General population
Current and Completed Projects:
Crosswalk Analysis of Surveys on the Use of Controlled Substances
There are several surveys in Canada that focus on or include questions about the use of controlled substances such as alcohol, cannabis, prescription medication, and illegal drugs. These tools and consistency across them are necessary to inform development of effective policies, programs for education and prevention, and evaluation of strategies to mitigate harmful substance use. SRDC has been engaged by the Office of Drug Research and Surveillance at Health Canada to perform a crosswalk analysis of selected surveys to identify 1) similar survey items and assess their level of comparability and 2) identify common indicators that routinely appear in the included surveys. Results will be used by Health Canada to improve coherence across surveys going forward.
Start-end date: February 2023 - March 2023
Sponsor: Health Canada
Skills for Success Proficiency Levels Development
In addition to providing detailed definitions of all nine skills, the SRDC report supporting the 2021 launch of the Skills for Success framework also includes preliminary proficiency level statements for each skill. These statements are intended to provide initial guidance for skill assessment but need further refinement to reflect a range of occupational requirements and better meet the needs of learners, trainers, and employers. As outlined in the SRDC report, more detailed proficiency levels and descriptors should be developed through an iterative, evidence-based, and collaborative process. In accordance with these recommendations, this project assembles an expert panel with experience in working with diverse learners and developing foundational and transferable skills resources and training programs in a range of regions and sectors. The panel is assisting SRDC in analyzing a range of occupational profiles, with priority for those in high demand, to identify tasks that are common and unique across occupations along with underlying skill dimensions and complexity levels for each task. The project goal is to work in collaboration with the panel and ESDC to reach consensus on improved proficiency statements for each of the nine skills, with examples drawn from our occupational task analysis of in-demand sectors.
Start-end date: January 2023 - January 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Survey for the Evaluation of the Apprenticeship Grants (AG) Program
This project involves the design, development, pilot-testing, implementation, and analysis of a survey as part of the Apprenticeship Grants (AG) evaluation. The AG program provides grants to apprentices in designated Red Seal trades to pay for tuition, travel, tools, and other related expenses. It consists of the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant (AIG), the Apprenticeship Completion Grant (ACG), and the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant for Women (AIG-W). The survey examines the net impacts of the AG program on the entry, progression, certification, and labour market attachment of apprentices. The data collected also contribute to the first formative evaluation of the AIG-W, which was introduced as a five-year pilot in 2018. Through a Gender-based Analysis plus (GBA+) lens, the analysis of the survey data aims to assess the extent to which the AIG-W helps reduce financial barriers to apprenticeship for women in male-dominated Red Seal trades. The project also examines the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on apprentices’ experience with the AG application process, as well as on their labour market outcomes beyond the program.
Start-end date: November 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Canadian Disease Registry Inventory Environmental Scan
In recent years, disease registries have emerged as an additional source for providing real world information with respect to disease conditions, treatments, and technologies. However, the number and types of registries have proliferated in the past two decades and vary widely. Moreover, there is no single, coordinated access point, and information about them remains very limited. CADTH has engaged SRDC to conduct an environmental scan to identify, describe, and document existing disease/patient registries in Canada, as well as related issues and opportunities. The results of this project will guide CADTH’s exploration of an opportunity to provide an accessible directory of disease registries in Canada.
Start-end date: November 2022 - April 2023
Sponsor: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
Strategic evaluation and learning support for the Future Skills Centre
Over the past four years, the Future Skills Centre (FSC) has supported the development, refinement, or expansion of approaches to developing skills for workers from a variety of backgrounds and in a variety of sectors. These innovation projects are required to mobilize knowledge and evidence among key stakeholders, institutions, and decision-makers for the purposes of improving policies and practices in Canada. SRDC is developing a mix of retrospective and prospective evaluation approaches for a subset of up to 18 of these projects, dependent on the timelines and stage of development of each project. These involve quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis using document and data review, interviews with project partners and their FSC liaisons, implementation evaluation, and theory of change or logic model development. SRDC’s learning and evaluation framework is designed to capture what has been learned from these projects for the future development of the skills ecosystem in Canada.
