Moving Forward: Negotiating Self and External Circumstances in Recovery

This article presents a framework for understanding the concept of recovery from serious mental illnesses and other life struggles. The framework is based on findings from a longitudinal, qualitative study that involved in-depth interviews with 28 people who experienced serious mental health challenges. The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of recovery by presenting a grounded theory analysis of the components of recovery. The framework recognizes the experiences of struggle constructed through the words of study participants and captures four main components of recovery: a) a drive to move forward, b) a spiral of positive and negative changes, c) the context of recovery, and d) a dialectical process of ongoing negotiation between self and external circumstances

Assessing excellence in community-based research: Lessons from research with Syrian refugee newcomers

In this article, we critically reflect on three Syrian refugee research projects that were conducted simultaneously in Ontario, Canada, in order to: (1) strengthen the community system of support for refugee newcomers; (2) address social isolation of Syrian parents and seniors; and (3) promote wellbeing of Syrian youth. Our purpose in this article is to demonstrate a tangible way of assessing research projects which claim to be community-based, and in so doing gain a deeper understanding of how research can be a means of contributing to refugee newcomer resilience. Our assessment of the three studies was done through the reflective lens of the Community Based Research Excellence Tool (CBRET). CBRET is a reflective tool designed to assess the quality and impact of community-based research projects, considering the six domains of community-driven, participation, rigour, knowledge mobilisation, community mobilisation and societal impact. Our assessment produced four main lessons. The first two lessons point to the benefit of holistic emphasis on the six categories covered in the CBRET tool, and to adaptability in determining corresponding indicators when using CBRET. The last two lessons suggest that research can be pursued in such a way that reinforces the rescue story and promotes the safety of people who arrive as refugees. Our lessons suggest that both the findings and the process of research can be interventions towards social change. The diversity of the three case examples also demonstrates that these lessons can be applied to projects which focus on both individual-level and community-level outcomes

Breathing life into theory: Illustrations of community-based research – Hallmarks, functions and phases

There is a growing interest in the area of research that engages communities. Increasingly, this community-based research (CBR) approach to research is being seen as a catalyst for social innovation, for public policy improvements, for solving complex community issues, and for promoting democracy in which local knowledge is valued in building local solutions. This emerging interest in engaging communities in research (both within and outside academia) brings both successes and challenges.The purpose of this article is to summarise the theory underlying community-based research and to illustrate that theory with Canadian case examples of research studies conducted by the Centre for Community Based Research (CCBR). The article begins by reviewing the hallmarks, functions and implementation phases of community-based research, which are rooted in academic tradition. Three case examples are presented to illustrate the main hallmarks of CBR. The intention is to clarify community-based research by reflecting on iterative theory through practice and practice through theory.Keywords: community-based research, community-university research, knowledge production, knowledge mobilisation, community mobilisation, research for societ

A Comprehensive Evaluation Framework for Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Organizations: Values, Conceptualization, Design, and Action

This article provides a framework for the evaluation of mental health consumer/ survivor organizations that consists of four main components: (a) participatory processes, (b) conceptualization of the activities and outcomes at the individual and systems levels of these organizations, (c) the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods for examining activities and outcomes, and (d) dissemination and action. We assert that these components form a comprehensive and holistic framework for evaluating mental health consumer/survivor organizations; we illustrate how these components can be put into action through a case study of four mental health consumer/survivor organizations in Ontario; and we reflect on the lessons that we have learned in conducting this evaluation

Taking culture seriously in community mental health : a community-university research initiative that moves research into action; a reflection paper for the 2013 IDRC / Coady Canadian Learning Forum

“Taking Culture Seriously in Community Mental Health” was a five-year research project that utilized simultaneous research and knowledge transfer from a participatory action framework. This paper reviews the project as an example of balance in both academic excellence and community relevance, reporting on three elements of research excellence: involvement of stakeholders, knowledge mobilization and impact on practice. It also discusses the researchers’ roles and functions of research including the capacity to nurture engagement

Sharing Power and Knowledge: Professional and Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Researchers Working Together in a Participatory Action Research Project

In this article we document and reflect on the process and outcomes of consumer/survivor researchers\u27 involvement in a community mental health research project. The study used a participatory action research approach that challenges traditional assumptions of how to conduct research. Research roles and relationships were reexamined by both professional and consumer/survivor researchers. Four values were central to the research process: consumer/survivor empowerment, supportive relationships, learning as an ongoing process, and social justice. The benefits of this value-driven approach were seen in terms of positive impacts on the lives of individual researchers and also in the quality of the research itself. Our reflections on the research process have led us to see the importance of building relationships as a means to share power and knowledge among professional and consumer/survivor researchers

Temperature Effects Explain Continental Scale Distribution of Cyanobacterial Toxins

