Resources

PWHR 2022-2023 Impact Report

PWHR convenes hybrid and virtual events to share cutting-edge research and knowledge mobilization that is improving the health of women, trans, and non-binary people. PWHR also offer opportunities for national mentoring and capacity building to develop the skills and professional networks of the next generation of women’s health researchers.

The PWHR 2022-2023 Impact Report shares collective national initiatives since PWHR’s launched in March 2022 until December 2023. Highlights include convening 14 women’s health research events that engaged more than 1200 trainees, researchers, policymakers, healthcare providers and other strategic partners. Participants joined from across Canada and around the world.

Partnered Women’s Health Research For Knowledge Mobilization: PWHR Knowledge Summary + Knowledge Mobilization Tool (2023)

The Partnership for Women’s Health Research Canada (PWHR) has produced a summary of key learnings from the inaugural Partnership for Women’s Health Research Seminar Series (2022-2023) outlining key principles and practices to support meaningful and sustained engagement and collaboration with communities, health and social service providers, and policymakers. The summary is accompanied by a tool (available as a PDF or as an editable Word document) that offers researchers and research teams questions to prompt reflection throughout engagement with knowledge holders and users, from project design through to end-of-project dissemination/implementation.

Surveying the Silence: Exploring the impact of taboos in women’s health (2023)

Recently the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation released this second thought leadership report, “Surveying the Silence: Exploring the Impact of Taboos in Women’s Health”. More than over 2,200 people were surveyed to understand their top health issues, concerns, and experiences seeking help for conditions specifically associated with women’s anatomy. The survey shed light on many health issues that are not regularly or openly discussed and put a focus on the questions we do not know to ask. Conditions about which little is known, and according to the respondents, even less is done, such as menopause, endometriosis, painful periods and PMDD, PCOS, pelvic floor issues, and more.

Finding the Fractures: The Pandemic, Women’s Health Disparities, and the Path to Equity (2021)

In May 2021, the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation launched a province-wide survey to listen to how the pandemic has impacted women in Alberta. The survey set out to measure the pandemic’s impact in the following areas: work-life, physical health, mental health, stress, and family dynamics. This report brings together data and evidence of the current disparities in women’s health, uncovers stories of women’s worsening mental and physical health, and details their many challenges juggling medical appointments, childcare, and work commitments.

In Her Circle: The influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Indigenous Women’s Health in BC (2021)

BC Women’s Health Foundation and Reciprocal Consulting partnered to uplift the voices of Indigenous women across BC who shared their experiences about the state of their health and their shifting health priorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report uncovers their stories of isolation, of access issues, of resilience, and of community – and provides recommendations for a future where Indigenous women have equitable access to high-quality healthcare when, where, and how they need it.

Remarkable: The response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021)

Despite the uncertainty brought to the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, the people at Women’s College Hospital (WCH) were ready. Remarkable shares the stories of perseverance and innovation seen from the WCH community during the pandemic.

We Are Women’s Healthcare Revolutionized (2021)

For over 100 years, Women’s College Hospital has faced adversity head on – the COVID-19 pandemic was no different. The We Are Women’s report highlights WCH’s recent successes, and how they ensure the organization is well poised to build back better.

In Her Words: Women’s Experience with the Healthcare System in British Columbia (2020)

Despite decades of progress in health research, policy, and practice, women still face many barriers accessing the high-quality healthcare they deserve. In response, this BC Women’s Health Foundation report examines how women experience healthcare across the province. The aim is to drive changes within the system that will lead to healthy women everywhere, capable of anything.

The Research Divide: Bias Against Funding Women’s Health Research Impacts Women’s Health Outcomes (2020)

Women’s health is unique. There are significant differences in how women and men experience health conditions. Yet the scientific research that informs medicine; prevention, diagnosis, and treatment; routinely fails to consider and investigate the crucial impacts of sex and gender. BC Women’s Health Foundation’s report addresses the gaps that exist in women’s health research and offers solutions to drive equity.

British Columbia’s Women’s Health Research Agenda (2018)

BC’s Women’s Health Research Agenda serves as a guiding document for those engaged in the women’s health research enterprise. It is intended to be useful, practical, and applied. This research agenda seeks to guide research and implementation innovations in women’s health, and see those innovations translated into health care practice and policy. It is intended to direct our work forward with strength and cohesion, focus and vision, to advance the field of women’s health research in British Columbia.

A Thousand Voices for Women’s Health (2016)

A Thousand Voices for Women’s Health report is a summary of study findings, conducted by Women’s College Hospital, that explored what women want from hospitals and healthcare services. More than 1,000 women from across Ontario, with diverse backgrounds, shared their personal stories, insights and experiences – identifying what was working, what can be improved and highlighted where the biggest gaps in the health of women occur.