Start-end date: October 2022 - September 2023
Sponsor: Future Skills Centre
Reducing apprentice drug use in the skilled trades: Best practices for safe Canadian workplaces
The goal of this project is to understand the extent and nature of substance use among apprentices and tradespeople, and the best practices available to help support their wellbeing and create safer workplaces. Key findings from an anonymous Canada-wide survey with apprentices and tradespeople, as well as 50 interviews with employers, unions and tradespeople across the country, will be used to inform a national communications campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the risks of substance use and sharing resources to prevent drug use and reduce harm.
Start-end date: July 2022 - March 2023
Sponsor: Canadian Apprenticeship Forum
Enhancing employment services through development and assessment of Skills for Success training
With the involvement of several project partners, SRDC is developing assessment and training resources to support both transferable and sector-based Skills for Success (SFS) programming; designing and implementing targeted and intensive SFS training to address individuals and employer needs; and customizing assessment and training resources for underrepresented groups. This is being done through a two‑model system ranging from “lighter touch” general training and capacity building to more intensive development, customization, and pilot testing of new training resources. More specifically, the project broadens and deepens existing capacity-building efforts in the skills and employment training sector by scaling up the use of our SFS-aligned online measurement platform; testing new SFS measurement options, including self-report and objective assessment methodologies; developing, delivering, and evaluating new SFS curricula, training resources, and assessment tools; and disseminating findings, best practices, and lessons learned to continue building sectoral knowledge and capacity.
Start-end date: June 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
EMC Skills Evolution
EMC Skills Evolution is a national, industry-driven initiative that will provide new insights for scaling up sectoral micro-credentials, through the identification, validation, prioritization, and building of occupational competency frameworks for the manufacturing and other sectors, providing a sharable roadmap for developing and deploying workforce capability growth through a competency-based micro-credential approach. Specifically, this project seeks to define and apply an industry-driven, multi-sector methodology to micro-credential development and adoption, enabling manufacturers and employers in other sectors to more rapidly upskill and reskill their workforce, as well as to more quickly onboard newly recruited workers and facilitate broader recognition of relevant skills and workforce mobility.
Start-end date: June 2022 - August 2023
Sponsor: Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium
Insights on how to better identify, track, and measure gender and diversity outcomes in client reporting
ESDC’s skills and training programs provide Canadians with an important gateway to the Canadian economy by equipping them with the skills they need to participate in a changing labour market. To support this objective, ESDC is developing a Strategy to improve the Department’s capacity to better measure, monitor, assess, and address gender disparity when required, and promote access of underrepresented groups across a wide range of skills programs, both those administered directly by ESDC and those administered by third-party service providers. There is a pressing need to learn more about practical interventions that can be made to improve the breadth and depth of intersectionality in client reporting. SRDC will examine data collection and reporting practices that perpetuate barriers for Indigenous Peoples and other equity-deserving groups, identify best practices in other jurisdictions, and determine implications for ESDC. The final report will suggest feasible data collection and reporting practices that could improve both the rate of voluntary client reporting and the ability of programs to better measure and monitor outcomes experienced by clients.
Start-end date: February 2022 - May 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Skills for Success Validation Study
Bow Valley College (BVC) is conducting a study to support the Employment and Social Development Canada’s (ESDC) Office of Skills for Success (OSS) in the development and validation of the new Skills for Success model, skill components, and proficiency levels. The project aims to establish reliable mechanisms for evaluating proficiency, and contribute to the adoption of the Skills for Success by national stakeholders. SRDC is the research and evaluation partner to BVC to facilitate three key objectives of the project: (1) Providing evidence of valid implementation and application of BVC’s assessments of four key skill domains (Reading, Numeracy, Writing, and Digital Skills) under the Skills for Success framework, (2) Evaluating the suitability and efficacy of skill development curriculums and online training of the four key skill domains under the Skills for Success framework for lower-skill Canadians, and (3) Establishing predictive validity of the revised Skills for Success assessments through the piloted online skills development training and subsequent education and labour market outcomes with reference to the four key skill domains under the Skills for Success model.
Start-end date: January 2022 - May 2025
Sponsor: Bow Valley College
Evaluation of the Canada Digital Adoption Program
The federal government has developed the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) with the intent to increase digital adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and improve their business performance. It has engaged SRDC to help determine which research methodology would be the most appropriate to establish a causal link between the participation of SMEs in CDAP and the expected program outcome. The main activities include interviews and document review to understand the design and planned rollout of the program, assessment of possible research methodologies that could be used to estimate the impact of the business supports provided by CDAP, and reporting on a recommended approach.
