Dr. Brenda T. Poon, a faculty member at the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), is an Assistant Professor with UBC’s School of Population and Public Health and Research Department Lead at the Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility. Her research lab, the Community Research & Engagement Lab (CoRE-LAB), is a co-laboratory of more than 60 academics, government, and community-based individuals and organizations that fosters interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange on systems that promote equitable access to children’s health and developmental services and supports.
CoRE-LAB was founded upon the recognition that systems are complex, with multiple causes and interdependent drivers, and that effective program and policy interventions must be grounded in research that considers the perspectives of the people that live within those systems.
“Through strengths of our community, academic, and government partnerships, we are committed to translate research-to-practice in ways that contribute new knowledge on equitable, accessible environments and ways that inequities influence the contexts, voices, and lived experiences of those who live, work, and play in these communities,” says Poon.
Inspired by Family Stories about Barriers to Access
What led her to this work? Through her past evaluation research of early years service supports in communities across BC, Poon says that she was really “struck” by stories of parents and service providers, regarding barriers that families were encountering while trying to connect their children with services. “Some families were in a state of limbo, waiting for a formal diagnosis,” says Poon — without a diagnosis for a child’s developmental concern, access to relevant services was often delayed.
“I wondered about ways that communities were similar or different in their surrounding structures and systems that affect families’ access, navigation, and use of community services and supports.” This led Poon to pursue research that could contribute to the understanding of community-level determinants that influences the differences across communities of childhood developmental vulnerability rates.
As a longstanding member of HELP, Poon says that the research centre has been a critical part in shaping her journey as an independent researcher — beginning as a doctoral student, then a postdoctoral fellow, and subsequently as a faculty member.
“What initially drew me to HELP, and what continues to inspire me today, is the opportunity to be a contributor to an interdisciplinary research agenda that values and is committed to community engagement, along with the application of knowledge that can help promote transformational change in practice and policy to support all children to thrive,” says Poon.
CoRE-LAB is currently focused on investigating families’ access, navigation, and use of services in BC communities, particularly those systems in support of children’s social and emotional well-being. Poon says they are examining questions like, “Is it a smooth navigation experience for children and their families to use services? Are the next steps of the process for connecting children and families to services clear amongst providers in a community, if a referral is required? What helps or hinders providers to coordinate their efforts?”
Looking Ahead
In the long term, Poon states that she would like to build upon CoRE-LAB’s current research to investigate ways that varying degrees of community connectedness, coordination, and service integration may inform the understanding of disparities in rates of developmental vulnerability across communities.
“My hope is that in the future with more connected communities, children and families will encounter fewer barriers in finding and using the timely supports that they need and, consequently, there will be fewer children across communities with unaddressed developmental needs.”
She also hopes to pursue research that informs community-based development and implementation of a continuum of integrated service delivery from the early years onward that supports mental health over the life course. Poon indicates that population-level data show concerning provincial trends where rates of developmental vulnerability in early childhood, particularly in relation to social and emotional well-being, are rising.”
“I would like to pursue research that informs mental health promotion, prevention, and support initiatives in the early years, with a particular emphasis on ways we can build bridges between service systems as children transition from childhood to adolescence.”
Poon’s most recently co-authored publication, A community-based systems dynamics approach for understanding determinants of children’s social and emotional well-being (Health & Place), is now available for reading.
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