Category(s):
Health
Status: Active
Principal: Ted McDonald
Project Number: P0092
Year Approved: 2022
The Centre for Research, Education and Clinical Care of At-Risk Populations (RECAP; established 2014) is a not-for-profit community clinic in Saint John, New Brunswick that provides services to individuals testing positive for HCV and those with high-risk behaviours. RECAP is an HCV testing and treatment clinic that also offers opiate abuse treatment with the aim of reducing incident infections and reinfections by addressing high-risk behaviours.
The goal of this study is to understand the use of healthcare, social support programs, and education program enrollment of individuals in the HEAR dataset seeking treatment for HCV infections or for being at-risk of infection. In partnership with RECAP, NB-IRDT will undertake an analysis of the impacts of the program using person-level data in the Hepatitis C Positive and At-Risk (HEAR) dataset collected by RECAP that is linked to administrative datasets on participants drawn from multiple GNB Departments including Health, Social Development and Education and Early Childhood Development. The first research objective is to characterize the use of healthcare, social assistance, and education systems for individuals in the HEAR dataset. Specifically, we will assess the use of these programs five years prior to enrollment in HEAR as well as mortality during enrollment for the individuals in the dataset. The second objective will assess healthcare use of infected individuals who have been treated at the RECAP clinic compared to their experiences before treatment. The third objective is to characterize the use of healthcare and social systems for individuals who are in the HEAR dataset due to substance use. This will include hospitalization rates, emergency room visits, after hour and walk in clinics, causes of death, and proportion using social development programs. Outcomes will also be compared to a range of comparison groups.
