Global Health at SPOTThe School of Physical and Occupational Therapy (SPOT) is actively engaged in initiatives to build capacity at the inter-section of global health, rehabilitation and disability. Members of SPOT take part in knowledge sharing and train-the trainer initiatives and many SPOT students in the professional programs also conduct fi eldwork placements in low- or middle-income countries or with new immigrants and underserved communities across Canada.

Researchers at SPOT are also conducting innovative global health research. Research projects span a wide range of topics and methodologies. They include investigations of community-based stroke assessment and technol-ogy-based rehabilitation interventions, needs of persons with disabilities following natural disasters, and health and economic governance in the area of non-communicable disease prevention and control. These research projects have received competitive funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institutes of Health, Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use and Grand Challenges Canada. Faculty members are also providing consulting services to UNICEF in a project that will estimate the extent and range of childhood disability in low- and middle-income countries.

GLOBAL HEALTH CAPACITY BUILDING AND RESEARCH AT THE MCGILL SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

ACTIVITIESCapacity Building at SPOT SPOT faculty are actively engaged in initiatives to build capacity at the intersection of global health, rehabilitation and disability.

• Supporting the training of rehabilitation providers in Haiti SPOT faculty and students are engaged in a partnership with Handicap International and local institutions to support the training of rehabilitation technicians and provision of continuing education for rehabilitation providers in Haiti. A new initiative by the McGill team in 2014 was the launch of a mixed methods evaluation of the employment profi les of graduates from three rehabilitation technician training programs in Haiti. This program maintains sustained contact between McGill and partners in Haiti and involves two to three trips to Haiti each year by members of the SPOT team. PHOTO 1

• Opportunities for SPOT Students Students in the professional Master’s programs in Occupational and Physical Therapy have the opportunity to participate in global health fi eldwork placements, as part of their training requirements. Many of these fi eldwork projects are associated with eff orts to build sustainable international partnerships for fi eldwork and a variety of supervision models are used to support student learning. International collaborations for 2013-2014 included such locales as India, Tanzania, South Africa, Barbados, Trinidad, and Colombia. PHOTO 2

• In addition, students from SPOT participate in and help coordinate a 10 week, student-run, not for credit interprofessional global health course. The IGHC has been in existence for nearly a decade and includes students from physical & occupational therapy, medicine, nursing, dentistry and nutrition, and focuses on a range of topics related to global health. For more information: http://mcgillmed.com/clubs/mcgill-interprofessional-global-health-course

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1 Participants in a train-the-trainer course for clinical instructors in Port-au-Prince, February 2015

2 Students and faculty from SPOT who participated in the 2015 Interprofessional Global Health Course

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CONTACT

School of Occupational and Physical Therapy

SPOTglobalhealth@mcgill.ca

www.mcgill.ca/spot

ACTIVITIES (cont’d)

Global Health Rehabilitation Research Researchers at SPOT are conducting innovative global health research.

• Virtual reality and stroke rehabilitation in India and Montreal Virtual reality (VR) can promote functional rehabilitation of arm movements through environments allow-ing the practice of a variety of tasks while providing feedback. In a recent SPOT study by Philippe Archambault and Mindy Levin, over 80% of stroke patients recruited in Montreal, Canada and in Manipal, India provided positive feedback in terms of ease of use and VR experience. The data demonstrates the feasibility of using an aff ordable VR arm rehabilitation system in an Indian or Canadian clinical setting and provides clinical guidelines for the selection of impairment-specifi c diffi culty levels. PHOTO 3

• Student research project on musculoskeletal injuries and health-care seeking behaviours for porters on Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Five McGill PT students (J Cyr, J Berta, M Bourgois, T Erdan, E Goulay; supervisors R Preuss and PJ Moroz) collabo-rated with students and faculty (T Mtuy) in Tanzania to investigate musculoskeletal symptoms and health seeking behaviors of Tanzanian porters who work on Mount Kilimanjaro. The McGill students travelled to Tanzania in June 2014 and worked with students at a local university to plan data collection with porters, and also involved a control group of local shopkeepers. Data were subsequently collected and are now being analyzed. PHOTO 4

• UNICEF Expert Consultation on the Collection of Data on Children with Disabilities Annette Majnemer and Keiko Shikako-Thomas are taking the lead on the development of chapters in a manual and toolkit for UNICEF to enable the collection of data on childhood disabilities in low and middle income countries. The team also includes Christine Imms, Catherine Elliot and Iona Novak from Australia, Matts Granlund from Sweden and Juan Bornman from South Africa and focuses on the concepts and assessment of participation and environment.

• Student research project on occupational therapists’ perceptions of global health fi eldwork placements This qualitative study was completed by Occupational Therapy students in the Professional Master’s Program (E Douglas, M Harewood, L Shaw, V Tousignant); supervisors: C Storr, M Hunt) to investigate perceptions of Canadian OTs regarding their experiences of conducting fi eldwork in a low or middle income country during their professional education. Themes were identifi ed relating to experiences of living in a new cultural context, learning about diff erent approaches and models of occupational therapy practice, supports and resources for carrying out fi eldwork, and perceptions of how fi eldwork aff ects students, clients, institutions, and host communities.

• Vulnerability, disability and natural disasters Following disasters, persons with disabilities are especially vulnerable to experiencing a range of harms, yet they have commonly been excluded from disaster planning and their needs poorly addressed during disaster relief. As part of a larger investigation of vulnerability and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Matthew Hunt and colleagues examined perceptions of Haitian and international disaster responders and decision-makers regarding the provision of assistance to persons with disabilities. PHOTO 5

KEY PROJECTS AND PARTNERSHIPS BarbadosTrinidadColombiaIndiaTanzaniaSouth AfricaCanada

3 Use of virtual reality technology for stroke rehabilitation in India

4 McGill PT students at Mt Kilimanjaro

5 Building that collapsed in the 2010 Haiti earthquake

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