Start-end date: January 2022 - March 2022
Sponsor: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Improving Pass Rates and Learning Outcomes for International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Apprentices
Building on the existing tools and resources, the project will expand, build, and test a suite of new interactive online learning modules, including ‘how to use the tool’ modules, test anxiety, exam preparation (question strategy), etc. that focus on Red Seal preparation through a series of learning modules, creation of new videos, expanded block training tutoring worksheets and assessments, and access to tutoring support services that better support success for Operating Engineer apprentice members. This project is being funded by ESDC; the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum is the project lead, SkillPlan is supporting the development and implementation of the online tools, and SRDC is designing, implementing, and tabulating the survey results.
Start-end date: January 2022 - October 2025
Sponsor: SkillPlan
Skills for Success Implementation Guidance Development
The launch of Skills for Success in May 2021 leverages the core strength of the Essential Skills framework while tightening the alignment with modern labour market needs, with a greater focus on a range of socio-emotional skills. This project’s main objective is to produce a document outlining key principles and emerging practices to guide the implementation of Skills for Success, reflecting the Government of Canada’s commitment to create and update training programs, resources, and assessment materials, facilitate training participation of vulnerable groups, and build the capacity of stakeholders who serve these populations. Our approach will combine environmental scan and literature review with the involvement of an expert advisory panel representing training and sectoral organizations with nation-wide networks, to develop three broad kinds of content: i) identification of learning needs for underrepresented groups (e.g., Indigenous people, racialized Canadians, persons with disabilities) and key sectors; ii) guiding principles for the design of tailored training and assessment tools to align with identified learner and sectoral needs; and iii) implementation examples and approaches from early adopters of Skills for Success. These will be synthesized into a final report to facilitate tool customization and program implementation aligned with the unique learning needs of groups underrepresented in the labour market, as well as the job performance needs of major sectors of the Canadian economy.
Start-end date: December 2021 - September 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Employer Challenges with Adult Work-related Learning and Training: A Case Study of the Accommodation and Food Services Sector
In 2019, the federal government launched Future Skills, aimed at assisting Canadians in accessing programs and providing ways for employers and workers to meet the needs of an evolving workforce. Work-related learning and training programs for adults are important to the development of the Canadian workforce for many reasons. They help workers obtain and adapt their skills to remain relevant to labour market needs when other types of education and training may be less tailored to their needs. Employment focused training can be especially important to lower-income earners who may struggle financially to engage in learning that does not yield an immediate return. Work-related training is a means to train socio-demographic groups who could also be vulnerable to the impact of shifts in occupation and skills requirements due to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. Accessible, employer-informed programming that addresses the complex financial and socio-cultural needs of vulnerable workers is likely essential for adult workers (and their employers) to thrive in the post-COVID-19 labour market. This project focuses on small-to-medium sized enterprises (SME), which are less likely to provide training opportunities to employees relative to large firms. The results will help to fill the evidence gap regarding work-related or work-based specific learning and training in Canada. Its findings and recommendations will help support the development of targeted approaches to work-related learning and training opportunities for Canadian adults.
Start-end date: October 2021 - March 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Building It Green: Integrating Climate Literacy into Skilled Trades Education and Training
Funded through the Government of Canada’s Union Training and Innovation Program (UTIP), Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) is leading the Building It Green project in partnership with SkillPlan, the Climate and Industry Research Team (CIRT), and SRDC. Working in five regions across Canada, this project is assembling a broad network of stakeholders, including climate experts and labour, education and training institutions, to research, review, enhance, and evaluate the construction industry’s knowledge and skills with regards to climate literacy. The overall project objective is to develop and test the integration of climate literacy into training for apprentices and journeyworks to prepare the industry’s unionized workforce to better meet Canada’s climate change commitment.
Start-end date: June 2021 - August 2025
Sponsor: Canada’s Building Trades Unions
Options for studying the impact of investments in education, health, employment, and other systems on involvement in the criminal justice system
The objective of this research is to identify different approaches to study how investments in various areas would have an impact on the criminal justice system. The specific research questions include: What kind of research can we do to ensure that we are making smart investments to reduce crime-related costs (including an overview of different types of studies and methodological approaches that could be undertaken)? What information is required for the different methods? Are there any data gaps? Which areas of research are most pressing? Which research methods could most effectively answer these questions? and Would the answers differ when assessing the impact of investments through a gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) lens? SRDC is developing a methodological framework for future work in this area, including options for several different methods approaching the research problem and identifying data gaps. This involves a literature review, key informant interviews, and several stages of synthesis and report generation.
