UNews - Public Health

More than $1.5 million in CIHR funding for study comparing physical activity levels amongst children worldwide

trevor.kenney — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 21:07:06 +0000

An ambitious ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge-led study to create a new app-based questionnaire to compare the physical activity levels amongst children across the globe has been awarded more than $1.5 million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

The study will compare physical activity levels within and between 14 countries on six different continents.

Dr. Richard Larouche, an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Public Health Program, is collaborating with Dr. Mark S. Tremblay, a senior scientist at the CHEO Research Institute in Ottawa, to lead a group of 25 co-investigators as they seek to compare physical activity levels within and between 14 countries on six different continents. Such comparisons could help identify countries that are doing well in promoting some types of activity and help other countries develop interventions to increase physical activity.

“We lack a comparable instrument to measure physical activity across countries,” says Larouche. “So, when we're comparing different studies, some of the differences we see between countries may actually be differences in measurement rather than genuine differences in physical activity behaviours.”

First, they aim to develop an app-based questionnaire and determine its accuracy in measuring physical activity among five- to 17-year-olds in low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

“Most of the questionnaires we have are developed in high-income countries like Canada, the United States and European countries,” adds Larouche. “They tend to do a fairly decent job at capturing things like sport participation but to capture the more lifestyle-associated activities, they don't do such a good job.”

Low-income countries tend to have less organized sport participation and may have higher levels of active play — which the researchers aim to capture through the newly developed questionnaire. The study, which is funded over three years, will begin with the development of the app-based questionnaire and subsequent preliminary testing in each of the 14 countries. Based on initial results, a new version will be created and then translated into the main languages of each country. From there, a pilot study with about 30 children and one of their parents in each country will be conducted to see if further changes to the questionnaire may be needed. The main study will then follow with 500 children and their parents in each of the 14 countries.

“It’s definitely the biggest study that I’ve led, so it’s exciting,” says Larouche, who estimates that up to 100 post-secondary students and research staff across the research network will gain valuable experience collecting the data and/or assisting with other study tasks. “If we get the participation we want, which would be about 7,000 kids total, all levels of country income, based on the World Bank classification, and from urban and rural locations, we will have excellent data to work with that’s directly comparable.”

It will allow researchers to gain an understanding of which countries are doing better than others in promoting physical activity among their youth. This, in turn, can help generate ideas for future policies or interventions by researchers and practitioners. It also generates a dataset that can be used by other researchers for future studies.

“We expect our new questionnaire will facilitate the measurement of physical activity globally,” concludes Larouche. “Our sample has the potential to be the largest and most diverse ever collected to assess the accuracy of such a questionnaire.”

The Research Support Fund supports a portion of the costs associated with managing the research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, such as salaries for staff who provide administration support, training costs for workplace health and safety, maintenance of libraries and laboratories, and administrative costs associated with obtaining patents for inventions.

Online group therapy helps adults with anxiety and depression, new review finds

trevor.kenney — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 16:56:46 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers see group approach as way to increase access to much-needed assistance

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have profound impacts on the mental health of adults. A new review by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers highlights a way to increase public access to effective psychological therapies in an online environment.

The team's findings support establishing online group therapy programs so that more people can have access to therapeutic opportunities.

“We know that psychological counselling delivered by video, phone and apps can work,” says Dr. Cheryl Currie, an Associate Professor of Public Health at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, and lead investigator of the review. “The catch is that how well these therapies work is often tied to the intensity of web-based therapist guidance. This has time implications for the therapist and cost implications for the client and health-care system.”

With so many people needing psychological help right now, Currie and her team wondered if there was a way other than one-on-one approaches. The research team systematically searched the scientific literature to determine if psychological treatments delivered by therapists to groups could be effective online.

Examining more than 4,000 articles, they found 21 randomized controlled trials that tested if psychological therapies offered to adults in a group format online or by phone were effective.

Based on the evidence, the team concluded that adults who engaged in 8-12 hours of live group therapy with a counsellor or psychologist online experienced significant improvements in their anxiety and depression. These therapies were especially effective when delivered by videoconference, when adults could see one another during the sessions.

“Humans are social creatures,” explains Currie. “As a result, psychological supports offered in a group setting can have many therapeutic benefits. This review contributes to our understanding by showing that the benefits of group therapy extend to the online therapeutic environment.”

The findings support establishing online group therapy programs so that more people can have access to these opportunities.

“This is great news,” says Currie. “It means that psychological care delivered online by therapists to groups can be effective. It means that more people can be helped at the same time. During a time of global crisis, increasing access to high-quality psychological support is something that so many adults could benefit from right now.”

The review was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research on January 11, 2022, and can be found at: https://www.jmir.org/2022/1/e27939

Albertans turning to alcohol, cannabis as they deal with symptoms of PTSD throughout prolonged pandemic

trevor.kenney — Mon, 03 May 2021 16:46:44 +0000

People who have never before struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are beginning to show symptoms of PTSD and turning to substances such as alcohol and cannabis to help them cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. A suite of studies by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researcher Dr. Cheryl Currie has identified that many adults are looking for help for these problems in Alberta.

Dr. Cheryl Currie's study has found people who have never before struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are beginning to show symptoms of PTSD.

