Background
We’re creating a set of patient-centred measures that all rehabilitation programs in Alberta will use with people who have brain and spinal cord injuries. This set of patient-centred measures will collect important information directly from patients, as well as data from their rehabilitation therapists (e.g. physical, occupational and speech therapists). It’s a way for therapists to understand how patients are improving and to adjust treatments so each person gets the best possible care for their specific needs. This project is a partnership between the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and Alberta Health Services rehabilitation teams.

Why it Matters
By using patient-centered measures as part of rehabilitation, therapists can give more personalized care. This means they can see which treatments are working best for each person and make changes quickly if something isn’t working. Since the aim is for all neurorehabilitation in Alberta to use the same measures, all the information gathered will also help researchers learn which treatments work best for people with different types of brain and spinal cord injuries. This project will help make Alberta a leader in research to create better, more personalized treatments for people with brain and spinal cord injuries.

Roles and Responsibilities
We are looking for 2-3 people, or caregiver/family members, with lived experience of neurorehabilitation services at a hospital in Alberta (i.e., therapy in a hospital for a stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury) to partner in this project.

Their role would be to help shape this research project from the start (grant application, ethics, participant recruitment strategies, data collection, data analysis, dissemination strategies).

There is some flexibility in the role, but we are hoping to have 2-3 patient research partners as part of the research team, as well as a patient advisory council who will provide additional input at various stages of the project. This project is in the grant development stage, so the current opportunity would be a patient partner grant application role (~4-8 hours) for now until the project is funded.

Time Commitment
The patient partner grant application role would start as soon as possible and would be about 4-8 hours of work. If we are successful getting grant funding, the project would start in Summer of 2025.

During the 3-year project (Summer 2025 – Summer 2028), the work would be about 3 hours a week, with the opportunity to be more or less involved, depending on the patient partner’s availability and preferences.

Compensation/Reimbursement
Compensation will be offered for the grant planning, as well as the project. Reimbursement will be provided for any direct expenses such as parking, refreshments and dependent care.

For more information or to express interest
Erin McCabe
emccabe@ualberta.ca
780.492.4605