Insight into how environmental change determines the production and distribution of cyanobacterial toxins is necessary for risk assessment. Management guidelines currently focus on hepatotoxins (microcystins). Increasing attention is given to other classes, such as neurotoxins (e.g., anatoxin-a) and cytotoxins (e.g., cylindrospermopsin) due to their potency. Most studies examine the relationship between individual toxin variants and environmental factors, such as nutrients, temperature and light. In summer 2015, we collected samples across Europe to investigate the effect of nutrient and temperature gradients on the variability of toxin production at a continental scale. Direct and indirect effects of temperature were the main drivers of the spatial distribution in the toxins produced by the cyanobacterial community, the toxin concentrations and toxin quota. Generalized linear models showed that a Toxin Diversity Index (TDI) increased with latitude, while it decreased with water stability. Increases in TDI were explained through a significant increase in toxin variants such as MC-YR, anatoxin and cylindrospermopsin, accompanied by a decreasing presence of MC-LR. While global warming continues, the direct and indirect effects of increased lake temperatures will drive changes in the distribution of cyanobacterial toxins in Europe, potentially promoting selection of a few highly toxic species or strains.Peer reviewe

Advertising campaigns run by the atheists in the opinion of the Polish society (for example, action of Religious Freedom Foundation's " I don’t kill I don’t steal I don’t believe", "You do not believe in God, You are not alone").

Celem niniejszej pracy było zbadanie nastawienia Polskiego społeczeństwa do akcji prowadzonych przez ateistów na przykładzie akcji Fundacji Wolność od Religii „Nie zabijam nie kradnę nie wierzę”, „Nie wierzysz w Boga nie jesteś sam”). Praca ma charakter badawczy a metodą wykorzystaną były wywiady niestandaryzowane. Podstawowymi pytaniami, na jakie starałam się uzyskać odpowiedzi były:1.Jakie jest nastawienie osób badanych do społecznych akcji ateistycznych?2.Jaka jest społeczna wiedza na temat tego typu przedsięwzięć?3.Czy nastawienie osób badanych do akcji jest powiązane z preferowaną przynależnością wyznaniowąW pierwszej części pracy znajduje się próba charakterystyki nowego ateizmu, opis Fundacji Wolność od Religii a także przedstawienie kampanii billboardowej. W dalszej części pracy znajduję się opis doboru próby i analiza otrzymanych wyników. Pracę kończy krótka charakterystyka polskiego antyklerykalizmu.The purpose of this thesis was exploration of the Polish society attitude for the actions led by the atheists based on example “ Freedom from Religion Foundation’s” action " I don’t kill I don’t steal I don’t believe” and "You Do not believe in God, You are not alone". This thesis is a research work and standardized interviews were used as the method. The basic questions to which I tried to get answers, were:1. What is the attitude of the respondents to the social atheist’s actions?2. What is the social awareness for this kind of projects?3. Whether the attitude of the respondents for the action is associated with a preferred religious affiliationThe first part of this thesis is an attempt to characterize the new atheism, description of Freedom from Religion Foundation and the presentation of a billboard campaign. The rest of the thesis is a description of the sampling and analysis of the results. In the drawing conclusions is a brief description of the anticlericalism in Poland

Illustrating the Outcomes of Community-Based Research: A Case Study on Working with Faith-Based Institutions

Incoming immigrants to places like Canada tend to be religious and thereby have sympathies counter to prevailing secularizing trends that emerge in research praxis. This paper presents an illustrative case study of Community-Based Research (CBR) that starts from the community to be studied. We illustrate how CBR can be an effective tool for engaging community stakeholders in solving community problems when stakeholders are part of faith-based institutions. This is accomplished by drawing on Ochocka and Janzen (2014) and Janzen et al. (2016), who discuss the hallmarks of CBR that we used to structure a case study with The Salvation Army (TSA). This paper focuses on TSA as a religious institution and how CBR supports TSA’s adjustment to enhance its relationships with a community it finds itself serving: newcomers. We first outline the hallmarks of CBR and show how they are expressed in our case study. Second, we extend Ochocka and Janzen (2014) and Janzen et al. (2016) by focusing on the functions of CBR to illustrate further the outcomes that can emerge from this sort of approach and make recommendations for researching with faith-based institutions

A framework for entry: PAR values and engagement strategies in community research

The purpose of this article is twofold: to explore the entry process in community-based research when researching sensitive topics; and to suggest a framework for entry that utilises the values of participatory action research (PAR). The article draws on a collaborative community-university research study that took place in the Waterloo and Toronto regions of Ontario, Canada, from 2005–2010. The article emphasises that community entry is not only about recruitment strategies for research participants or research access to community but it is also concerned with the ongoing engagement with communities during various stages of the research study. The indicator of success is a well established and trusted community-researcher relationship. This article first examines this broader understanding of entry, then looks at how community research entry can be shaped by an illustrative framework, or guide, that uses a combination of participatory action research (PAR) values and engagement strategies. 
 
 Key words: research entry, community engagement, participatory action research, mental health and cultural diversit