Grant: Catalyst Grant: Patient-Oriented Research

It has been suggested that the more engaged patients are in health research, the better their health outcomes will be. Unfortunately, most patient-oriented research approaches equate patients with adults, without recognizing that these approaches may not work well when the patient is a child or youth. To encourage patient-oriented research that is meaningful and authentic for youth, we must bring youth into the discussion on how they would like to be involved and engaged in research, with space created for youth to express in their own words and in their own ways, their views on their healthcare needs, treatment preferences, and priorities. By fostering relationships and building community between youth patient representatives, researchers, knowledge users, and collaborators, the overall goal of this seed project is to integrate and advance culturally sensitive MHSU services and supports for young people in Manitoba. We aim to advance the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research by creating a preliminary Youth Engagement Framework (YEF) - a living document and associated multimedia version that stems directly from, and is applicable to, research with youth to be used in patient-oriented research with young people. We will co-create and co-design a patient-oriented research project focused on integrating and advancing culturally sensitive MHSU services for youth. This project will result in foundational knowledge specific to advancing patient-oriented research with youth. Young people will play an active role in the governance of this project, and in the larger research project that it will result in. Long-term, the project will make a marked contribution to the mental health of youth by ensuring they have culturally sensitive MHSU supports and services. By actively involving those most influenced by the healthcare challenge in the development of solutions, we can inform patient-oriented service delivery and outcomes for this currently underrepresented population.