Nathan Skolski

Email: nathanskolski@okmain.cms.ok.ubc.ca


 

Don’t treat a COVID-19 vaccine like we did toilet paper

Health inequity and vaccine nationalism undermines health for all

With governments around the world seeking to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine and put a stop to the spread of the virus, one UBC Okanagan researcher says we should resist the urge to engage in nationalist policies for global health issues.

Katrina Plamondon is an assistant professor in UBCO’s School of Nursing and through her work with the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR) and Canadian Society for International Health, recently collected over 100 signatures of health and policy experts from across Canada calling on governments to engage in an equitable approach to vaccine development.

She explains how health equity is important in battling current and future pandemics and health crises.

What do you mean when you talk about health equity?

Health equity is an aspiration! It’s about striving for a world where, regardless of nationality, social class, education or other social and economic factors, people can live to their full potential, with access to things like quality health care, clean and safe drinking water, access to education and freedom from violence. It is closely tied to the ideals described in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and core values that most Canadians subscribe to, and are central to what our government argues for on the international stage.

How has COVID-19 affected equity around the world?

Before exploring the pandemic’s impact on health equity, I think it’s important to understand that systemic and pervasive health inequities were present long before COVID-19 entered our lives. The pandemic simply exposed them. We’re seeing today that navigating life during a pandemic is far more complex for people who were already in a position of social disadvantage.

And of course, the virus itself doesn’t discriminate. Though race-based data is limited in Canada, we know that Indigenous, Asian and other visible minorities are suffering disproportionately greater burdens of both this disease and social and economic impacts of policies related to it. There is no biological reason why Black Americans are hospitalized and dying at disproportionately alarming rates in the US, or why migrant agricultural workers in Canada are over-represented in COVID-19 outbreaks. Issues of equity are systemic and deeply rooted issues around things like systemic racism and how it differentially shapes housing, social mobility, economic opportunities and access to basic services.

How can you wash your hands, for example, if you have no home, or live in a refugee camp with no reliable access to clean water? How can you stay home from work when you’re sick, if staying home means you could lose your job?

You’ve spoken of ‘vaccine nationalism.’ What does that mean?

Governments around the world are under enormous political pressure to develop, manufacture and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as possible. Some wealthy countries, including Canada, have signed contracts with vaccine manufacturers to secure doses for exclusive use within their borders. That, in turn, has put further pressure on other countries to do the same. We are all served best when the vaccine is distributed equitably and universally, with science and respect for our shared humanity, rather than nationalism, dictating who gets the first doses and when.

I can’t help but draw a parallel between this national vaccine ‘hoarding’ and the panic to buy toilet paper in the early days of the pandemic. Though often described as irrational and unhelpful, many of us got caught up in the scramble. We couldn’t see that there was more than enough to go around, provided we all took only what we needed when we needed it. Likewise, if we work together to leverage the resources we share globally, aiming to protect our collective global health, everyone could have access to what is needed when it is needed.

What can we do to ensure equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine?

Before we can consider what to do, we should think about why we should do it. Canada, and all of its citizens, have moral obligations to improve the health of humanity as a whole. There are issues that are inherently global, that affect the health of all people, everywhere. COVID-19 is not the only issue like this, and future pandemics are entirely possible.

Our collective futures depend on our capacity to respond as a global community. What we do today matters now, and long into the future. We need to ensure that health equity is a key component of local, national and global health policies. And Canada has an important role to play. While we aren’t a global superpower, we are an influential middle power and I think we can take global health policy positions, especially around a COVID-19 vaccine, that shows the world how to make sure health of all of humanity isn’t sacrificed for national interests.

Has COVID-19 created an opportunity to rethink public health policy?

There’s no doubt that talking about health equity during a global health crisis can be extremely challenging! I have also never before been so hopeful for the future of humanity. The entire world is singularly focused on solving this emergency with some of the greatest minds working around the clock.

We are at an inflection point where existing systems and structures are primed to be reinvented and improved. That’s something we haven’t seen since the end of World War II. This pandemic offers a real opportunity to create new equity-centred policies and programs that prioritize creating a more balanced, equitable future for humanity.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

When is HIIT the best exercise fit?

