Current Projects
Study title
Co-designing a prospective cohort study with migrant children and their families to follow growth and nutrition outcomes (PI: Suleman)
Funding: CIHR-Sick Kids New Investigator Award
Community Partners: Sojourn House, Centre for Refugee Children
About the project
Newcomer families are underrepresented in research due to bias, inaccessible study design and mistrust. This study, funded by a CIHR-SickKids Foundation New Investigator Grant, seeks to co-design a prospective cohort study with caregivers to follow the growth trajectories of newcomer children after arrival in Canada, in partnership with Sojourn House, the Centre for Refugee Children and FCJ Refugee Centre. This study is co-created alongside a parent advisory board with lived experiences.
Study title
Co-design and evaluation of a patient navigator intervention for migrant children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN) experiencing care transitions (NPI: Dr. Patricia Li; Co-PI: Suleman)
Funding: CIHR Team Grant
Partners: McGill University, Women’s College Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, Sojourn House, Centre for Refugee Children, CIUSS du Centre Ouest de ile Montreal
About the project
Children who have or are at increased risk for a chronic condition such as asthma, diabetes, sickle cell, and autism need many services and care providers, involving care transitions within and across care systems. These care systems include acute (emergency room and hospital admissions), secondary (specialists), primary (family doctors, nurses, community health centres), and community (schools, social services) care. Families who are migrants to Canada with special healthcare needs, face many barriers that make them more at risk for poor transitions across care systems and at risk for worse health outcomes. This randomized control trial examines the effectiveness of a patient navigator program, co-designed with stakeholders (migrant families and clinicians) that will target modifiable barriers during transitions between acute, secondary, primary, and community care through the navigator’s three core roles: 1) Navigating the healthcare system; 2) Care coordination; and 3) Cultural safety.
Study title
Improving access to healthcare for migrant youth through co-design and participatory research methods (PI: Suleman)
Funding: MCHRI Community Engaged Research to Promote Health Equity (CERPHE) grant
Partners: Sequoia Union High School District Newcomer Welcome Center
About the project
This project seeks to address these health disparities using co-design and participatory research methods to collaboratively work with migrant youth to develop an intervention that addresses their specific health needs. Through a partnership with the Sequoia Union High School District Newcomer Welcome Center, we will build a team of migrant youth advisors to inform this study from start to finish. After identifying barriers and facilitators to care, we will use human centered design (HCD) methods to engage in co-creation sessions to design a prototype intervention with youth themselves that can be shared with the school district and other partners. If this study is successful, we aim to conduct further studies to measure its impact on migrant youth health and wellbeing.
Study title
Comparison of healthcare quality for uninsured and underinsured children through community health centres in Canada and the USA (PI: Suleman)
About the project
Children and youth who are uninsured or underinsured in Canada and the USA have limited options where they can receive healthcare. In both countries, community health centres (CHCs) have been established as a solution to provide quality care to children without adequate insurance, including those who are newcomers or refugees. However, little is known about how well these models deliver paediatric care. Cross-country analysis provides an important viewpoint to identify areas of success and growth. The purpose of this scoping review is to compare quality of care for uninsured and underinsured children through CHCs in the USA and Canada. Read our protocol here.
