{"title":"From the Editors.","authors":"Anne Wojtak, Richard Lewanczuk","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27688","DOIUrl":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27688","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite myriad challenges faced by Canadians, and with ongoing political issues, it is reassuring to see that our policy makers continue to stay focused on along the healthcare crises. This is a signal of how vitally we rely on our publicly funded system, how much it is woven into the fabric of our national identity and how much we are feeling the effects of a system at the brink. We also understand that health and healthcare are impacted by a broad range of factors that require adaptive and innovative solutions. As we look across the country, our editorial team continues to be inspired by this kind of leadership, and we are excited to highlight leading practices in each edition of <i>Healthcare Quarterly</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 2","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145288114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Plan-Do-Study-Act Framework for Adaptive Vaccine Messaging Using Artificial Intelligence.","authors":"Olivia A Stein, Neil Seeman","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27675","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2025.27675","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is a trusted framework for refining public health initiatives. Given rising vaccination hesitancy, we propose an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled PDSA framework for adaptive vaccine messaging, leveraging social media data. We conducted a literature review, developed the framework and performed a pilot evaluation using Reddit data. Proposed framework: (1) <i>Plan</i> - AI analysis of social media discourse; (2) <i>Do</i> - AI-assisted, tailored messaging creation; (3) <i>Study</i> - assess sentiment and behaviour change; and (4) <i>Act</i> - refine and adapt messaging. This approach leverages social media and AI to develop tailored vaccine communications that continuously evolve based on public needs.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 2","pages":"73-80"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145288116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
June Sing Hong Lam, Juveria Zaheer, Victoria I R Anderson, Rashmi de Silva Wijeyeratne, Paul Kurdyak
{"title":"From Crisis to Silence: Systemic Failures in Mental Healthcare for Transgender and Gender Diverse People in Ontario.","authors":"June Sing Hong Lam, Juveria Zaheer, Victoria I R Anderson, Rashmi de Silva Wijeyeratne, Paul Kurdyak","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27687","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2025.27687","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transgender and gender diverse individuals face significant institutional harms in in-patient psychiatric care, leading to high rates of care avoidance and poor post-discharge follow-up. Our mixed-methods study found that experiences of misgendering, lack of affirming resources and structural marginalization contribute to disengagement from mental health supports after hospitalization. Integrating qualitative insights with population-based data revealed that current practices fall short of Ontario's own gender-affirming care standards. Policy efforts must move beyond broad principles to mandate concrete, measurable actions that ensure continuity, safety and affirmation across the full spectrum of mental healthcare.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 2","pages":"7-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145288108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction: Social Determinants of Mental Health.","authors":"Ruby Brown, Anne Wojtak","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27684","DOIUrl":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27684","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The guiding principle of Canada's health and social systems is recognition of the inherent dignity of every individual. One's <i>dignity</i> is formed by the social fabric and relationships that surround it. As the Ubuntu African philosophy describes, \"a person is a person through other people\" (Wikipedia 2025). We know that brain development, neural processes and mental health are configured by social structures and connections relevant to our lives, as we experienced first-hand during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 2","pages":"18-19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145288073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Miller, Karenn Chan, Blair Wold, Bri Krekowski, Helen Lightfoot
{"title":"Collaborative Community Support for People Impacted by Dementia: A Social Return on Investment Analysis.","authors":"Anne Miller, Karenn Chan, Blair Wold, Bri Krekowski, Helen Lightfoot","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27628","DOIUrl":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27628","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Connecting People and Community for Living Well (CPCLW) initiative supports the well-being of people impacted by dementia in rural communities. From March 2022 to March 2023, a social return on investment (SROI) analysis was undertaken to assess the value created by the initiative. The analysis revealed that, for every dollar invested in CPCLW, over six dollars in social value was created. These results suggest that investment in multi-sector community-based teams in rural areas generates significant value for multiple stakeholders and that collaborative approaches to well-being maximize social value while positively affecting those impacted by dementia.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 1","pages":"73-78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144824712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Snowdon, Alexandra Wright, Saba Ghadiri, Cindy Ly