UBCO researcher says interval exercise good for average people as a part of a ‘menu’ of options

Determining whether high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an appropriate form of exercise for the average person has been hotly debated for years. But for one UBC Okanagan researcher, there’s not much to debate—interval exercise, when used appropriately, can fit into people’s menu of flexible exercise options.

“The physiological benefits of HIIT or SIT [sprint-interval training] are well established,” says Matthew Stork, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences and study lead author. “What has been difficult to nail down is if interval-based exercise should be promoted in public health strategies. If so, how can we help people, especially those who are less physically active, get that kind of exercise on a regular basis and over the long term?”

Stork describes interval exercise as repeated short, high-intensity efforts that are separated by periods of low-intensity rest or recovery and that typically last around 20-25 minutes or less. HIIT usually consists of bouts performed around 80-90 per cent of a person’s maximum heart rate. SIT involves shorter bouts of activity, but at an even higher, “all-out” intensity.

“While SIT can be attractive for those who feel particularly short on time, it can be pretty off-putting for those that aren’t used to exercising at all-out intensities,” he explains.

And that, says Stork, is why there’s debate among exercise scientists.

While all styles of exercising have similar health benefits, critics of interval exercise argue that it’s not a sustainable public health strategy—it’s high-intensities may deter people from sticking with it in the long-term.

“Unsurprisingly, different people tolerate different exercise programs in different ways,” says Stork. “That makes it difficult to establish the ‘best’ exercise program for the ‘average’ person. There’s little research to unpack the experiences and perceptions of HIIT and SIT compared to traditional continuous exercise in the way we have in this study.”

Stork and his co-authors, including UBC Professor Kathleen Martin Ginis, interviewed 30 inactive adults—18 men and 12 women—before and after they participated in different types of continuous and interval exercise in a controlled lab setting and on their own free time.

Participants discussed the trade-offs of interval versus traditional exercise, the appeal of HIIT or SIT as an idea compared with actually doing it, and creative ways interval exercise can be adapted when working out on their own.

Stork says the factors that influence adherence to traditional or interval training are far more complex than what has been captured in research to date, but there’s certainly room for HIIT and SIT in exercise plans for the general public.

“I think many people assume that they need to go all-in on one form of exercise—if they’re a ‘HIIT person,’ they must have to do HIIT all the time,” he says. “But what I’m seeing is that different forms of exercise can be used interchangeably and that people should approach their exercise with a flexible ‘menu’ of options.”

Stork points to the parent of a toddler as an example.

“Maybe one day you only have 20 minutes to squeeze in a HIIT session while your child naps, but the next day you prefer an hour-long hike up the mountain to destress from work. As long as you’re getting a bit of exercise, you should feel empowered to choose a protocol that fits your needs in that particular time and situation.”

He says the next stage of this research is to determine what tools and resources can be used to help people engage in HIIT or SIT on their own while unsupervised.

“If we can provide more guidance on how people can adapt interval exercise to cater to their own fitness levels and needs, the more likely they may actually enjoy it and stay motivated. I’m a big believer in the benefits of regular physical activity, and the more barriers we can remove, the better.”

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Jennifer Davis hopes to use applied health economics to improve elderly patient care.

Applied health economics and patient partnerships can pinpoint cost-effective lifestyle interventions

Health economics might not be the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to treating elderly patients, but it is just one of the innovations being used by clinically applied health economist Jennifer Davis to help improve care among seniors.

Davis, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Management at UBC’s Okanagan campus, is being supported this year with a 2020 Scholar Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR).

She discusses her ground-breaking investigations into cost-effective measures that improve quality of life for seniors and relieve economic burdens on the health-care system.

What are some of the challenges with working with older adult populations?

We know that we can prevent falls, and that we can prevent them in a way that provides the health-care system with good value for money. The big struggle is that lifestyle interventions are often fraught with low adherence—meaning the patient may not typically follow through with the prescribed recommendations. An innovative component of my program is working with seniors directly as patient partners and as patient participants to get their views on what they think will help improve adherence. We use that data to develop a model for interventions that we believe, or know, to be effective.