Start-end date: March 2021 - September 2021
Sponsor: Department of Justice Canada
Skills for Success Framework: Validation in the Manufacturing Sector
As part of validating OLES’ new Skills for Success Framework, SRDC and Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium are working collaboratively to engage employers in the Manufacturing sector to achieve two primary objectives: i) Validate the Framework: Are the new skills definitions included in the Skills for Success framework aligned with broad employer needs and business outcomes? ii) Alignment with Job Tasks: How do the subcomponents of each defined skill align with the job performance requirements of workers in the sector? Findings from the validation exercise will support and inform training and curriculum development tailored to sector needs, as well as the development of assessment tools to measure pre-training skill gaps and post-training gains.
Start-end date: March 2021 - June 2021
Sponsor: Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium
Impact of COVID-19 on the Health Research Ecosystem
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced significant and rapid change in the way health research is conducted and how research-funding organizations function. In some cases, innovation has been accelerated, but in other cases, there have been significant negative impacts, including loss of revenue, cancelled projects, and decreases in overall productivity. Yet the pandemic is also an opportunity to transform the health research ecosystem and identify opportunities for collective impact. In that vein, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will collaborate with the National Alliance of Provincial Health Research organizations (NAPHRO) and the Health Charities Coalition of Canada (HCCC) to address remaining and emerging needs of the health research community and broader ecosystem related to the pandemic response and recovery. SRDC will support this effort, using information from interviews with experts and a synthesis of the best available evidence to produce a summary of key pandemic impacts to date, tangible opportunities for collaboration and collective impact, key considerations, risks, and risk mitigation strategies. Considerations related to CIHR’s role and activities focused on pandemic preparedness and health emergencies research will also be provided.
Start-end date: December 2020 - April 2021
Sponsor: Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Primary care physician remuneration and substance use care – Evidence review
SRDC is supporting the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), and the Canadian Executive Council on Addictions (CECA), to explore how the current landscape in health systems across Canada could inform innovation in substance use care, particularly in the context of COVID-19 and the demonstrated potential for rapid health system change. Building on findings from the Family Physician Remuneration for Substance Use Disorders Care report released last year, the CCSA and CECA wish to identify primary care physician remuneration models and payment mechanisms/processes that could be recommended to improve access to, and quality of, substance use care.
Start-end date: November 2020 - March 2021
Sponsor: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
Supporting the launch of Skills for Success
Recognizing the need for a modernized skills framework and a set of tools and structures that is more responsive to evolving industry and worker needs, The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) has recently renewed its existing Essential Skills Framework. The renewed skills approach, rebranded as Skills for Success, will be launched and rolled out in the coming months to inform the development of assessments, measurements, and learning materials aligned with the skills demands of the modern labour market. To support the launch, SRDC will, in consultation with a wide range of partners including academic experts, assessment developers, and practitioners, i) review, refine, validate and modernize the definitions and descriptions of each skill in the Skills for Success framework; ii) review and revise where necessary the underlying constructs of each skill; iii) summarize existing evidence and conduct new qualitative and quantitative analyses to validate the links between each skill and labour market outcomes; and iv) update proficiency levels of previously established skills to reflect new competency requirements in the labour market, and explore methods to establish proficiency standards for newly defined skills.
Start-end date: September 2020 - January 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Evaluation of the LEAP Healthy Futures Accelerator project
The mission of the LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact is to provide promising social ventures with the resources, support, and opportunities for collaboration to create transformative social impact at scale. With support from the Public Health Agency of Canada, LEAP is supporting 11 promising ventures in healthy eating, physical activity, and smoking cessation – the cornerstones of health promotion and chronic disease prevention – with the aim of bringing them to scale and accelerating their impact. As the evaluation partner for this initiative, SRDC will use our experience in public and population health as well as strategy-level and social impact evaluation to assess the success of both the overall initiative and the constituent ventures over the five-year period of the project.