Currie, an epidemiologist and public health professor, surveyed approximately 900 adults in June 2020 who had no previous diagnosis of PTSD. She found people who are grappling to find coping mechanisms.

“Pandemic-related PTSD symptoms were common among Alberta adults in this study. Nightmares, intrusive thoughts about COVID-19 and feeling constantly on guard were frequently reported,” says Currie. “In some ways, the pandemic has many people stuck in fight-or-flight mode due to a combination of fear, ongoing social and economic impacts, and unpredictability regarding when it will finally be over.”

The study showed about a third of women and a quarter of men reported they were going out of their way to avoid thinking about COVID-19.

“That’s where substance use comes in,” says Currie. “Adults who reported large increases in their substance use during the pandemic noted they were trying hard to not think about it.”

While using substances to avoid thoughts and emotions is not unusual in society, the protracted nature of the pandemic has Currie wondering about the longer-term impacts of this strategy. She notes 13 per cent of women and 13 per cent of men were already reporting large increases in their alcohol and cannabis use in the first wave of the pandemic.

“Will people be able to return to pre-pandemic substance use levels once the COVID-19 crisis ends, or will we see elevated use and problems longer term? Alcohol consumption in Canada is already higher than the global average, and among the highest among developed countries,” she says.

Currie found the strongest predictor of pandemic related PTSD symptoms was whether adults thought they were going to contract COVID in the next year. She also found that it was Albertans in a younger demographic, aged 18-34 years, who were more likely to report pandemic-related PTSD symptoms.

“More than a quarter of young adults had significant pandemic-related PTSD symptoms in this study,” she says. “Young adults were also more likely to report pandemic-related job loss, and were more likely to be single and have a lower income. The data suggest the social and financial repercussions of the pandemic are having a greater impact on their mental health than other adults.”

Her other key finding highlights just how substantially the pandemic has affected Albertans.

“Most people do not admit to needing help for substance use and mental health problems because there’s a stigma attached to it,” says Currie. “Yet, in this study, almost half of adults struggling with substance use or their mental health wanted help. There is this feeling of isolation during the pandemic. Quite a few of them said, “You know, I actually just need more friends for support. I don't have enough friends right now”.”

Many adults also reported the need for help from health professionals to address their substance use and mental health problems during the pandemic — including physicians and psychological counsellors.

Recognizing the need, Currie and her team scoured the literature to see if there were effective health-professional led interventions that could be delivered to groups online, thus providing adults with both the social support and health-professional guidance they were looking for, while still remaining physically apart. They came up empty. Currie then initiated a randomized control trial (RCT) with women to address this gap in the science.

“We have begun this work with women as they report more pandemic-related PTSD symptoms. My team and I have now enrolled more than 400 women from across Alberta who are struggling with substance use and other addictions during the pandemic. We are testing if therapist-led interventions delivered online in a live, group videoconference format can help women with these problems. This work is underway, with results ready in late summer.”

Currie’s goal is to identify clinically effective and cost-efficient interventions governments and organizations can offer to large numbers of adults seeking help for pandemic-related substance use and mental health problems.

“As many have said, the mental health impacts of the pandemic will follow us long into the future. The key question is what are we going to do about it.”

How does where you live affect your health?

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 22:19:50 +0000

When researcher Dr. Julia Brassolotto accompanied her partner, an elementary school teacher, to a small northern Alberta community in 2010, she didn't know the decision would profoundly impact her own career.

Dr. Julia Brassolotto is using her interdisciplinary expertise as a social scientist and health-services researcher to examine how living in a rural area affects health and health care.

At the time, Brassolotto had just begun her PhD studies in Health Policy and Equity at York ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in her native Ontario. Soon after moving to the hamlet of Cleardale, though, Brassolotto saw an opportunity to investigate health equity issues from a rural viewpoint — a topic that up until then she had not explored.

Today, Brassolotto is applying the knowledge she gained in rural Alberta, and her doctoral work in rural British Columbia, to her current role as the Alberta Innovates Research Chair in Healthy Futures and Well-being in Rural Settings. Brassolotto, who joined ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2016, is also an assistant professor in the Public Health program in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Focusing on care for older adults in rural Alberta, Brassolotto is using her interdisciplinary expertise as a social scientist and health-services researcher to examine how living in a rural area affects health and health care. Although other researchers have found that rurality exacerbates the effects of other, health-related factors, such as low social-economic status, Brassolotto says rural life also has positive, health-promoting aspects. They include high levels of community engagement, the flexibility of small care teams, and informal support networks that enable people to connect and share their experiences.

It's important, though, to recognize differences among rural communities, says Brassolotto. "Each area has unique strengths, politics, local resources and employers."

To that end, older adults in rural communities aren't the only ones who will benefit from Brassolotto's research. She is also sharing her insight with younger people through her course "Rural Health Issues" and by enabling undergraduate and graduate students to work alongside her as research assistants.

"High-quality, person-centred care is important to me," Brassolotto says. "By improving our understanding of rural health, we can inform policy decisions and ultimately improve care for older adults."

UNews - Public Health

More than $1.5 million in CIHR funding for study comparing physical activity levels amongst children worldwide

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Online group therapy helps adults with anxiety and depression, new review finds

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Albertans turning to alcohol, cannabis as they deal with symptoms of PTSD throughout prolonged pandemic

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