In-progress research projects
Lowering the information management burden of low-income and other equity-seeking families experiencing child and youth mental health issues. This project is part of an emerging partnership with Parents’ Lifeline of Eastern Ontario (PLEO) and other community organizations that aims to develop the EMPOWER (Evidence for child and youth Mental health Promotion, advOcacy, Wellbeing, system changE and improved caRe) digital platform. This platform is envisioned to support parents and caregivers having to manage high volumes of disparate CYMH information over lengthy periods of time. These challenges are compounded for low-income and other equity- seeking Canadian families, who face additional barriers to research participation and, often, increased inequities from novel digital solutions. This project will thus engage frontline workers in community-based organizations providing services to marginalized families experiencing CYMH challenges to expand the results of a previous study with CYMH parents and caregivers (see previous research) and develop guidelines for directly engaging equity-seeking parents and caregivers in future research on this topic.
This project was funded through a uOttawa Community Based Research (CBR) Grant, 2026-2027. Lessard, L., is the Nominated principal applicant (NPA), with Crogie, M., the Executive Director of Parents’ Lifeline of Eastern Ontario (PLEO), as Co-principal community-based applicant. Other members of the research team are Halsall, T. (Co-researcher, The Royal) and Tooley, B. (Collaborator, Manager of the Ottawa Coalition of Community Houses (OCCH)). PLEO is a not-for profit organization that provides services and support to parents and caregivers experiencing CYMH challenges, and OCCH is connected to frontline workers with expertise at the intersection of poverty, mental health, and related inequities and will facilitate recruitment for the study.
Putting RESPECT at the centre of person-centred care: Evaluation of a risk communication tool supporting earlier conversations about decline and palliative care needs in long-term care. This interdisciplinary project aims to implement and evaluate the Risk Evaluation for Support: Predictions for Elder-life in the Community Tool (RESPECT) in Alberta long-term care homes. RESPECT is a prognostic tool that provides a personalized estimate of an individuals’ survival (i.e., how long someone will live) to inform care planning.
This project was funded through a CIHR Project Grant, 2025-2029. Hsu, AT. is the Principal Investigator (PI), with 7 Co-Principal Investigators and 15 Co-Investigators including myself. I contribute expertise on the integration of the results into the RESPECT learning health systems.
PD-TIPS.AI: Co-Designing AI-Driven Bilingual Self-Care Technology Delivering Tailored Care Tips and Resources for Parkinson’s Disease. This project aims to co-design an AI-driven health technology for people living with Parkinson’s disease that successfully promotes self-care by delivering tailored care tips and resources in French and English.
This project was funded by a CIHR Project Grant, 2025-2029. Grosjean, S. is the Nominated PI, with 1 PI and 6 Co-Applicants including myself. I contribute my expertise in Information Systems design.