Start-end date: March 2020 - September 2024
Sponsor: LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact
Guidance for workplace policy on substance use impairment
Ensuring employee well-being and workplace health is essential to developing successful, safe organizations across all industries and work settings. Canadian employers are seeking resources to support development of effective policies to address impairment and, in particular, that ensure employees affected by substance use issues get the help and support they need, but also that workplaces remain safe, employees’ health and privacy are protected, costs are contained, and any other potential negative outcomes are prevented. In response, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) has engaged SRDC to conduct a review of the latest research and best practices in workplace policy regarding impairment and substance use. The resulting technical report will outline what is known about best practices – including in emerging areas such as peer support and harm reduction – and in turn, support CCSA in guiding employers and other workplace stakeholders as they develop workplace policies on substance use impairment.
Start-end date: December 2019 - March 2020
Sponsor: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
Building Capacity for Performance Measurement among Literacy and Essential Skills Practitioners
Following the completion of a comprehensive review and development of measurement options for Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) initiatives, SRDC is working with the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) to build an online platform to operationalize the recommendations and best practices in designing performance measurement instruments. This platform will represent a standardized and actionable navigation pathway to help LES practitioners and stakeholders choose and customize instruments aligned with their unique training objectives and service delivery contexts. With supports from OLES, we will engage with service delivery organizations to pilot-test the beta version of the platform, troubleshooting issues, and compiling user guides. The process will be done with a point of view toward long-term sustainability, ensuring that the platform can ultimately support the broader performance measurement strategy of the LES sector.
Start-end date: November 2019 - December 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Characteristics of adults who return to Education and Training, and understanding the barriers to Adult Learning
This project seeks to examine the characteristics of Canadian adult learners with labour market experience who took further education or training for upskilling or reskilling, as well as those who expressed an unmet learning need and want. The project analyzes data from the Longitudinal International Survey of Adults linked to tax records to gain a better understanding of adult learners, including: causes and correlations for (re)entry into education and training, such as job loss, change in family status or other life events; and the barriers adults face in pursuing education and training. The research also considers how federal and provincial/territorial student financial assistance programs can better support adult learners.
Start-end date: October 2019 - October 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Early Intervention Services for Children with or at risk of Developmental Disability
The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) is currently developing a Child and Youth with Special Needs (CYSN) Service Framework to provide overarching policy and guide investment for the suite of CYSN services, ready for a phased implementation in April 2020. SRDC was commissioned through the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research to complete an international literature review and a national environmental scan focused on early interventional services for children who have, or who are at risk of developmental delays or disability. This work will inform the ongoing development and implementation of the CYSN Service Framework in BC.
Start-end date: September 2019 - April 2020
Sponsor: Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
Evaluation of the QC Government's Health Prevention Policy Measure 2.2
The Government of Quebec's Health Prevention Policy (PGPS) aims to prevent and reduce preventable diseases as well as health inequalities in Quebec. Bringing together more than 15 departments and agencies, the PGPS outlines four action areas, including the development of healthy and safe environments and intersectoral governance. Measure 2.2 aims to encourage and support local actions that help maintain and improve quality of life in neighborhoods and communities. This measure rallies the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing as well as the organization M361 in support with the national and regional coordination of the Regional intersectoral tables on healthy lifestyles (TIR-SHV). The TIR-SHV's mandate is to network and mobilize actors working to promote healthy lifestyles, and are present across the 17 regions of Quebec. SRDC has been hired to assess some of the processes and benefits of this measure, including assessing the added value and benefits of the work of the TIR-SHVs and coordination of their network.
Start-end date: September 2019 - June 2021
Sponsor: Fonds Québec en forme-M361
Development of a Strategic Evaluation Framework for CMA
As the national voice of the physician community, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has been working to improve health and support the medical profession for the past 150 years. The organization’s most recent strategic plan has a dual focus on population health and a vibrant profession, and CMA is looking to articulate specific, meaningful impact goals in key areas, and assess its progress toward achieving them. SRDC has been engaged to support this process, and to develop a strategic evaluation framework that identifies goals and metrics for the enterprise as a whole, as well as for specific initiatives. Results will be used to support CMA’s ongoing development of monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems.
