Leads: Dr. Leah Lambert, Annette Browne

This project is being led by a team of BC Cancer staff, researchers, lived experience advisors, community-based partners, and collaborators from the University of British Columbia, EQUIP Health Care and Vancouver Coastal Health Downtown Community Health Centre. The project is being funded by the Canadian Cancer Society Health Equity Grant.  

Background:

Vancouver, British Columbia includes some of the most concentrated areas of poverty in the Global North. People impacted by health and social inequities shaped by poverty, housing insecurity, racism, gender-based discrimination including transphobia, colonial violence, ableism, mental health and substance use stigma, and other forms of discrimination, experience

 alarming disparities across the cancer control continuum, including:

  • Being diagnosed with preventable cancers at rates that surpass the general population;
  • Dying of cancers that are generally curable;
  • Being diagnosed with advanced-stage disease for screening-detectible cancers;
  • Experiencing poor symptom management;
  • Receiving insufficient palliative and/or end-of-life care 
 

Purpose:

The goal of this authentic team-building project is to establish a community-engaged, collaborative research team positioned to conceptualize, and later conduct, research to redress cancer-related health inequities. 

 

Objectives:

  1.  Build authentic partnerships with people with lived experience of inequities, community-based primary care and social service organizations, and service providers.
 
  1. Co-host a series of engagement sessions where together we will discuss what is important  with regards to accessing and receiving cancer-related services and care, and explore priority issues of concern and research ideas.
   
  1. Co-create a set of research priorities with the community-based partners.  
 
  1. Co-design a research proposal aimed at investigating recommendations and solutions for promoting equity in cancer care and improving disparities in cancer outcomes in BC. 
   

Approach:

We are using an integrated knowledge translation approach to authentic team-building and issue identification that is informed by participatory action research methodology and a social determinants of health perspective. Through this project, we aim to develop long-term partnerships to meaningfully redress inequities across the cancer care.

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