Integrating the social sciences into the COVID-19 response in Alberta, Canada.
Myles LeslieRaad FadaakJan DaviesJohanna BlaakP G ForestLee GreenJohn ConlyPublished in: BMJ global health (2020)
This paper outlines the rapid integration of social scientists into a Canadian province's COVID-19 response. We describe the motivating theory, deployment and initial outcomes of our team of Organisational Sociologist ethnographers, Human Factors experts and Infection Prevention and Control clinicians focused on understanding and improving Alberta's responsiveness to the pandemic. Specifically, that interdisciplinary team is working alongside acute and primary care personnel, as well as public health leaders to deliver 'situated interventions' that flow from studying communications, interpretations and implementations across responding organisations. Acting in real time, the team is providing critical insights on policy communication and implementation to targeted members of the health system. Using our rapid and ongoing deployment as a case study of social science techniques applied to a pandemic, we describe how other health systems might leverage social science to improve their preparations and communications.
Keyphrases
- public health
- coronavirus disease
- sars cov
- healthcare
- primary care
- mental health
- palliative care
- quality improvement
- endothelial cells
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- physical activity
- south africa
- metabolic syndrome
- type diabetes
- respiratory failure
- insulin resistance
- acute respiratory distress syndrome
- weight loss
- general practice
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- mechanical ventilation