Multi-site synthesis of community-based social support interventions involving Aboriginal families affected by allergies and asthma: A national research mobilization strategy

Asthma and allergies are the most common chronic conditions that Aboriginal youth in Canada endure today. Yet little research examines the support and education needs of Aboriginal youth living with asthma and allergies or the needs of their caregivers. Our national research team completed a multi-site project and intervention with Aboriginal community and organizational partners and asthma associations. The goal of this Dissemination Event (DE) Grant is to maximize the impact of our research activities by augmenting and expanding end-of-grant KT strategies and audiences to a national level. We aim to meet this goal by engaging in face-to-face cross-site (Alberta, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia) KT strategies. Specifically, we aim to undertake several activities, outlined as five key objectives: 1) Collectively compare and synthesize data from the three sites to identify similarities and differences in asthma and allergy support needs and innovation in intervention preferences between sites; 2) Identify key 'talking points' designed specifically for relevant government agencies, Aboriginal health organizations, and the research community; 3) Determine future research and intervention priorities concerning asthma and allergies involving Aboriginal peoples in Canada; 4) Create community-relevant KT products including a plain language summary report, poster, and YouTube story of the cross-site analysis for dissemination to community partners; 5) Prepare and submit open-access manuscripts based on cross-site comparative analyses. We anticipate that these DE activities will have a direct positive impact on personal and population health by improving community and individual-level support and education for Aboriginal families across Canada affected by asthma and allergies. Our proposed knowledge sharing strategy is also positioned to provide valuable guidance to policy makers working to improve health delivery systems (e.g. school boards, health centers, Aboriginal leaders).