Research often collects data from subjects and then moves on. How is your research different?

We’re working with a subgroup of seniors that are participating as patient partners in helping shape the research study, offering feedback on study protocol, procedures and insights into what areas to investigate. They act as co-investigators and form part of our research team, as opposed to simply providing us with data as a research participant. There's a movement now to include patients as partners in research because of the unique and essential perspectives they provide.

One challenge with this elderly population is the higher likelihood of having cognitive or mobility impairments. So, through a funding opportunity provided by the BC Support Unit, we have now developed a new approach for working with these frail older adults who are more vulnerable, to get their feedback on our research process that we hope will ultimately enable us to deliver feasible and translatable interventions to this population.

Health economics and patient partnership is a unique combination. How can this combination of approaches help prevent injury in senior populations?

I will explore the application of clinically applied health economic methods to predict the efficiency of different clinical interventions for specific subgroups of individuals. In the end, it may help us tailor health policy recommendations to specific groups of patients or individuals.

This work has the potential to be felt around the globe. Falls are the leading cause of chronic disability, injury and mortality worldwide, placing a heavy burden on health-care systems. According to the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, falls are the leading cause of injury for seniors, with direct health-care costs reaching an estimated $2 billion annually.

What do you hope to achieve with your research?

I've always been passionate about working with older adults. As a kid, I always enjoyed hearing stories from older adults about their life experiences. Over the years, I have witnessed struggles that the elderly experience as they age—not just loneliness, but declines in mobility and cognition that lead to frailty and the loss of independence. The ultimate goal for me is to conduct research that can improve the quality of life of older people here in Canada and around the world.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

A young person vaping an e-cigarette.

A young person vaping an e-cigarette.

E-cigarette companies know how to target their products

UBC researchers are raising the alarm about the increase of vaping among teenagers and how e-cigarette marketing strategies target youth.

Assistant Professor Laura Struik, who teaches in UBC Okanagan’s School of Nursing, recently published a paper examining why teens take up vaping and whether advertising capitalizes on those reasons.

“This is the first study of its kind that makes direct links between reasons for youth uptake and the marketing strategies of e-cigarette companies,” says Struik. “The public needs to know how the next generation is being targeted to take up and ultimately become addicted to these nicotine products."

Struik conducted the study with Assistant Professor Sarah Dow-Fleisner, who conducts research in the UBCO School of Social Work on development trajectories and resilient functioning of children and families in high-risk contexts.

The researchers say there are a variety of reasons teens take up vaping—ranging anywhere from managing stress or anxiety, curiosity, taste, peer pressure, easy access and even factors like it’s easy to hide from parents and is perceived to be less harmful than cigarettes.

When e-cigarettes first entered the North American market in 2008, they were hailed as a smoking cessation tool. However, Dow-Fleisner says when they take a closer look at who uses them, it’s clear teens do not use the products to quit smoking.

“According to recent statistics, only three per cent of Canadian youth in grades 7 to 12 are current smokers—while 20 per cent use e-cigarettes,” she says. “This suggests that upwards of 17 per cent of e-cigarette users were originally non-smokers. In addition, among youth who do smoke combustible cigarettes, fewer than eight per cent of those report using e-cigarettes to quit smoking.”

Recent polls found that 95 per cent of teens said they were curious about vaping so they wanted to try it, while 81 per cent tried an e-cigarette because a friend vaped, and 80 per cent reported continued e-cigarette use because they enjoyed the good flavours. More than 70 per cent of the teens agreed e-cigarettes were “cool and fun.”

Despite emerging evidence of both short- and long-term health risks associated with vaping, Struik says the evidence is clear the other reasons teens take up vaping override the health risks.

"Youth don't make the decision to vape because they don't understand the risks or don't care about the risks,” she says. “Young people are taking up vaping for a variety of reasons and e-cigarette companies are leveraging those diverse reasons to recruit teens into using their products. And it's working.”

