Acceptability of Multimedia Animations as Preoperative Multi-language Guides for Surgical Patients in Montreal

Main objective: Assess acceptability of creation and application of multimedia animation as preoperative multi-language guides for surgical patients in Montreal.

Secondary objective: Analyze patient satisfaction with pre-operative animation guides for surgeries in Montreal.

This project will be a qualitative descriptive prospective study to assess the acceptability of creation and preoperative application of disease-specific multimedia animations as multi-language guides for patients in Montreal.

Interpreters Working in Mental Health Settings with Refugees: A Scoping Review

The objectives of the first phase of the project is: (1) to consolidate and map current knowledge on interpreters working in mental health settings with refugees; (2) to identify the unique issues and dilemmas that arise when interpreters are used in metal health interventions with refugees; (3) to inform the second phase of the project which seeks to explore the experiences and needs of interpreters working in mental healthcare for refugees in Quebec; (4) To contribute to the design and implementation of culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services and policies for refugees residing in Quebec.

Given that the intention of my study is to produce an overall map of what evidence has been produced in the field of mental health interpretation with refugees, a scoping review is the most suitable review method to deploy in this case. While the review will be international in its scope, concentrating on the relatively few studies in Canada and elsewhere that examine this understudied topic, it aims to analyze the research evidence from a Quebecois perspective.

The Meanings and Lived Experiences of Chronic Illness Self-Management for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Individuals and their Female Family Caregivers

The term culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) refers to first-generation (foreign-born) or second-generation (having at least one immigrant parent) immigrants whose mother tongue or language spoken at home is neither English nor French. Chronic illnesses are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Quebec, and the risk of chronic illness is increasing for CALD populations with greater time in Canada. In response to the large global burden of chronic illness, self-management has increasingly become recognized as an approach to support patients in partnering with healthcare professionals for improving their outcomes. Self-management involves the tasks (medical, behavioural and emotional), which individuals must undertake to live well with a chronic illness. However, there is limited recognition that self-management also involves family caregivers who provide most of the care to persons with a chronic illness. CALD individuals living with chronic illness face an additional burden of self-management in health care systems due to difficulties arising from culture and language. Women are more likely to be family caregivers in CALD contexts due to cultural and societal obligations, and this can result in another layer of burden for them. In view of these cumulative and intersecting burdens, there is an urgent need for meaningful definitions of chronic illness self-management that include the lived experiences of both CALD individuals and their female family caregivers.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

1. Explore and understand the lived experiences and meanings of chronic illness self-management for culturally and linguistically diverse individuals and their female family caregivers; and

2. Provide a critique of the assumption that self-management is not shaped by the social determinants of health, and its consequences for the study population.