Community Engagement Ethics

Focusing on community needs and interests

From an ethics perspective, engaging in research that is designed with, and informed by, communities as well as identifies and responds to the needs of specific  communities is of much interest for all members of our department. This research focus includes:

  • gathering data and information that can inform better public policy
  • changing our understanding of, for example, the concepts of disability, social justice and transparency
  • contributing to the exploration of professionalization of Canadian health care ethicists

Many of these projects also provide insights for our scholarly pursuits in research ethics

Our research related to community engagement is supported by a variety of grants and funding organizations. Many of these projects are interdisciplinary and draw on both technical and theoretical aspects of faculty members’ training and research approaches.

As the selected publications below demonstrate, this is a very applied and practical aspect of our department’s research interests.

Selected publications

Crooks V, Castleden H, Hanlon N, Schuurman N. 2011. “Heated political dynamics exist…”: Examining the inter-community, inter-site, and inter-professional politics of palliative care in rural British Columbia, Canada. Palliative Medicine 25(1): 26-35.

Frolic A, PHEEP Steering Group including J. Kirby, C. Simpson. 2012. Grassroots Origins, National Engagement: Exploring the professionalization of practicing healthcare ethicists in Canada. HEC Forum 24(3). Available online-first: DOI 10.1007/s10730-012-9192-y.

McNally ME, Martin-Misener R, Wyatt CCL, McNeil KP, Crowell SJ, Matthews DC, Clovis JB.  2012. Action Planning for Daily Mouth Care in Long-Term Care:  The Brushing up on Mouth Care Project.  Journal of Nursing Research and Practice.  vol. 2012, Article ID 368356, 11 pages.

Reid L. 2011. “Medical Professionalism and the Social Contract.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 54 (4), 455-69.