Inclusion of disability and accessibility considerations in administrative health data research

The principles of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) play a key role in HDRN Canada’s strategic plan, which is a roadmap to transformative health data use and a future that better supports health equity. This presentation will examine how to include measures of disability in administrative health data research. It will also discuss accessibility considerations, from study planning to knowledge dissemination, including how to make our research teams more inclusive of people with disabilities.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Dr. Hilary Brown is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, in the Department of Health & Society and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She is cross-appointed to the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and is an Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital and ICES. Dr. Brown holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Disability & Reproductive Health. Her research program uses epidemiologic methods to examine maternal and child health and mental health across the life course, with a particular focus on populations with disabilities and chronic disease, health equity and the social determinants of health.

Dr. Yona Lunsky is the Scientific Director of the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre and Director of the Health Care Access Research and Developmental Disabilities Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and an adjunct scientist at ICES. Dr. Lunsky’s research focuses on the mental health needs of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families. She studies psychosocial risk factors for psychiatric disorders and health service utilization patterns in this population.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER SERIES:

The Big IDEAs About Health Data Speaker Series features a variety of experts discussing how data can be used to advance health equity. It aspires to create a space for conversation about whether and how data can be used to advance equity in Canada; specific uses of and guidelines for the use disaggregated data (sex and gender, race and ethnicity, disability, income, housing, language etc.); and advancements in data research practices and methods that embed inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility in algorithms, distributed analytics, community involvement and equity assessment tools.