Special Initiatives

Completed Initiatives

Active Communities Initiative Evaluation

The BC Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport has contracted MSFHR to undertake an independent evaluation of the Active Communities Initiative.

Delivered by the BC Recreation and Parks Association, the Active Communities Initiative (ACI) provides a range of resources and support to registered Active Community Teams and others interested in promoting physical activity within their community. With funding from the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport through ActNow BC, and in partnership with 2010 Legacies Now, ACI is one of several provincial initiatives working toward the goal of increasing the number of physically active British Columbians by 20 per cent by 2010. There are more than 165 Active Communities registered across BC.

The evaluation consists of two phases: Phase I (2008) involved the development of evaluation options through consultation with an Evaluation Advisory Committee composed of key stakeholders, and advice from a panel of experts in the fields of program evaluation, community development, health promotion, and physical activity; Phase II (2008/2009) involves the implementation of an evaluation option as selected by the Ministry.

In November 2008, the Ministry elected to fund an implementation evaluation through a review of existing ACI documentation and data. MSFHR contracted with evaluation consultants at Cathexis Consulting Inc. to conduct the document review. The findings will be presented to the Ministry and other stakeholders in April 2009.

Active Communities website

Early Childhood Development Program Evaluation

In January 2009, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research hosted a gathering of stakeholders and experts with specialization in early child development (ECD) to review a parenting support programming evaluation framework developed by ECD funders and community-based agencies in BC. Led by the Success By 6 Initiative and funded by the Max Bell Foundation, development of the evaluation framework is one component of a larger ECD Evaluation Project to provide common tools and reporting systems for measuring the effectiveness of ECD programs across BC.

The panel of experts was established by MSFHR to provide advice and recommendations on the design of the evaluation framework and its implementation. With expertise in child development, family support programming, and community-based evaluation, these experts included:

Dr. Carl Dunst, Research Scientist and Director,Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute, North Carolina
Dr. Rebecca Gokiert, Assistant Director,Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP): Early Childhood Measurement and Evaluation, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Dr. Rob Santos, Scientific Director and Senior Policy Advisor, Healthy Child Manitoba, Winnipeg
Dr. Carol Crill-Russell, Senior Research Associate, Invest in Kids, Toronto
Dr. Theresa Healy, Regional Manager, Healthy Community Development for Northern Health; Professor, UNBC, Prince George

Children & Youth with Special Needs (CYSN)

In 2005, the Government of British Columbia provided a one-time award of $2.5 million to MSFHR to assist with a multi-ministry initiative to enhance services to children and youth with special needs (CYSN). Working with the Ministries of Health, Education and Children and Family Development, MSFHR provided facilitation and process support for a number of projects, including:

an inventory of CYSN-related research activity and funding in Canada, the US and the UK, 2000 to 2005;
a White Paper on Outcomes and Indicators; an environmental scan of best practices for knowledge translation;
plans for two research-based pilot projects to evaluate promising service delivery practices; and
a national consensus conference held in August, 2006 focusing on priorities for CYSN-related research.

The Government of British Columbia subsequently published a framework for action outlining strategies to improve access, quality and coordination of services for children and youth with special needs and their families.

View the framework on the BC Government website.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders

At the request of the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development, MSFHR contracted with the Canada Northwest FASD Partnership to support the partnership's efforts to create a proposal for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders (FASD) research networking. The consultation focused on networking to create and enhance links between investigators, policy-makers, care providers and consumers in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Canada's three northern territories.

MSFHR delivered a report to the seven jurisdictions’ Ministers in November 2003, at which time government officials were instructed by the Ministers to explore implementation options for the recommended networking strategies. The central recommendation of the report was to create a regional FASD research network, with a host organization in one of the participating jurisdictions designated to coordinate network activities.

On October 18, 2004 the Ministry of Children and Family Development announced that the partnership had decided to implement this recommendation and that an application from BC’s Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) was the successful applicant for the designation of host organization. Through the BC Research Institute for Children’s & Women’s Health, PHSA recruited internationally-recognized FASD researcher Dr. Sterling Clarren to serve as the Scientific Director of the new Western/Northern FASD Research Network.

BC Ministry of Children and Family Development news release on FASD research network

Autism Spectrum Disorders

During 2003/2004 MSFHR worked with the BC Ministry of Health to build capacity for research into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders. MSFHR assisted with data collection and analysis of research activity and funding to provide a reference point for future planning for a northwest regional collaboration to support this research. The inventory encompassed research across the country supported by major national/international granting agencies, as well as activity in Canada's west and north that is supported by various funding agencies and/or governments. It was designed as a tool for policy-makers, researchers, service providers and organizations funding health research.

In March 2004, the inventory was presented to an invitational meeting of policy makers, researchers and health research funding agencies from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NWT and the Yukon. The meeting brought together more than 60 stakeholders from across Western and Northern Canada, with the goal of identifying opportunities for these jurisdictions to join together in efforts to build capacity for evidence-based policy and service delivery. A series of presentations were made, covering three key areas:

Updates on major autism research activities, particularly through network groups, across Canada
Information about the benefits of research networking
Inventory and database initiatives of particular relevance to Western autism research capacity.

More information:

MSFHR Inventory of Autism Research in Canada (PDF)
Autism Conference Agenda (PDF)
Autism Conference Proceedings (PDF)

SARS Vaccine Development Initiative

In April 2003, the BC Government named MSFHR to manage the SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative (SAVI), a $2.6 million investment to fast track the development of a SARS vaccine. The initiative led to the development of three potential vaccines in record time.