Wellbeing Convene during COVID-19: A pilot intervention for improving wellbeing and social connectedness for staff, students, residents, and faculty.

Background: Canada is facing its worst crisis among healthcare workers in recent healthcare history. Anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and severe burnout are higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. University Faculties of Medicine (FoMs) are vital to healthcare systems. Not only are they responsible for training personnel, but clinicians and staff from FoMs often work directly within healthcare systems. FoMs include students, staff, residents, faculty members, residents, researchers, and others, many experiencing higher stress levels due to pandemic tensions. Most FoMs emphasize cognitive and psychomotor learning needs. On the other hand, affective learning needs are not as well addressed within most FoMs. Finding innovative means to ameliorate mental and emotional health status, particularly at this critical juncture, will improve health and wellness, productivity, and retention. This article discusses a pilot program, Wellbeing Convene during COVID-19, in a Canadian FoM, which aimed to (1) provide staff, faculty, residents, and students with a toolkit for greater wellbeing and (2) build a sense of community during isolating times. Results: Participants found the program beneficial in both regards. We recommend that these kinds of programs be permanently available to all members in FoMs, at no cost. Wellness programs alone, however, will not solve the root causes of mental and emotional stress, often based on concerns related to finances, hierarchical workplace structures, and nature of the work itself, among other factors. Conclusion: Addressing the mental and emotional health of people in FoMs is vital to improving productivity and reducing stress of FoMs, healthcare professionals, and, ultimately, patients.

And Still She Rises: Policies for Improving Women's Health for a More Equitable Post-Pandemic World.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned crises of violence, hunger and impoverishment. Maternal and Infant Health Canada (MIHCan) conducted this policy action study to explore how changes that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic may catalyze potential improvements in global women's health toward the creation of a more equitable post-pandemic world. In this mixed methods study, 280 experts in women's health responded to our survey and 65 subsequently participated in focus groups, including professionals from India, Egypt/Sudan, Canada and the United States/Mexico. From the results of this study, our recommendations include augmenting mental health through more open dialogue, valuing and compensating those working on the frontlines through living wages, paid sick leave and enhanced benefits and expanding digital technology that facilitates flexible work locations, thereby freeing time for improving the wellbeing of caregivers and families and offering telemedicine and telecounseling, which delivers greater access to care. We also recommend bridging the digital divide through the widespread provision of reliable and affordable internet services and digital literacy training. These policy recommendations for employers, governments and health authorities aim to improve mental and physical wellbeing and working conditions, while leveraging the potential of digital technology for healthcare provision for those who identify as women, knowing that others will benefit. MIHCan took action on the recommendation to improve mental health through open conversation by facilitating campaigns in all study regions. Despite the devastation of the pandemic on global women's health, implementing these changes could yield improvements for years to come.

From millstones to milestones: Scaffolding a house of public health on political science foundations.

Background: We analyze the University of British Columbia's Department of Political Science's first course on health, "Global Politics and Health," to determine whether one course could inform political science students to tackle health issues. The major concept was global public health is politics writ large, as determinants of health are rooted in economic and social power. Course objectives encouraged student agency in ameliorating population health status. Methods: We use three surveys, with qualitative and quantitative components, to assess interest and knowledge of public health issues, and determine whether student agency increased as the course progressed. Results: We confirmed that political science develops an excellent foundation for the analysis of issues related to global public health status. One course can stimulate curiosity in health issues. Unexpectedly, we discovered that students' greatest learning outcome integrated personal, interpersonal, and scholarly analyses of health issues. This provided an avenue for students outside of the health sciences to frame mental health, sexuality, and other stigmatized subjects within scholarly discourse. After the course, virtually all students had developed a sense of agency, hope, and tools to understand the roots of mental and physical health. Following case studies on various countries, students quickly grasped the significant impact of politics and economics on people's health. Discussion: We recommend that political science departments offer courses that focus on health for all alongside existing courses on healthcare systems' politics. Furthermore, departments of public health may benefit from including political science courses as core elements of their curriculum to assist graduates in navigating the highly politicized infrastructure of public health. Both disciplines stand to gain from this interdisciplinary opportunity-- in the service of better health for all.

The perspectives of educators, regulators and funders of massage therapy on the state of the profession in British Columbia, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) are valuable members of the healthcare team who assist in health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliation. RMT visits have increased across Canada over the past decade with the highest increase in British Columbia (BC). Currently, RMTs are private practitioners of healthcare operating within a largely publicly funded system, positioning them outside of the dominant system of healthcare and making them an important case study in private healthcare. In another paper we examined the perspectives of RMTs themselves. Here, we offer perspectives of regulators, educators and funders of Massage Therapy (MT) on advancement of the profession. METHODS: We interviewed 28 stakeholders of MT in BC - including members of the MT regulatory board, representatives from MT colleges in BC and public and private health insurers. RESULTS: All three groups identified research, particularly on efficacy of MT, as playing a vital role in enhancing the professional credibility of MT. However, participants noted that presently research is not a large feature of the current MT curricula and we analyze why this may be and how it can improve. Finally, conferral of baccalaureate degree status could assist RMTs in gaining recognition with the general public and other healthcare professionals. CONCLUSION: RMTs have potential to ameliorate population health in a cost-effective manner. Their role in British Columbia's healthcare landscape could be expanded if they produce more research and earn degree status.