KEYNOTE PLENARY
Nathan Lachowsky (CBRC; University of Victoria), Anu Radha Verma (CBRC), Ben Klassen (CBRC), Chris Draenos (CBRC), Nahomi Amberber (CBRC)
The research program at CBRC has evolved dramatically over the past five years, responding to feedback and needs from community calling for increased inclusivity and diversity. We will open this panel by sharing our recently developed community-based research principles that guide our work. These principles include: access, advance social justice, balance, bravery and love, community empowerment, centre lived experience, historically-informed, impact-oriented, holistic view of health, and intergenerational. We will then share examples of how these principles have informed growth and change within the CBRC research program. Our long-standing “Sex Now” began as a survey of sex between men, and we evolved its survey design, question wording, and recruitment messages to create explicit inclusion for Two-Spirit people, trans men, and non-binary people. This also clarified the gap around broader 2SLGBTQQIA+ data needs and allowed for the genesis of Our Health, a new community health survey for all 2SLGBTQQIA+ people across Canada regardless of sex, gender, or sexuality. Both Sex Now 2022 and Our Health were offered in English, French and Spanish. Through the Test Now research program, we have been able to provide access to free HIV self-tests for our community through various pilot and implementation studies. These new and adapted studies are indicative of the changing nature of the research program at CBRC. Our team will share preliminary results from Sex Now, Test Now, and Our Health. We will close the panel by sharing our newly developed CBR training curriculum and a brief overview of our future research plans.
