President's Report
May 14, 2004
London, Ontario

The first year of my term as the President of the Canadian Association for Nursing Research (CANR) has been a thoroughly rewarding experience. I felt connected with nurse researchers and with those who are interested in promoting nursing research.

INFRASTRUCTURE ACTIVITIES

One of my first undertakings was to ensure that all of the positions on the Board of Directors were filled. The Board members represent the continuum of nurse researchers from novice to expert, nurse researchers in academic and hospital settings, and nurse researchers in every province and from the north.

The second important undertaking was to review and revise the CANR Bylaws. The review process consisted of 1) a teleconference call and feedback by e-mail with the Board of Directors, 2) further consultation with George Hynna, the lawyer who was involved in developing our bylaws, and 3) feedback from other interest groups affiliated with CAN. The proposed revisions will be discussed and voted on today.

To fulfill our purpose to foster research-based nursing practice and practice-based nursing research several activities have been carried out over the last year. Board members who attended the STTI conference in Toronto in Nov. 2003 met to develop a strategic plan. This plan is in developmental stages but provides us with some beginning direction.

ACTIVITES TO PROMOTE EXCELLENCE IN NURSING RESEARCH

Consortium for the Advancement of Nursing Science

One of the highlights of the year for me was attending the Pathfinding Reunion Meeting in Nov. 2003 in Toronto sponsored by the Office of Nursing Policy, Health Canada on The Consortium for the Advancement of Nursing Science. Representatives from ACEN, CANR, CASN, CNA, individual career scientists and nurse researchers were present. There was unanimous agreement for a consortium model. The mandate of the consortium is to:
- Monitor and develop capacity of nurse scientists
- Facilitate networking among nursing scientists and research trainees
- Market, communicate, and promote the significance of nursing science (e.g., recognize excellence in nursing science through wards and other means)
- Further develop programs for scholar support and training, and speak for nursing science in Canada.

Denise Alcock has been contracted by CNA to continue developing the consortium model. In April, Denise circulated a working paper A Canadian Organization for the Advancement of Nursing Science for discussion. CANR Board of Directors unanimously support the proposed consortium and feel that CANR brings an unique perspective to the Consortium as it represents all developmental levels of nurse researchers (novice to expert), those involved with research in clinical settings (e.g., small hospitals) and academic settings (e.g., large universities) and nurse researchers from every province and in the north. Support was expressed for the development and promotion of models for research-intensive environments for mentoring and fostering research skill development. Concern was expressed about fees as a source of revenue and the members do not appear ready to accept the idea of an 'academy'. I can send you copies of the documents if you leave your name and e-mail address with me.

CANR's Input

CANR is frequently requested to provide input on a variety of initiatives (e.g., CIHR Clinical Research Initiative to improve the support of clinician scientists at the training, transition, and faculty phases of their careers) or to find a nurse researcher who has a specific skill set to participate in new initiatives (e.g., someone to review the Preceptorship Competencies: Validation Tool). Riek van den Berg, represents CANR on the National Consensus Meeting on Work Life Indicators, sponsored by the Canadian Council of Health Services Accreditation and Health Canada. The CCHSA has recently released a report entitled National Consensus Meeting on Worklife Indicators.

CANR Awards

We had no response to our call for applications for our four Research Awards. I would like to thank Pam Hawranik and Mae Gallant, members of the Awards committee for your efforts in disseminating this information.

ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE THE VISIBILITY OF CANR

Website

A new webmaster was hired, Jason Onyskiw, who promises to make our website more user friendly and more informative for our members. For example we are investigating having our list serv connected to the website and making our membership list more accessible.

Presence at Conferences

I hope you visited our booth that is shared with the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research (CJNR) and the Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre (CCN/C).

A CANR booth will also be present at the CNA Biennium in June 2004 and Marlene Reimer will represent CANR at the CNA’s Associate/Affiliate Networking session prior to the Biennium.

In addition, as CANR's President, I will be making a keynote presentation at the Canadian Nurses Foundation luncheon on June 23, 2004 entitled What's Hot in Nursing Research Today. I wish to thank the Board Members for their input into this presentation.