Struik and Dow-Fleisner, with their research assistants and UBCO’s Associate Chief Librarian Robert Janke, reviewed more than 800 studies and viewed numerous e-cigarettes TV commercials.

“The TV advertisements we reviewed were found to tap into almost all of the reasons youth cite for taking up e-cigarettes,” says Dow-Fleisner. “The most highly-cited reasons were most prominently presented in the ads, including a focus on relational aspects of vaping and product-related benefits, such as a positive sensory experience.”

A noteworthy finding is that vaping advertisements do promote e-cigarettes as a way to enhance your social life, says Struik.

“This is particularly concerning because teens are at a developmental stage when establishing a social identity is of utmost importance to them,” she says. “It has been found in previous research that forming an identity around other forms of tobacco use, like smoking, results in resistance to health promotion efforts. So, we may have a more challenging context to work with than originally thought when it comes to intervening.”

Youth vaping is a concern, she adds, and there is a growing need for comprehensive strategic plans to curtail their use of e-cigarettes.

“It is clear that we need to bring youth to the table to understand how we can generate relevant information and interventions to support their decision to not vape,” says Struik. “Our health promotion efforts need to keep up by accommodating the various reasons youth report vaping, and youth need to be meaningfully included to navigate this issue.”

The research was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

UBC Okanagan researchers Sadaf Shabanian (left) and Kevin Golovin (right) test water-repellent fabric treatment.

UBC Okanagan researchers Sadaf Shabanian (left) and Kevin Golovin (right) test water-repellent fabric treatment.

New research creates sustainable and non-toxic replacement for traditional water-repellent chemistry

A sustainable, non-toxic and high-performance water-repellent fabric has long been the holy grail of outdoor enthusiasts and clothing companies alike. New research from UBC Okanagan and outdoor apparel giant Arc’teryx is making that goal one step closer to reality with one of the world’s first non-toxic oil and water-repellent performance textile finishes.

The research was published this week in the journal Nature Sustainability.

Outdoor fabrics are typically treated with perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) to repel oil and water. But according to Sadaf Shabanian, doctoral student at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering and study lead author, PFCs come with a number of problems.

“PFCs have long been the standard for stain repellents, from clothing to non-stick frying pans, but we know these chemicals have a detrimental impact on human health and the environment,” explains Shabanian. “They pose a persistent, long-term risk to health and the environment because they take hundreds of years to breakdown and linger both in the environment and our bodies.”

According to Mary Glasper, materials developer at Arc’teryx and collaborator on the project, these lasting impacts are one of the major motivations for clothing companies to seek out new methods to achieve the same or better repellent properties in their products.

To solve the problem, Shabanian and the research team added a nanoscopic layer of silicone to each fibre in a woven fabric, creating an oil-repellent jacket fabric that repels water, sweat and oils.

By understanding how the textile weave and fibre roughness affect the liquid interactions, Shabanian says she was able to design a fabric finish that did not use any PFCs.

“The best part of the new design is that the fabric finish can be made from biodegradable materials and can be recyclable,” she says. “It addresses many of the issues related to PFC-based repellent products and remains highly suitable for the kind of technical apparel consumers and manufacturers are looking for.”

Arc’teryx is excited about the potential of this solution.

“An oil- and water-repellent finish that doesn’t rely on PFCs is enormously important in the world of textiles and is something the whole outdoor apparel industry has been working on for years,” says Glasper. “Now that we have a proof-of-concept, we’ll look to expand its application to other DWR-treated textiles used in our products and to improve the durability of the treatment.”

“Working to lessen material impacts on the environment is crucial for Arc’teryx to meet our goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 65 per cent in intensity by 2030,” she adds.

Kevin Golovin, principal investigator of the Okanagan Polymer Engineering Research & Applications Lab where the research was done, says the new research is important because it opens up a new area of green textile manufacturing.

He explains that while the new technology has immense potential, there are still several more years of development and testing needed before people will see fabrics with this treatment in stores.

“Demonstrating oil repellency without the use of PFCs is a critical first step towards a truly sustainable fabric finish,” says Golovin. “And it’s something previously thought impossible.”

