This study wants to make healthcare better for all groups by collecting detailed information in children’s medical records. It is led by Dr. Nicole Johnson from the University of Calgary. The study has been approved by the University of Calgary’s Health Research Ethics Board. It is also supported by Children’s Healthcare Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society. We are looking for people in Canada to join a group discussion. This includes youth, caregivers, students, doctors, researchers, clinic staff, hospital staff, tech workers, legal experts, and ethicists. The goal is to hear your thoughts on what kind of personal information should be collected in children’s health records. Taking part in the study is your choice. You can stop at any time. The discussion will be in person or on a video call. It will last about 1.5 to 2 hours. We will ask you questions about how health information is collected now. We also want your ideas on what information should be added, like race, income, sex, age, gender, education level, social status and immigration. We will record the session and ask you to fill out a short form about yourself. This form will ask about your age, income, and background. Everything you say will stay private. To thank you for your time, you will get a $25 gift card.

The study is designed to identify the best outcome measures in assessing their suitability and the adaptability across a variety of countries and languages for future international clinical trials for patients with CDD.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common condition affecting Canadian children. It can have significant negative long-term outcomes when it is not effectively treated. Current treatments (such as stimulant medication) can be effective, but don't work for everyone and can have significant side effects. These treatments work on specific neurotransmitters in the brain (dopamine and noradrenaline) and we know that ADHD has a large genetic component. However, we do not fully understand how these neurotransmitter dysfunctions cause ADHD symptoms. TMS is a non-invasive way of affecting brain functioning in a specific area and has been used to investigate brain excitability. It has also been used in the treatment of depression and anxiety in adults. For this study participants will receive only one session, which can result in a change in excitability for 30-60min i.e. is not long lasting. To examine how neurotransmitters relate to specific symptoms in ADHD we will use advance MRI techniques that can show both structure, function and dopamine production in the brain. We will then have participants complete executive function cognitive tasks to measure their abilities to control their behaviour and attention. Participants will then receive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to an area of the brain associated with attention. In this project we hope to better characterize the role of dopamine in children with ADHD through the use of a novel neuroimaging technique (neuromelanin-MRI). We then want to determine the excitability of different cortical targets using safe, non-invasive brain stimulation and behavioural measures. Together this will further the understanding of the neurobiology in pediatric ADHD and help determine how to better personalize treatments for this population going forward.

This study will help us learn more about how type 1 diabetes occurs as well as help us to identify people who may be eligible for prevention trials through screening. By ongoing monitoring, we will compare people with and without auto-antibodies to help us better understand differences over time.

Healthy Infants and Children's Clinical Research Program (HICCUP). Research is essential to improving the health and lives of children and families everywhere. Many studies require participation from children who are healthy. Other   studies compare a healthy group to one with a particular illness. These participants are called controls and they are crucial to studies exploring the causes, treatments, and outcomes of virtually all pediatric diseases. Successful control matching is a challenge for all clinical pediatric researchers but one that the community at large has the capacity to solve. HICCUP was designed to harness the generous and giving spirit of the southern Alberta community to overcome this problem and provide the opportunity for improved child health research.  We are building a large sample of healthy children and parents willing to consider participation in healthy control research. HICCUP provides a direct opportunity for children, families, and communities to directly contribute to the advancement of research and child health in Alberta. Many families wanting to “give something back” can do so by volunteering their time to help child and community health in a positive way. The HICCUP program will provide leading researchers and investigators with easy, equal, systematic access to healthy controls to be invited to participate in their own studies. This will drastically improve efficiencies while reducing costs, allowing researchers to be more productive and focused on the problems they are targeting. The result is the direct enhancement of all child and family health clinical research in southern Alberta, potentially serving as a model to advance such systems in other pediatric research settings.

Children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) face a variety of problems that affect their lives. Some children with SCD have trouble making friends. We want to better understand the social abilities and friendships in children with or without SCD so that we can learn the best ways to support those who need it.

This research explores the experiences of nurses who work or have worked with children with autism in acute care settings. Going to the emergency room is an anxiety provoking situation for most people. For children with autism the experience can be overwhelming and lead to considerable distress. This distress can complicate the provision of healthcare pose safety risks for the child, caregiver, and health professionals. Children with autism need hospital care, but the acute hospital environment does not accommodate their sensory or behavioural needs. Children with autism experience difficulties in hospital related to sensory overstimulation, ineffective communication between nurses and child/parent, and being cared for by nurses who may not understand, anticipate, or meet the needs of children with autism. This study will explore the insights and experiences of nurses work/have worked with children with autism to understand more fully the complexities and tensions as well as helpful practice with children with autism.

This study is about understanding the experiences of youth aged 15 to 24 with using AI chat tools like ChatGPT to support their mental health. We want to learn who is using these tools, why they are using them, and what their experiences have been. We’re also interested in how youth might use these tools when moving from pediatric to adult care. Some youth may use AI tools instead of a professional because they feel more private, always available, and feel less judgemental. We are inviting youth to take a short online survey. Some may also be asked to do a virtual interview where they can show us how they use these tools. What we learn will help mental health services better support youth in the future.

The current pandemic situation is stressful for everyone, especially the nurses and social workers working on the front lines. Nurses and social workers have likely experienced elevated exposures to potentially traumatic events due to increased workloads, such as burnout and anxieties related to limited personal protective equipment (PPE). We are trying to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on nurses' and social workers' health and well-being. In this study, nurse means the following regulated professionals: licensed practical nurse, registered practical nurse, registered nurse, registered psychiatric nurse, mental health nurse, nurse practitioner, and graduate nurse. This study will involve several questionnaires to be completed online.

This study is about understanding the experiences of Canadian university students aged 17 to 25 using AI chat tools like ChatGPT to support their mental health. We want to learn who is using these tools, why they’re using them, and what their experience has been like. Some students might use these tools instead of talking to a counsellor because they are private, always available, or feel less judgmental. We are inviting students to take a short online survey, and some may also be asked to do a virtual interview where they can show us how they use these tools. What we learn will help schools and mental health services better support students in the future.