{"title":"Stronger Together: A Collaborative Approach to Solving Canada's Healthcare Supply Chain Crisis.","authors":"Anne Snowdon, Alexandra Wright, Saba Ghadiri, Cindy Ly","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2025.27631","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Canada's healthcare supply chain faces persistent disruptions, and its fragility has been well documented. This jeopardizes patients' access to critical care and places significant stress on healthcare professionals, which points to the essential need for a collaborative approach to building relationships, strengthening self-reliance and advancing healthcare supply chain resilience in Canada. This paper documents the design and development of a community of practice (CoP) strategy, bringing together representatives from different sectors, including the private sector, government, health workforce, health system leadership and citizens, to successfully mobilize their diverse expertise and co-design practical solutions to support supply chain resilience in Canada.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 1","pages":"46-55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144824723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Helen Harris, Megan Lynch, Mary Vaccaro, Chi-Ling Joanna Sinn
{"title":"Understanding the Population Health Needs of Tenants in Residential Care Facilities (RCFs) in Hamilton, Ontario.","authors":"Helen Harris, Megan Lynch, Mary Vaccaro, Chi-Ling Joanna Sinn","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27626","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2025.27626","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Little is known about domiciliary hostels (known as residential care facilities [RCFs] in Hamilton, Ontario) for those needing affordable housing and minimal supports. Our multiple-methods study examined the characteristics and health needs of 36 RCF tenants across four RCFs. We found that 64.4% of participants were 50+ years old, 22.2% had ever been unhoused, 77.4% had comorbid physical and mental illness and 83.3% had been hospitalized. Financial resources, capacity for work and physical pain were key quality-of-life concerns. A whole-systems approach involving healthcare, social care and housing is needed to serve this marginalized and aging population.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 1","pages":"85-92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144824724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Campus Community Project: Coming Together to Support Student Mental Health.","authors":"Selena Norman","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2025.27632","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Complex student mental health needs are on the rise. The Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health (CICMH) is a partnership project that supports Ontario's post-secondary campuses in addressing these needs. CICMH's Campus Community Partnership Project fills service gaps and improves student access to mental health services through pre-existing resources. By creating a collaborative model of care for students, this project supports the creation and expansion of programs between campuses and local community mental health organizations. To date, CICMH has supported more than 50 projects across 42 campuses, reaching 93% of Ontario's post-secondary institutions and supporting over 40,000 students.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 1","pages":"40-45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144824711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kaitlin G Saxton, Alexia Jaouich, Mary Bartram, Mélanie Hood, Janis Dawson, Hajin Lee, Peter Cornish
{"title":"Stepped Care 2.0: A Framework to Facilitate Leadership in Youth Mental Health System Building.","authors":"Kaitlin G Saxton, Alexia Jaouich, Mary Bartram, Mélanie Hood, Janis Dawson, Hajin Lee, Peter Cornish","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2025.27633","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In Canada, there has been an effort to address youth mental health through various initiatives and investments, although mental health struggles among young Canadians continue to increase. Despite these challenges, there is also recognition of the strength and resilience of youth, as well as the increasing empowerment and engagement of young people in shaping mental health support systems. In this article, the authors explore the role of leadership in facilitating the co-design and implementation of a comprehensive continuum of care, leveraging the Stepped Care 2.0 framework, to facilitate effective and sustainable youth mental health support systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 1","pages":"30-39"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144824721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kelli Wuerth, Karen Tee, Steve Mathias, Skye Barbic
{"title":"Foundry, the British Columbia Integrated Youth Services Initiative: Sharing Lessons From a Decade of Innovation.","authors":"Kelli Wuerth, Karen Tee, Steve Mathias, Skye Barbic","doi":"10.12927/hcq.2025.27634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2025.27634","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Youth in Canada are experiencing mental health and substance use challenges at alarming rates. One response to address these concerns that has received considerable provincial/territorial, federal and philanthropic support is Integrated Youth Services (IYS). The British Columbia (BC) IYS initiative, called Foundry, is quickly approaching its 10-year anniversary, with the original proof-of-concept centre having opened in 2015. With 47,000 unique youth attending over 320,000 visits from April 2018 to March 2024 and with 17 operating physical centres (additional 18 in development) and a provincial virtual service, Foundry is filling a gap for youth mental health and substance use services in BC. In this article, we look back at the development of Foundry, share lessons for jurisdictions pursuing their own IYS initiatives, outline the vital role of policy makers in progressing IYS in Canada and look ahead to the next phase of IYS.</p>","PeriodicalId":520276,"journal":{"name":"Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)","volume":"28 1","pages":"22-29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144824714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}