The research is funded through a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), with support from Arc’teryx Equipment Inc.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

About Arc’teryx

Arc’teryx is a Canadian company based in the Coast Mountains. Our design process is connected to the real world, focused on delivering durable, unrivaled performance. Our products are distributed through more than 3,000 retail locations worldwide, including over 80 branded stores. We are problem solvers, always evolving and searching for a better way to deliver resolved, minimalist designs. Good design that matters makes lives better.

To find out more, visit: www.arcteryx.com

UBCO associate professor Nelly Oelke is one of the researchers receiving funding from the interior university research coalition for her work in mental health resilience in rural communities

Interior university research coalition funds research to improve the lives of those living outside large urban centres

The challenges facing rural and remote communities do not always make front-page news, but this lack of attention does not make them less important, especially for those who live there.

Supported by the Interior University Research Coalition’s (IURC) Regional/Rural/Remote Communities (R3C) Collaborative Research Grant, three Interior university research teams will address the complex problems faced by British Columbians who live outside large metropolitan areas. The funded projects grapple with disparate topics such as aging, water treatment and mental-health resiliency in the face of climate change.

“Rural and remote communities in non-metropolitan areas are experiencing economic, social and environmental changes that are profound and complex,” says Janice Larsen, IURC director.

“It is vital to understand and support the healthy and stable development of our society, our economy and our environment,” she adds.

Each of these three research teams receives $40,000 to complete their projects.

TRU associate professor Wendy Hulko, joined by UBCO’s Kathy Rush and UNBC’s Sarah De Leeuw, leads a project investigating the results of the Interior Health’s repositioning of health-care services for seniors. The intent of repositioning services was to enable older adults to live at home longer, reduce hospital admissions and delay residential care.

One of the outcomes of Interior Health’s service restructure was the creation of health and wellness centres in Kamloops and Kelowna. The centres provide primary health care for older adults and were designed to create better access to health services for vulnerable populations. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will certainly play a role in the study, says Hulko.

“One of the goals of these wellness centres was to get people connected to care, but we will have to find out how those services have been impacted by the pandemic and how the pandemic is impacting the ability of older adults to age in place,” she explains.

UNBC Environmental Engineering professor Jianbing Li leads research to develop an effective, low-cost, portable water-treatment system for remote and rural communities. Due to a lack of resources, rural communities have long faced challenges in accessing potable water, and consumption of untreated water poses health risks. Joined by Rehan Sadiq and Kasun Hewage, professors in UBCO’s School of Engineering, the research team aims to develop a household water-treatment system that would remove common contaminants from rural water sources. By the project’s end, a prototype of the water treatment system would be demonstrated in the community.

“Having reliable access to a safe drinking water supply is essential for the healthy development of rural, regional and remote communities,” says Li. “Our interdisciplinary research team is working toward discovering a water treatment solution, training graduate students and developing meaningful partnerships with relevant communities in British Columbia.”

UBCO associate professor Nelly Oelke leads a project that aims to foster resilience in rural and remote communities by developing a greater understanding of the mental-health impacts of climate-change events.

“Climate-change events can result in extreme physical and psychological trauma for vulnerable populations living in rural and remote communities,” says Oelke. “PTSD, depression, anxiety, increased substance use and suicidality are all found to increase during and after problematic flooding, wildfires and drought, which are becoming more and more common in BC and around the world.”

She adds that many of the approaches used to address mental health relating to natural disasters are also used in pandemics and the evidence-based solutions they develop will provide increased support to Indigenous peoples, people living in poverty, children and first responders.

The research takes place in the Similkameen region of BC’s Southern Interior, including Keremeos, Hedley and Princeton, in addition to Ashcroft in the Thompson-Okanagan region and Burns Lake in Northern BC. Collaborators on this project include Sue Pollock (interim chief medical health officer at Interior Health), UNBC’s Davina Banner, TRU’s Bonnie Fournier and UBCO’s Lauren Airth and Carolyn Szostak. One outcome of this project is the development of community-based action plans for mental-health support, as research shows rural communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change.