Start-end date: July 2019 - June 2020
Sponsor: Canadian Medical Association
Enhancing Displaced Workers Literacy and Essential Skills
This three-year research project aims to fill knowledge gaps on what works in the realm of LES supports and training for displaced workers in Canada to improve their employability. The project is aimed at supporting workers who have been displaced from their jobs through planned or unplanned circumstances, with a focus on those workers who are hard to reach or reluctant to access skills training or employment services, and who have low essential skills, including digital skills. The project will be identifying and testing models that have the potential to be adapted and expanded at the national level, by conducting beta tests involving a new Displaced Worker Outreach Team and network partners in select regions of BC to evaluate their effectiveness and scalability. The ultimate aim of the project is to provide the evidence base for the development of a new model that can help address workforce displacement for individuals and communities in Canada.
Start-end date: March 2019 - December 2023
Sponsor: Decoda Literacy Solutions
AAFC – Provision of advisory and technical services on experimentation
SRDC is helping Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to build in-house capacity in conducting sound experiments incorporating elements of randomized control trials, quasi-experimental designs, and behavioural insights in order to improve policy and program development, implementation, and evaluation.
Start-end date: January 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Evaluation of the Canada Media Fund
Funded by the government of Canada and private broadcasters/Internet distributors, the Canada Media Fund aims to promote the creation and viewing of Canadian content across television and digital media platforms. It includes targeted funding envelopes for Indigenous communities, official language minority communities, and other diverse cultural groups. SRDC is supporting the Evaluation Services Directorate of the department of Canadian Heritage in conducting an evaluation to assess the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Fund. SRDC’s role includes conducting document and database reviews, developing the evaluation framework, conducting key informant interviews and convening an expert panel, and synthesizing findings from all lines of evidence.
Start-end date: January 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: Canadian Heritage
Policy and performance evaluation framework for Canadian Heritage
This project is developing a results and performance evaluation framework for policy activities at Canadian Heritage. The purpose of the evaluation framework is to support a responsive legislative and policy framework in support of Canada’s cultural sector and the role it plays in enriching the cultural, political, social, and economic fabric of Canada.
Start-end date: January 2019 - March 2019
Sponsor: Canadian Heritage
Formative Evaluation of the BC SUPPORT Unit
The BC SUPPORT (Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials) Unit is a multi-partner organization created to support, streamline, and increase patient-oriented research throughout BC. Patient-oriented research is defined as research that engages patients as partners and focuses on patient-identified priorities with the goals of improving patient experiences, health outcomes, and the health system. BC’s Unit is one of 11 established across the country as part of Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research led by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. SRDC is undertaking a formative evaluation of the BC SUPPORT Unit activities to date to identify lessons learned during the initial development stage. Focus areas include: relationship development across the BC health research sector; engagement and involvement of stakeholder groups in Unit activities; awareness and understanding of patient-oriented research across the province; similarities and differences in Unit implementation across components (e.g., regional centres, methods clusters); and progress towards meeting Unit goals and objectives. SRDC’s evaluation gathers information from activities across the Unit including methods clusters, regional centres, demonstration projects, operational working groups, and funding partner activity reports.
Start-end date: November 2018 - March 2019
Sponsor: British Columbia Academic Health Science Network Society
The Changing Nature of Work: Digital Transformation & Innovation in the Electricity Sector
Technologies related to digitization, automation, artificial intelligence, and green technology are reshaping the structure of work and the required competencies for many occupations in the Electricity sector. In partnership with Electricity Human Resources Canada (EHRC), SRDC is studying the scope of technological change and its potential impacts on the sector. Through a series of consultations with employers, educational institutions, and other stakeholders this project will provide a rich analysis of the context and impacts of forthcoming technological change including its implications for the sector's workforce in terms of occupational demand and supply and the need for strategic investments in education and training.
Start-end date: October 2018 - August 2019
Sponsor: Electricity Human Resources Canada
Economic burden of cancer
The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is the steward of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control, and works to reduce the burden of cancer on Canadians. In 2017, the Partnership initiated a new program of work to quantify the economic burden of cancer and enhance system capacity for evidence-based decision-making using economic data and methods. In preparation for developing national estimates on the burden of cancer, the Partnership has engaged SRDC to conduct evidence reviews in three areas: the direct burden of cancer on patients and families/caregivers in terms of direct, out-of-pocket and time costs; the indirect burden in terms of productivity loss; and psychosocial burden such as pain and suffering. In each of these three areas, SRDC is conducting a comprehensive review of the Canadian and international research literature, and developing an inventory of methods and tools used to measure burden and estimate related costs; key informant interviews will supplement knowledge gained from the review. The results of these three evidence reviews will help identify opportunities to improve decisions for resource allocation and program funding.