Foster Relationships with Other Organizations

Our booth at this conference is shared with the CJNR. CANR has a joint membership option with the CJNR and we would like to foster these relationships because our goals are similar.

CANR would also like to foster our relationship with CASN. Lesley Young Lewis and I met with the executive of CASN (Carole Orchard, President, chair) in Toronto in November 2003 to discuss how CASN and CANR might work more closely together. I am pleased to see that the CASN Standing Committee on Research/Scholarship has recommended that "CANR be invited to participate on this committee".

As I look back on the last year, I am proud of the many activities and accomplishments of CANR and I thank the Board of Director members for all their support and assistance.

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National

Guidelines for the Awards of Excellence in Research

Pamela Hawranik

Nov-18-07

Click here to download Guidelines

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INTRODUCING WWW.CANR.CA

Lesley Young-Lewis

Jul-30-02

Welcome to our website for the Canadian Association for Nursing Research.

We want this site to be an up to date forum for news and ideas, and to provide members with contact information on researchers across the country and funding and news from provincial and federal sources.

Please send us your comments about the site and items for postings.

No news.

No news.

NEWS: Cochrane Library available to all Saskatchewans

D. Forbes

Oct-29-04

Exciting news from Saskatchewan re. The Cochrnae Library...

The Cochrane Library is now available to everyone in Saskatchewan.

On Oct. 21 Saskatchewan became the first province in Canada to provide all residents with free access to the most reliable, up-to-date research
evidence on medical interventions.

Individuals and health care providers in this province (Saskatchewan) can now log on to The Cochrane Library, a large Internet database designed to help providers make treatment decisions and inform patients about the care
they receive. The resource is available in all 13 health regions and in all public libraries, thanks to a partnership involving the Health Quality Council, The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre (University of Saskatchewan Site Group), the Multitype Database Licensing Program, and the Saskatchewan Provincial Library.

"We are delighted to be able to bring such a valuable resource to the people of Saskatchewan," says Dr. Ben Chan, Chief Executive Officer of
HQC. "No matter what corner of the province you live in, you will be able to access this amazing database of health information."

The Cochrane Library is the world's best single source of evidence about the effects of health care interventions. It is a collection of six
databases of health information, including systematic reviews. Systematic reviews are summaries of the findings of all research studies done on a specific topic. The Cochrane Library is produced by The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that aims to help people make well-informed decisions about health, and published by John Wiley & Sons
through Wiley InterScience.

"The Cochrane Library is the 'gold standard' in systematic reviews and evidence-based health information," says Janet Bangma, Saskatchewan
Co-Representative for The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre. "One of the challenges many people face in health care is finding reputable,
reliable information in a timely manner. Access to this information will make a significant ifference to health care providers and patients in
Saskatchewan. It is very exciting to have this resource available provincially; other provinces are trying to negotiate licenses but so far
we are the first to actually achieve it."

The Cochrane Library can be accessed in the health regions by using facility computers and logging on to w.thecochranelibrary.com. For
members of the public, or health care providers working from home, The Cochrane Library is available at all public libraries, and remotely
through the local library web site. Anyone with a library card can log in to a public library site.

"If you do not currently have a library card, please register for one today," says Marilyn Jenkins, Director of Public Library Planning for the Saskatchewan Provincial Library. "It's free. All you need is one form of ID to get access to this, and a wide range of information resources
available through Saskatchewan's public libraries. For anyone who has a health question or wants to know more about a condition, The Cochrane Library is a great resource to have available, literally at your fingertips."

The Health Quality Council is offering training sessions to health care providers, to assist them in learning how to use The Cochrane Library. If
you are interested in learning more about these sessions, please contact Christine Marshall, HQC Librarian, at (306) 668-8810 ext 131 or by email
at cmarshall@hqc.sk.ca.