“This is a very exciting project and allows me to build upon the relationships I have already developed in Ashcroft, while also allowing me to work alongside two really fantastic researchers,” says Fournier. “The R3C program is innovative and unique, and I haven’t seen anything like it across Canada.”

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Funds will bring Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action into the classroom

As Canada seeks responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, university researchers and local partners have come together to seek respectful ways for educators to align their teaching practices toward reconciliation.

UBC Okanagan is receiving a $1 million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant to establish a partnership research initiative for the next five years.

The project—Co-Curricular-Making: Honoring Indigenous Connections to Land, Culture and the Relational Self—is led by Margaret Macintyre Latta, director of UBC Okanagan’s School of Education. Community partners include the Okanagan Nation Alliance, Central Okanagan Public Schools, IndigenEYEZ, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna Museums Society and the universities of Alberta and Ottawa.

“As partners committed to education’s importance within reconciliation, we will be working together to map out needed understandings, and enactment, to enhance collective efforts towards truth, reconciliation and healing in classrooms to realize the transforming potential of education,” says Macintyre Latta. “We are so appreciative of the community support and investment in this project.”

The partnership will bring local Elders and Knowledge Keepers together with participating educators and the extended community. By the end of the five-year project, teachers and their students will have gained deeper understandings of Syilx culture with teachings that connect land, culture and understandings of self in the world.

“We’ll be building an understanding of how to help educators create safe spaces for challenging discussions across diversity and inequality. We’ll be in the schools with them as they support students to make meaning out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission content, see other points of view, and learn from our shared history in order to bring change that makes us all stronger together,” says Kelly Terbasket, program director and co-founder of IndigenEYEZ.

University and community partners will design and deliver learning opportunities that will help teachers in confronting and challenging the colonizing practices that have influenced education. These experiences will study the education conditions that challenge participation in reconciling conversations, grapple with personal narratives, and grow understandings of the histories of colonized and colonizers.

"Central Okanagan Public Schools have just signed an Equity in Action Agreement with our Indigenous communities. The document reflects the district's intention to create equity in academic results, self-determination and cultural pride and awareness for our Indigenous students. This grant will help staff have the necessary curricula and academic supports and resources to make this aspiration a reality. We are excited to be learning together," says Kevin Kaardal, superintendent of schools and CEO of Central Okanagan Public Schools.

Deputy Superintendent of Schools Terry-Lee Beaudry has been the district's lead collaborator in working closely with the Okanagan School of Education and Indigenous community partners to support the development of the SSHRC grant proposal.

"The announcement of this grant will enable greater community and post-secondary collaborations,” says Beaudry. “This will help foster equitable practices for each learner in our district to attain a deeper understanding of human rights, responsibilities and their part in reconciliation."

Macintyre Latta says the partnership will further curricular pathways in kindergarten to grade 12 education, productively contributing towards reconciliation across Canada.

And Pauline Terbasket, executive director of the Okanagan Nation Alliance, says this is an important step forward.

“This is a project that pursues and is open to new teachings, new practices, new possibilities, new transformed societies that build upon a civil society and builds-up people and how we relate to one another, our environment and our planet. All critical to all our survival,” says Terbasket. “Indigenous education is about knowing where you are and where you come from—our connection to land and each other.”

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Team will seek input from hundreds of citizens in an online deliberation series

UBC researchers are looking to bring the public’s voice to the next phase of COVID-19 public policy through an online deliberation series and ask for the public’s help by volunteering to share their thoughts.

“As governments begin easing restrictions on social distancing and business closures imposed as a result of the global pandemic, it’s critical that decision-makers understand public perception of COVID-19 policies. That’s why we launched our online deliberation Public Input into Pandemic Planning,” says Kim McGrail, professor of population and public health and director of research at UBC Health.

McGrail stresses that the results of their research will be openly available to decision-makers and the public in BC and across Canada and she hopes it can help shape COVID-19 policy going forward.

The first topic up for discussion, she says, is the potential benefits and drawbacks of contact tracing apps.