Start-end date: June 2018 - December 2018
Sponsor: Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
Evidence Synthesis on System Performance Indicators for Cancer Control
The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is the steward of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control, and works with partners to reduce the burden of cancer on Canadians. After 10 years of collaboration, they are accelerating work that improves the effectiveness and efficiency of the cancer control system, aligning shared priorities and mobilizing positive change across the cancer continuum. The Partnership is currently launching a ‘refresh’ of the indicators used to assess cancer system performance, and has engaged SRDC to synthesize the evidence on indicators used in Canada and internationally. With the aid of an environmental scan and key informant interviews, SRDC will assess both existing indicators and those used in new areas of work related to cancer control. Results of the evidence synthesis will support the Partnership’s discussions with stakeholders and decisions about the most compelling set of indicators on which the Partnership will report, moving forward.
Start-end date: February 2018 - August 2018
Sponsor: Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
Workplace Drug Impairment Management System
Workplaces have had to provide accommodations for medical use of cannabis since 2001. With legalization of marijuana in 2018 and the current opioid crisis, employers face increasing challenge providing safe workplaces and supporting their employees, particularly in the absence of a way to assess impairment. The Canadian Standards Association operating under CSA Group has engaged SRDC to produce a research paper on the management of workplace drug impairment. By means of a literature review, environmental scan, and key informant interviews, SRDC will identify and assess the latest research on workplace drug impairment policies, guidelines, and training programs, and provide a gap analysis indicating which areas lend themselves to standards-based solutions.
Start-end date: December 2017 - March 2018
Sponsor: Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group)
Patient Portal Value Proposition
SRDC is working with Canada Health Infoway to assess the value and impact of Canadians’ access to online Personal Health Records (PHR) in terms of accessibility, quality, and productivity in healthcare. As a part of this study, SRDC is completing a targeted literature review and evidence synthesis focused on the value of Canadians of being able to access their online healthcare information. This work will support the development of a quantitative model estimating the value of such access for citizens and health system stakeholders. SRDC will also help to identify critical success factors that maximize the benefits of online PHR access. The primary audiences for this project include federal and provincial/territorial ministries of health, health systems organizations, and digital health leaders.
Start-end date: July 2017 - March 2019
Sponsor: Canada Health Infoway
Evaluation of the Child and Youth Diabetes Strategy
In the 16 years since it first launched the Diabetes Strategy, the Lawson Foundation has granted $13 million for applied diabetes research and a broad range of community-based projects that translate knowledge into clinical practice and community programs. In 2016, the Foundation launched its new targeted focus on the challenges faced by children, youth, and their families with or at risk for diabetes and its complications. SRDC has been engaged by the Lawson Foundation to examine how the new Child and Youth Diabetes Strategy can enhance its impact on the prevention and management of diabetes in Canada. We will also look at how the Foundation’s cohort approach to supporting grantees adds value to projects and supports them in furthering the Strategy’s goals. SRDC’s evaluation will take a developmental approach, in which staff of both organizations will work collaboratively to assess ways the Foundation can enhance delivery of the Strategy and its impact.
Start-end date: March 2017 - June 2021
Sponsor: Lawson Foundation
Evaluation of the Global Patient Safety Alerts program
Patient safety is a critical dimension of healthcare, and efforts to identify, report, and learn from patient safety incidents are essential for the prevention of future harms. Recognizing a gap in sharing patient safety information across jurisdictions, in 2011 the Canadian Patient Safety Institute launched the Global Patient Safety Alerts program. This program is a publically available collection of online, evidence-informed patient safety alerts, recommendations, and advisories made possible by contributions from health organizations around the world. SRDC has been engaged to conduct an evaluation that will examine the program’s current functioning and perceived merit, worth, and significance in helping healthcare organizations prevent, respond to, and learn from patient safety risks and incidents; assess the program’s value for money; and identify areas for improvement and means to bolster program effectiveness. SRDC’s mixed methods approach includes an environmental scan of patient safety alert systems, key informant interviews, and an online survey of stakeholders.
