Grant: IYS-Net Phase 1: Building Learning Health System Net. - Stream 1 Network Grants

Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) is Ontario's Integrated Youth Services (IYS) initiative and a Learning Health System (LHS). Co-created with youth, families, service providers, and researchers, YWHO integrates mental health and substance use (MHSU), primary care, and social services for youth (12-25 years) in hubs across Ontario. Continuing to strengthen its LHS approach, YWHO partners have identified areas of study: collecting and analyzing data from primary and sexual health care (PSHC) services, including gender-affirming care, within YWHO (practice to data); integrating YWHO data with data from the larger health system (data to knowledge); and applying measurement-based care (MBC) practices within YWHO and across the MHSU system (knowledge to practice); and strengthening the LHS. The objectives of this research include: (i) analyze PSHC care data to identify needs and gaps in these services; (ii) integrate YWHO data with ICES to compare youth service trajectories within YWHO and non-YWHO services and conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of the IYS model; (iii) develop and apply a culturally appropriate measure of fidelity to MBC practices within YWHO and the broader youth MHSU service system; and (iv) strengthen the functioning of the LHS. This project builds on YWHO's IYS-Net Preliminary Phase's tri-cultural approach, will ensure patient-oriented research and best practices in meaningful engagement of youth, families, and service providers, and build capacity through training. The project will strengthen IYS services within YWHO and across Canada by: establishing strategies for knowledge mobilization and sharing; using data to generate new knowledge and develop service innovations, build research capacity, and implement service adaptations; improve youth access to PSHC and MHSU services within IYS and MHSU outcomes; and document YWHO's LHS functioning, challenges and solutions, building the evidence for developing, implementing, and evaluating the LHS.