Dedicated to improving the lives of all Albertans through patient-oriented research.

The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit (AbSPORU) provides expertise, training and resources to increase Alberta’s capacity for patient-oriented research. Our aim is to bridge the gap between research evidence and health decisions – in other words, to make sure health research has an impact for patients and the health system.

AbSPORU collaborates closely and purposefully with patients from diverse communities and with its network of healthcare partners to improve health outcomes for all Albertans.

We are fostering partners to strengthen Alberta’s learning health system, focusing on continuous improvement of quality, patient and provider experience, and health system performance/cost through effective, evidence-based knowledge translation and implementation, and studying implementation to accelerate change.

Training and events

We offer training and events for researchers, patients, clinicians and health-system professionals, policy-makers, and students to increase their capacity in patient-oriented research and in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Offerings include studentships, conferences, webinars, eLearning modules, and online courses and certificates.

UPCOMING EVENTS

APELS 🍎 Session 5: Illustrating Your Research: Arts-based Approaches to Knowledge Mobilization

AbSPORU’s Patient Engagement Learning Series (APELS) is hosting this 1-hour online session led by Candace Ramjohn, AbSPORU Learning Health System (LHS) Team. This session will take you on a visual journey through various forms of graphic illustration in research, and when and why it should be used. We’ll navigate key considerations and challenges in arts-based approaches to knowledge mobilization to help you craft engaging illustrations for audiences to achieve meaningful and impactful dissemination.

November 27, 2024

Research services

Our teams offer a wide range of research services and expertise to support every step of your patient-oriented research journey. We can help with patient engagement, data (including data acquisition and management, analysis, interpretation and data visualization), knowledge translation, implementation science and Sex and Gender-Based Analysis (SGBA).

Patient engagement

We provide support to patient partners, researchers and community organizations to identify research priorities and to collaborate, in active and meaningful ways, on health research studies.

Become a patient partner

Do you have lived experience of a specific health issue – either your own, or as a caregiver, family member or friend? Discover opportunities to help shape the health research that impacts you.

LATEST OPPORTUNITIES FOR PATIENTS

Using Digital Health to Investigate the Impact of Hormonal Contraceptives on Bone Health

Smart Rehab: Advancing Precision Neuro-Rehabilitation through a Patient-Centred Outcome Set

Optimizing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Self-Management: Implementing International Evidence-Based Guidelines in Alberta

Exploring the Hospitalization Experiences of Ethno-Racial Older Adults Living with Dementia and their Care Partners in Arab and South Asian Communities

Learning Health System

We facilitate Alberta’s learning health system by supporting effective, practical approaches to theory-based knowledge translation and implementation work. In collaboration with health system stakeholders, we coordinate an Implementation Science Collaborative, which will accelerate improvements in health care delivery, outcomes and cost.

Our community

Patient Partner Compensation Guidelines

Alberta COVID Pandemic Follow-up Study: Top 5 Symptoms reported by Albertans (as of Nov 2022)

CALGARY

University of Calgary Foothills Campus
3330 Hospital Dr NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4N1

EDMONTON

College Plaza
1702, 8215 112 St NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 2C8

Land Acknowledgment

The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit operates on and acknowledges the lands that are the traditional and ancestral territory of many peoples, presently subject to Treaties 6, 7, and 8. Namely: the Blackfoot Confederacy – Kainai, Piikani, and Siksika – the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, Stoney Nakoda, and the Tsuu T’ina Nation and the Métis People of Alberta. This includes the Métis Settlements and the Métis Nation of Alberta. We acknowledge the many First Nations, Métis and Inuit who have lived in and cared for these lands for generations. We make this acknowledgment as a reaffirmation of our shared commitment towards reconciliation, and as part of AbSPORU’s mandate towards fostering health system transformation.

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