Start-end date: March 2017 - November 2017
Sponsor: Canadian Patient Safety Institute
Advancing Women's Heart Health Evaluation
A general lack of awareness of how heart disease and stroke present differently in women and men is compounded by knowledge gaps among health professionals, leading to a predominantly male model of research and care. In response, Heart & Stroke – with support from Health Canada – has developed the Advancing Women’s Heart Health Project. Through leadership, research, partnership, and capacity building, this project aims to change the way in which heart health research is funded, conducted, and applied in Canada so that it accounts for gender and racial disparities and redresses health inequities. SRDC has been hired to develop a logic model and frameworks for performance measurement and evaluation, as well as data collection tools and an analysis plan for this initiative.
Start-end date: March 2017 - February 2021
Sponsor: Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Developing an effective public health approach to cannabis
In light of the Government of Canada’s announcement that it would introduce legislation to legalize and regulate cannabis, the Canadian Public Health Association has been funded by Health Canada to engage a range of individuals and organizations from the health, public health, and social service communities to enhance their knowledge of, and capacity to address issues related to cannabis and other substance use. The project is grounded in a public health approach to the legalization of cannabis. SRDC is working with the Association to evaluate the project, with a particular focus on outcomes related to knowledge transfer, capacity-building, and stakeholder engagement.
Start-end date: December 2016 - March 2019
Sponsor: Canadian Public Health Association
Flexible Workplace Practices in Support of Caregivers
Working Canadians often have multiple roles outside of the workplace that may conflict with the demands of their jobs. One increasingly prominent role is to provide unpaid care for family members or close friends with a long-term health condition, physical or mental disability. Caregiving commitments have a number of direct consequences for workers and businesses that employers can help mitigate through various leave policies, flexible practices, and supports. The objective of this project is to fill knowledge gaps with respect to the costs and benefits to Canadian employers of offering various flexible workplace practices in support of caregivers. SRDC conducted a series of nine business case studies with a comprehensive cost-benefit methodology that measures the return on investment for employers from introducing a range of flexible practices and policies in support of caregivers.
Start-end date: February 2015 - September 2015
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Impacts of Interoperability and Information Sharing Across Settings
The implementation and utilization of electronic health technology are playing an important role in coping with the increasing demand for health care services and managing the coordination of care, especially for patients with complex medical needs who are cared for by different health care providers in a variety of settings. This study looks broadly at the impacts of interoperability and information sharing across settings in BC’s Interior Health Authority to evaluate how the utilization of a regional medical health record hub impacts clinician access to complete patient information for clinical encounters and care coordination for their patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. The results of this study contribute to research knowledge in this field and inform future planning.
Start-end date: April 2014 - July 2015
Sponsor: Canada Health Infoway
Evaluating the impact of patients’ direct lab access
As part of the move toward a more modernized health care system, tele-health and digital health services provide patients with direct access to health information and advice 24/7, 365 days a year. The aim of this study is to understand the impact of direct patient access to laboratory results in B.C. in terms of healthcare access, quality, and productivity. Through interviews with physicians and a survey of service subscribers and a general population panel, the study examines how direct access to lab results compares to traditional means of access (i.e., via the physicians’ office) in terms of service reliability and efficiency, patient experience, patients’ utilization of healthcare services, and physicians’ practices and workloads. Results of this study support future planning around patient access to health information and contribute to the peer-reviewed literature.
Start-end date: July 2013 - March 2014
Sponsor: Canada Health Infoway
Summative Evaluation of HealthLink BC – Phase Two
HealthLink BC (HLBC) provides BC residents with 24-hour, 365-day access to medically approved information and advice. The aim of the second phase of this project is to conduct a summative evaluation of HLBC client facing services. This includes examining awareness, use, satisfaction, outcomes, impacts, and cost-benefit associated with the HLBC programs and services.
Start-end date: December 2012 - June 2016
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Health, HealthLink BC
Summative Evaluation of HealthLink BC – Phase One
HealthLink BC (HLBC) provides BC residents with 24-hour, 365-day access to medically approved information and advice. The goal of the first phase of the project is to develop an evaluation framework to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the HLBC services that examines awareness, use, satisfaction, outcomes, impacts, and cost-benefit associated with the HLBC programs and services.
Start-end date: December 2011 - December 2012
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Health, HealthLink BC
