Grant: Foundation Grant

Community Based Participatory Approaches; Frequent Users Of Acute Care Services; Health Services Research; Homelessness And Health; Integrated Knowledge Translation; Integrated Care Models; Mental Health; Mixed Methods; Program Evaluation; Recovery

<html> <body> <p>The public health impact of mental health and addictions (MHA) problems is profound. In Ontario alone, the burden of MHA, measured in health-adjusted life years, is 1.5 times higher than all cancers combined, with less than a third of people experiencing MHA problems accessing appropriate assessment and treatment. Access barriers to quality care are greater for high risk and disadvantaged groups, including people who are homeless or have severe MHA problems. These individuals experience complex comorbidities, premature mortality and disproportionate use of costly high acuity services. Evidence-based approaches to address the complex needs of this population, improve health outcomes and avoid unnecessary acute care utilization are urgently needed.<br> <br>IMPROVE-HRD uses a Program Science framework to address evidence-practice gaps in this priority area. Program Science is the systematic application of theoretical and empirical scientific knowledge to improve the design, implementation, evaluation and spread of effective public health interventions. Over the next 7 years, IMPROVE-HRD will bring together public health and social science practice, research and policy expertise together with the lived experience of patients and communities to identify priorities for action, support the design, implementation and evaluation of promising interventions, disseminate lessons learned and build capacity in health services research and innovative Integrated Knowledge Translation (IKT) strategies.<br> <br>Grounded in participatory processes, interdisciplinary approaches, mixed methods observational and experimental designs and IKT, IMPROVE-HRD will use the latest research innovations to:<br> <br>&middot; Evaluate four promising models of service delivery targeting areas critical to MHA recovery, including Housing, Service Coordination and Community Integration of the target population.<br>&middot; Translate research findings in diverse settings and identify factors in both practice environments and the broader context (policy, incentives) that affect uptake and sustainability of effective interventions over time.<br>&middot; Train the next generation of MHA health service researchers.<br> <br>Although the program is based in Toronto, research will be conducted in diverse urban environments across Canada.<br> <br>IMPROVE-HRD will offer an outstanding training environment, augmented with a well-established curriculum in interventions research and engaged scholarship, appealing to trainees in a wide range of disciplines (medicine, public health and policy, psychology, sociology, nursing) who will learn valuable skills in clinical translational research and program science. Furthermore, the program will encourage and support the use of study data by health providers for quality improvement (QI) and planning purposes, supporting leadership and QI capacity building.</p> <p> <br>IMPROVE-HRD will build the evidence base needed to support system redesign, and demonstrate how to reduce avoidable acute care utilization and improve health and satisfaction with effective interventions that support recovery for high risk and disadvantaged populations.</p> <p> <br>Program strengths include the program leader&rsquo;s extensive field experience with the target population, research team expertise with community-partnered research, mixed methodologies, evaluation of complex interventions, policy and IKT, as well as superb research infrastructure and institutional support and a rich network of collaborations with leading researchers and policy makers.</p> </body> </html>