“Deliberation is foundational to our democratic process and public input into BC’s evolving COVID-19 response is essential,” says McGrail. “If governments are to make sound policy decisions that garner broad public support, they need public input. In this unprecedented era of global pandemic, public engagement in policymaking is more important than ever.”

The multi-disciplinary, internationally-renowned deliberation team is led by McGrail in collaboration with Michael Burgess from UBC’s Okanagan campus, Stuart Peacock from Simon Fraser University and Kieran O’Doherty from the University of Guelph.

Over the past 15 years, they have conducted 25 public deliberations on crucial policy issues like cancer drug funding, biobanks and data protection. Their work is widely published and has informed policies and laws, changed professional practices, and transformed how research and clinical activities are governed.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team has shifted their unique model of deliberative engagement online, embracing the necessity of video conferencing technology despite many challenges, says Burgess, professor of ethics and Associate Provost, Strategy at UBC Okanagan.

“We knew it was important to get public input on the next phase of the pandemic response in BC because it will have a profound impact on people’s lives, and we knew we needed to do it quickly,” explains Burgess. “But we also had to follow the physical distancing protocol recommended by the Public Health Officer. That meant rapidly adapting our deliberative method and moving online.”

He adds that incorporating technology into the deliberative process can bring challenges of accessibility and diversity.

“Some people might lack technical skill or comfort with expressing their view online or publicly; others might not have a device or an internet connection, which could exclude people based on age, income or ability,” says Burgess.

According to McGrail, the team has addressed those issues by reaching out to community groups and encouraging them to host their own deliberations, or assist their community members to participate.

“We carefully designed this deliberation so we can use it over and over again in different places and with different questions. We hope this will be the first of many deliberative public engagements that provide input to pandemic policy.”

People can volunteer to participate in an online deliberation until Friday, May 22 at: www.chspr.ubc.ca/covid

They can also host their own Community Conversation and contribute to the policy discussion. A Community Conversation Kit, with all the materials needed to run a deliberation from home, can be found at:www.chspr.ubc.ca/covid

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Jennifer Jakobi, professor in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences.

Jennifer Jakobi, professor in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences.

UBC Okanagan research shows strength training is effective

Physical exercise may not be top of mind for older adults during the COVID-19 outbreak. But according to one UBC Okanagan researcher, strength training can be an effective way to stay healthy while at home.

A recent study from UBCO professor Jenn Jakobi shows that strength training with free-weights that progresses in intensity is effective in combating declining health often observed with adult aging.

­­“Inactivity and social isolation are key contributors to age-related frailty,” says Jakobi. “While social isolation is a complex challenge these days, there is absolutely some work we can do on enhancing exercise at home.”

She adds that physical movement and exercise, inclusive of weight training, can be readily adapted for the home but advises that anyone looking to start a new exercise program should consult with their physician first.

Jakobi, a professor in UBC Okanagan’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences, defines frailty as reduced function and health in older adults. Features include unintentional weight loss, slow walking speed, muscle weakness, fatigue and low activity levels. If left unchecked this may lead to declines in health and functional independence which might require longer-term care.

“Age isn’t necessarily always associated with being frail, and frailty isn’t reserved for just old age—it can occur at any point in adulthood,” says Jakobi. “Yet, it is dynamic and can be reversed. Maintaining and building muscle strength is key.”

Jakobi and her research team wanted to explore whether progressive-resistance exercises can be effective at altering the path to this vulnerability.

After an initial screening of 53 older adults, the lab-based study evaluated 21 pre-frail women over the age of 65, divided into two groups. One group participated in a progressively intense free weight exercise program three-times-a-week for 12 weeks. Their exercises mimicked movements of normal life, and which may become difficult for some as they age.

“For example, we asked participants to complete a series of squats, replicating sitting-down and standing up,” explains Nick Bray, former UBCO graduate student and co-author of the study. “We also asked them to perform dead-lifts, which mimic picking-up groceries.”

The other group simply maintained their normal routines.

Measurements of muscle strength and performance were compared between the groups after the 12-week session. Not only did the exercise group improve their muscle performance and become less frail, they did so without injury.

“The exercise group improved in all measures including walking speed, grip strength and sit-to-stand time,” says Jakobi. “Also, these changes were seen as early as nine weeks into the program.”

