Out of School Factors Affecting Indigenous Girls’ Educational Attainment: A Theory of Change for the Opening Opportunities Program in Rural Guatemala

Guatemalans have the lowest education rates in Latin America, and within Guatemala, Indigenous, rural and poor girls have much lower education rates than their peers. The ‘Opening Opportunities’ program attempts to invest in the poorest girls from rural Guatemala to build their personal, social, health and economic assets. Realist evaluation attempts to understand the key mechanisms in complex social interventions, and is under-used in education research. Based on data from life history interviews from graduates, this paper presents a Theory of Change to understand the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of the ‘Opening Opportunities’ Program relating to educational attainment. The four mechanisms most discussed by program graduates are: leadership and participation create confidence; greater networks (models, mentors, peers); opportunities created to participate in novel paid work; and desire for later marriage and childbearing. This is the first Theory of Change that explains out of school factors affecting educational attainment

Addressing water-health equity through biological engineering and theatre

For the past decade, RESEAU has been engaging with Indigenous and rural communities across Canada in pursuit of water-health equity. RESEAU consists of a team of engineers, community partners, industry groups, and government officials working together to develop innovative solutions for water-health in small communities. Over the last six years, RESEAU has partnered with the UBC Research-based Theatre Lab to develop Treading Water, a research-based theatre play that brings to life some of the rich stories discovered during these community collaborations. The play flows between the intersecting narratives of individuals in a community dealing with unsafe drinking water and explores the resulting challenges to their health and well-being. Water operators and their experiences are central in Treading Water, and the research-based play illustrates their pivotal role in the community. This article, like the theatre initiative described, aims to open conversations addressing water quality and health issues facing rural communities in the 21st century. The article shares the collaborative process of developing the play with the various partners, the short script, as well as feedback from a performer and an evaluator. Cover image: Boil water advisory lifted. Photo credit: RESEA

Impact of the Diabetes Canada Guideline Dissemination Strategy on the prescription of vascular protective medications : a retrospective cohort study, 2010-2015

Funding: Diabetes CanadaOBJECTIVE: The 2013 Diabetes Canada guidelines launched targeted dissemination tools and a simple assessment for vascular protection. We aimed to 1) examine changes associated with the launch of the 2013 guidelines and additional dissemination efforts in the rates of vascular protective medications prescribed in primary care for older patients with diabetes and 2) examine differences in the rates of prescriptions of vascular protective medications by patient and provider characteristics. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The study population included patients (≥40 years of age) from the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network with type 2 diabetes and at least one clinic visit from April 2010 to December 2015. An interrupted time series analysis was used to assess the proportion of eligible patients prescribed a statin, ACE inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), or antiplatelet prescription in each quarter. Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) prescriptions were the reference control. RESULTS: A dynamic cohort was used where participants were enrolled each quarter using a prespecified set of conditions (range 25,985-70,693 per quarter). There were no significant changes in statin (P = 0.43), ACEI/ARB (P = 0.42), antiplatelet (P = 0.39), or PPI (P = 0.16) prescriptions at baseline (guideline intervention). After guideline publication, there was a significant change in slope for statin (-0.52% per quarter, SE 0.15, P < 0.05), ACEI/ARB (-0.38% per quarter, SE 0.13, P < 0.05) and reference PPI (-0.18% per quarter, SE 0.05, P < 0.05) prescriptions. CONCLUSIONS: There was a decrease in prescribing trends over time that was not specific to vascular protective medications. More effective knowledge translation strategies are needed to improve vascular protection in diabetes in order for patients to receive the most effective interventions.PostprintPeer reviewe

Audience responses to Contact!Unload: A Canadian research-based play about returning military veterans

Contact!Unload, a research-based play co-developed with veterans and community members, depicts the experiences of a group of veterans serving in Afghanistan (and elsewhere) and their transition home after overseas combat. The play was first produced in April 2015 in a professional theatre venue in Vancouver, and has subsequently been staged 15 times across Canada. To date, eight veterans have taken part as performers in this theatre initiative led by researchers in counselling psychology and theatre. This article takes a close look at the impact the theatre project has had on audience members and their perceptions of the play. Audience impact was measured through a mixed methods approach, using three focus group sessions, four interviews and a post-production written survey by audience members

Insights in creating and assessing experiential learning opportunities in a graduate qualitative research seminar

Qualitative research courses often focus on developing understanding of methodological theory and practice but lack practical training to enable students to actually do qualitative research (Bartels and Wagenaar, 2018). Greater emphasis on experiential learning activities offers one remedy for this problem. Experiential learning means learning by doing. Within a classroom setting, experiential learning first immerses learners in an experience and then encourages reflection about the experience in order to develop new skills, attitudes, and/or ways of thinking (Teaching and Learning Services, 2014). We employed both simulated and real-life experiential learning activities within a graduate-level qualitative research course offered to masters and doctoral students at the University of British Columbia (Canada). For experiential learning to be effective, it is essential to facilitate the transition from the experience to concrete learning through reflection and discussion. One major challenge to experiential learning is measuring the effectiveness of this transition for students with diverse backgrounds, skills, and learning styles. We share our successes and lessons learned in creating and assessing experiential learning activities based on results from weekly student reflections, notes from our course planning sessions, instructional staff reflective notes, and student course evaluations

Addressing water-health equity through biological engineering and theatre

For the past decade, RESEAU has been engaging with Indigenous and rural communities across Canada in pursuit of water-health equity. RESEAU consists of a team of engineers, community partners, industry groups, and government officials working together to develop innovative solutions for water-health in small communities. Over the last six years, RESEAU has partnered with the UBC Research-based Theatre Lab to develop Treading Water, a research-based theatre play that brings to life some of the rich stories discovered during these community collaborations. The play flows between the intersecting narratives of individuals in a community dealing with unsafe drinking water and explores the resulting challenges to their health and well-being. Water operators and their experiences are central in Treading Water, and the research-based play illustrates their pivotal role in the community. This article, like the theatre initiative described, aims to open conversations addressing water quality and health issues facing rural communities in the 21st century. The article shares the collaborative process of developing the play with the various partners, the short script, as well as feedback from a performer and an evaluator. Cover image: Boil water advisory lifted. Photo credit: RESEA

Evaluation – rethink, reshape, reform

The evaluation focused on the Teasdale-Corti initiative which supported programs of work combining applied research, knowledge translation and capacity building to solve pressing problems in low and middle income countries (LICs). The paper describes the evaluation approach, data sources, evidence of impact, research outputs and bibliometrics, and project outcomes. Engagement of knowledge users needs to be better planned for and defined. An evaluation framework can ensure consistency in messaging through the course of the project, especially when shorter timelines are framing complex situations