Meghan Winters, Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Title

Population Health Intervention Research: experiences of population health researcher working in transportation space

Time

1:40pm - 3:00pm

Location

Remote

Abstract

“Population health intervention research” refers to the use of scientific methods to produce knowledge about policy and program interventions that operate within or outside of the health sector and have the potential to impact health status and health equity at the population level. But what do all those words mean in terms of a research program? In the transportation context, these “interventions” may be any changes in cities – new transportation policies, rapid transit or bicycle facilities, or programs to support new people to use sustainable transportation. Thus, population health intervention research aims to understand the impacts of these interventions (how much?), how they are distributed (for whom?), and how the interventions work in different contexts (where?). Population health intervention research requires close intersectoral partnerships from design to dissemination: one has to be nimble to design and fund a research study around a real-world change, and then to get results to decision-makers in a timely manner. The scope of the work means one needs to draw on a range of methodologies, from quantitative surveys, to spatial analysis, to focus groups and interviews, to policy analysis.

This presentation will introduce several of population health intervention research studies conducted by the CHATR lab and collaborators, including the INTERventions, Equity, Research, and Action (INTERACT, https://teaminteract.ca/), and Mobilizing Justice Partnership (https://mobilizingjustice.ca/). The topics and methods are likely to resonate with work at ITS-Davis, while some of the language and specific framing may present some new interdisciplinary insights. You may find you are already doing population health intervention research

Biographical Sketch