She adds that their findings dispel the myth of strength training being unsuitable for pre-frail older adults.

“Traditionally, older adults opt for low-intensity, and low-resistance exercise because they believe that heavy free-weight exercise isn’t right for them. Our findings show the opposite.”

Although the research into heavy resistance training is novel and in its early phases this style of exercise is showing great promise. None of the exercise participants opted-out of the program or reported negative events and all improved in functional movement.

To help those interested in using this new research in their home during this period of physical distancing, Jakobi and her team have created an exercise worksheet and other at-home resources that highlight beginning phases of these progressive movements.

“This type of activity is appropriate and can be enjoyable,” says Jakobi. She suggests just going for it.

“Try something new and lift progressively more. You should feel a good healthy challenge.”

This study was recently published in The Journal of Frailty and Aging and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Rebecca Tyson, associate professor of mathematical biology.

Rebecca Tyson, associate professor of mathematical biology.

Research links polarization, echo chambers to the spread of disease

Understanding how disease is passed from one individual to another has long been key to protecting populations from diseases like COVID-19. But new research from UBC’s Okanagan campus suggests that polarized opinions and apathy towards taking action can move through society like a virus and can seriously endanger efforts to contain a pandemic.

Rebecca Tyson is an associate professor of mathematical biology at UBC Okanagan and study lead author. She says that opinions and behaviours—like engaging in frequent hand washing, avoiding physical contact, or taking the threat of a pandemic seriously—can themselves spread throughout society and play an important role in how disease is transmitted during an epidemic.

“While we didn’t have COVID-19 specifically in mind when we conducted our research, we did try to imagine an epidemic that didn’t have a vaccine and that was best prevented by hand washing and other relatively simple actions,” says Tyson. “Behaviours like these can have extremes on either end of the spectrum, from denying the problem and doing nothing to completely isolating oneself.”

Using a mathematical model for both the spread of opinion—or opinion dynamics—and the spread of disease, she and her team were interested in how the presence, distribution and transmission of extreme behaviours can influence the epidemiology of a pandemic. They were particularly interested in how quickly a pandemic can take hold, the infection peak, the final number of those infected and the risk of a second peak.

“Our results show that opinion dynamics have a profound effect on the progression of disease in a population,” says Tyson. “In particular, the state of public opinion at the onset of a pandemic can have enormous influence—either dramatically reducing the fraction of the population that will be infected and the peak epidemic size, or making the epidemic worse than it would be otherwise.”

Tyson points to Hong Kong as an illustrative case of a population that was quick to adopt physical distance rules and were highly compliant with government regulations to eliminate spread, noting that COVID-19 is largely under control there. She adds that other countries, where compliance with government regulations was lower or slower, are having a much harder time.

While she’s quick to point out that her research is focused on mathematical models, she adds that the current COVID-19 outbreak is already showing some of the same outcomes she predicted in her models.

“Our models show that when faith in opinion influencers, like public health officials, is high, extreme preventative behaviours like quarantine and social distancing spread quickly through the population and the pandemic slows,” says Tyson. “This is exactly what we’re seeing in places like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea.”

On the other hand, Tyson says that populations that are politically polarized can see the disease spread much more quickly. Extreme behaviours, like disbelief in the problem, are amplified through influencer ‘echo chambers,’ which include mainstream or social media, creating pockets where the disease can spread more quickly.

“I believe this is part of the issue in the United States, where faith in government and public health officials is perhaps weaker than it is elsewhere and where there has been mixed messaging from different levels of government,” Tyson adds.

Looking to the future, she says her model shows that sustained and extreme physical distancing and hygiene behaviours are necessary to keep a highly-infectious disease at bay.

While the research provides a useful model for explaining the evolution of a pandemic, Tyson says that there are limitations.

“We assume things like a well-mixed population and we’re simplifying very complex human behaviour,” she says. “But there are definitely lessons in how opinion can shape the course of a pandemic and how we can leverage media and influencers to help keep public opinion from making a difficult problem worse.”

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca