Brenda Andreas, patient review for SHRF and SCPOR. “This research goes beyond merely including patients and takes a deeper dive into the how and the where patients are embedded from the beginning of the process to the knowledge translation. Most importantly it supports collaboration and brings the voice of the patient into the conversation.”

“As SHRF’s initial investment and SCPOR’s first phase comes to an end, the longevity of this initiative is in the ways it has not only increased the involvement of patients in health research, but in the new processes that have influenced and become embedded in the way we do our work moving forward to ensure we are funding research that matters to Saskatchewan people,” says SHRF CEO, Patrick Odnokon.

“What we have been able to accomplish over the last five years is a testament to what is possible when we work together,” says SCPOR Executive Director, Jackie Mann. “These grants represent an elevated patient-oriented research collaboration that engages patients, families, clinicians, researchers and policy-makers with the purpose of improving patient care and the health system in Saskatchewan. 

About SHRF – SHRF is the provincial funding agency that funds, supports and promotes the impact of health research that matters to Saskatchewan. SHRF collaborates with stakeholders to contribute to the growth of a high-performing health system, culture of innovation and the improved health of citizens by strengthening research capacity and competitiveness, increasing the investment in health research in Saskatchewan and aligning research with the needs of our stakeholders.

About SCPOR – The Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR) is one of 11 provincial/territorial units led by CIHR to build provincial and national capacity for patient-oriented research. With support from the governments of Canada and Saskatchewan, eight provincial organizations provide funds and in-kind contributions. These organizations include: University of Saskatchewan, eHealth Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Health Quality Council, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, Ministry of Health, Saskatchewan Health Authority, University of Regina and Saskatchewan Polytechnic.

For more information contact:
Nikki Desjardins, Communications and Outreach Officer, SHRF
ndesjardins@shrf.ca or 306-975-1693

Kate Dunn, Knowledge Translation Specialist, SCPOR
kate.dunn@usask.ca or 306-966-7656

Christine Stobart, Knowledge Translation, Training and Capacity Development Lead, SCPOR
Christine.stobart@usask.ca or 306-966-8268

2019-20 Sprout Grant Funding Recipients

For more details on these and other funded projects, see SHRF’s searchable results database or watch for more impact stories on SHRF's blog.

Marta Erlandson University of Saskatchewan

Inventing Chronic Disease Management for Children with Congenital Heart Disease

Barbara Fornssler University of Saskatchewan

Perspectives, pathways and priorities of people with lived and living experience of substance use: Informing policies

Sharyle Fowler University of Saskatchewan

Medicinal Cannabis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: The experience of patients in Saskatchewan

Thomas Hadjistavropoulos University of Regina

Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Large Scale Social Media Campaign to Mobilize Evidence-Based Knowledge About Pain in Dementia

John Paul Kuwornu Saskatchewan Health Authority

Care pathways analytics: Integrating patient-centered outcomes in economic evaluations of care pathways in Saskatchewan

Stephanie Madill University of Saskatchewan

TRANS: Trans Research and Navigation Saskatchewan - Evaluating the Impact of Peer Navigators on the Health of People who are Trans and Gender Diverse

Megan O'Connell University of Saskatchewan

Rural and Remote Memory Clinic 2.0: An Integrated Approach to Accessible Dementia Care

Michelle Pavloff Saskatchewan Polytechnic

Saskatchewan Agricultural Producer & Family Mental Health Initiative

James Stempien University of Saskatchewan

Improving emergency care among patients who use opioids: Novel integration of patient-oriented mixed methodology and supervised machine learning

Caroline Tait University of Saskatchewan

Donation and Transplantation: Examining Culturally Safe Public Health Education and Health Care Services with Indigenous Peoples

Susan Tupper Saskatchewan Health Authority

Improving pain care through emerging Saskatchewan health networks: a community-based participatory approach

SCPOR Escape Room

Interested in learning about patient-oriented research? Come learn and apply the fundamentals of patient-oriented research in the SCPOR Escape room! Teams of 3-5 people will have 30 minutes to learn and apply these concepts to earn their escape! Currently opening Saskatoon dates, with Regina dates coming soon!

For more information, or to register, please visit https://scporescaperoom.eventbrite.ca!

If you have any questions, or are looking for alternative dates, please reach out to Tami Waldron (tami.waldron@usask.ca) or Kate Dunn (kate.dunn@usask.ca).

From Patient Family Advisors to Patient Partners: SCPOR adopts the use of Patient Partner

-Contributed by Malori Keller, Patient Engagement & Empowerment Platform Lead, SCPOR

In June of 2019, SCPOR hosted patient and family advisors and key stakeholders to gather feedback and insight from their engagement with SCPOR.  During this discussion a patient and family advisor brought forward the proposal that our Centre move away from using the term “patient family advisor” and instead adopt the term “patient partner”. It was felt that patient partner was more inclusive language, and more accurately described the role patients play on research teams (as partners rather than as advisors).

SCPOR completed a national scan to determine what language other patient oriented-research organizations use and discovered the majority of support units and SPOR-funded entities actually use the term “patient partner” as opposed to “patient-family advisors”.  The scan revealed that seven of eleven other SPOR SUPPORT units and five of eight SPOR funded entities use the term patient partner.

The national scan findings were shared with the full SCPOR Patient & Family Advisory Council in October and a recommendation was agreed upon to change the language used by SCPOR to patient partner. Further the council recommended that no acronym be used and thus the term will be written in full as ‘patient partner.’

SCPOR has initiated this change in language in the materials it produces, its online branding and in its activities, and is encouraging our partners to do the same.

·        As a patient please feel free to use the term patient partner, advisor or whatever other term you feel most comfortable with.

·        Researchers and SCPOR partner organizations are encouraged to also use the language the patients they work with feel most comfortable.

We are truly a patient-oriented organization and therefore feel this change is one way we can demonstrate our commitment to following the direction of our patients. Thank you to our patient partners who brought forward this idea.

If you have any questions about this change please contact Malori Keller, Patient Engagement & Empowerment Lead at mkeller@hqc.sk.ca.

Patient & Researcher Connection Site now LIVE!

SCPOR is pleased to announce the launch of a new online tool that links patients, families, and communities with Patient-Oriented Research Projects.

Visit the site by clicking here!

SCPOR 2018-2019 Annual Report

Read about the ways SCPOR and our partners helped advance Patient-Oriented Research in Saskatchewan in the fiscal year 2018-2019! The annual report features a financial overview, a snapshot of the ways our services and supports were accessed, and profile stories of some of our top Patient-Oriented Research Leaders in the Province.

NEW: Data Availability Guide!

Download our new Data Availability Guide which provides useful information to researchers on what data-sets are available, details and descriptions about these data-sets, and how to access them. Click here to download the guide!

Shift Health's Midpoint Evaluation Completed

With a mandate from CIHR, SCPOR recently underwent a third-party evaluation to assess its performance and impact to date. To this end, SCPOR engaged Shift Health to lead this evaluation.  Over the course of six months, Shift Health developed a logic model and engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders through interviews, working sessions and surveys to gather inputs on SCPOR's activities, performance and impact. The outputs of this process have not only provided the organization with an understanding of progress to date against its core values but will also guide future decision-making and position the unit for greater impact. View the midpoint evaluation report here.