For more information, please contact:

Shari Furniss
Health Quality Council
Tel: (306) 668-8810 ext 112
Email: sfurniss@hqc.sk.ca

Janet Bangma & Dorothy Forbes
The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre - University of Saskatchewan Site
Group Tel: (306) 966-6022; (306) 966-8239 Email: janet.bangma@usask.ca;
dorothy.forbes@usask.ca

Marilyn Jenkins
Saskatchewan Provincial Library
Tel: (306) 787-3005
Email: jenkins@prov.lib.sk.ca

No news.

Riek van den Berg

Dec-9-06

Hi!
Ontario has a provincial nursing research group with about 650 members. You can find out information about the group, what it is up to and the awards given out through our web site: http://www.nursingresearch-rnao.org/
The applications for 2007 are now available on the site.
The past chair of the Nursing Research Interest Group is the Ontario Representative on the CANR board.

No news.

Canada Research Chair Appointed, Healthy Child Development

UNB, Fredericton

Jun-15-06

Dr. Nicole Letourneau has been appointed as a
Tier 2 - Canada Research Chair in Healthy Child Development
University of New Brunswick

Program of Research
Designing and testing interventions that promote the healthy development of children vulnerable to less than optimal outcomes.

The research will contribute to a basic understanding of the link between early care giving experiences and children’s development.

Morning Shows the Day
The poet John Milton once wrote: “Childhood shows the man as morning shows the day.” Never could truer words have been spoken, according to Nicole Letourneau, Canada Research Chair in Healthy Child Development. When children don’t get the caring they need, she says, you can see it in the adults they become.

Without adequate support in their childhood, people are prone to difficulties in schooling, failed relationships, mental illness, delinquency, addictions and transmission of intergenerational vulnerability to their own children. And when we as a society fail to support our vulnerable children and their families, we are putting Canada’s current and future workforce, prosperity and social stability in peril.

Letourneau develops and supports interventions that help vulnerable children, mothers with postpartum depression and mothers and infants who are exposed to domestic violence. She also studies the impact of these interventions on parent-child relationships.

Letourneau’s research is providing a strong incentive for policy-makers and those who have influence on the development of social programs to implement the appropriate support interventions for these children and their families. Letourneau herself hopes that vulnerable families will eventually be provided with the necessary resources and knowledge to see their mornings show bright and happy days.

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Canada Research Chair Appointed: Chronic Illness

UNB

Jul-8-04

Dr. Barbara Paterson was awarded a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Chronic Illness. She joins the University of New Brunswick on July 1, 2004.

Her research involves:

Developing health-care strategies that are tailored to the needs and culture of Canadians with chronic illness who have limited access to health services.

Research Relevance

The research will contribute to knowledge of how people with chronic illness in all countries are taught to be more effective in managing their disease.

Self-help and the Chronically Ill: How Chronically Sick People Manage Their Illness Themselves

Many Canadians with chronic illness are unable to access appropriate health-care programs. Factors associated with socioeconomic status, geography, language, and culture have created barriers for those individuals in need of treatment. An expert in the management of chronic illness, Dr. Barbara Paterson has investigated how those individuals learn and apply the skills of self-management.

As the Canada Research Chair in Chronic Illness, Dr. Paterson is looking for new and expanded ways of fostering effective prevention and care of chronic illness among marginalized and medically unsupervised populations in Canada and beyond. In addition, she is providing population-specific evidence of what these patients need for self-management as they navigate the health-care system.

Dr. Paterson’s research is built on her previous research and theory development in the field of chronic illness. Her program uses an innovative approach that recognizes the complexity of social determinants of health in influencing how people with chronic illness manage their disease and access information and support for themselves. She examines determinants such as culture, the nature of the health-care system, and geographical location.

In the course of looking at population-specific health-care initiatives, Dr. Paterson is examining the impact e-health communication and learning has had among the target populations. It is expected that New Brunswick’s exceptional communication technology, combined with an evolving e-health initiative of the NRC Institute for Information Technology — e-Business at UNB, will provide a unique environment for studying fresh interventions for both health-care delivery and management of chronic illness.

Congratulations Barbara!

No news.

No news.

No news.