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Community - Partner Event

AI Seminar – Denise Campbell-Scherer

When
Feb. 12, 2021 - Feb. 12, 2021
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM MST

Abstract: 

Background:  COVID-19 outbreaks in racialized communities have exacerbated disparities in poverty and illness. The Illuminate Project generated sensemaking data to understand the evolving impacts of COVID-19.

Methods: Participatory action research involving community partners in Edmonton, AB. September-December 2020, twenty cultural health brokers and natural community leaders collected narratives real-time in the SenseMaker® platform. The compositional data patterns were quantitatively described, the narratives analyzed qualitatively and visualized with social network analysis.

Results: 764 narratives from diverse communities illuminate the entangled and evolving nature of COVID-19 impacts on destabilizing families: prevention and management, care of non-COVID acute, chronic and serious illness; maternal care; mental health and triggers of past trauma; financial insecurity; impact on children and youth, and seniors; and legal concerns. Social Network Analysis visualizes the entanglement of the impacts. A core obstacle  for COVID-19 holistic management was income instability, a key asset was community social capital.  Compositional data showed isolation of community members and the need for cultural brokering facilitating access to formal health and social system supports . Findings inform recommendations to inform policy and community action.

Interpretation: The Illuminate Project has made visible the entangled issues with systemic roots that result in poor health in vulnerable members of ethnocultural communities, and the impact of COVID-19 on increasing basic needs and the time and effort needed to mitigate them. We illustrate cultural brokering as a practice to support people through this crisis and we propose concrete recommendations to inform policy to reduce harm, and support community resiliency. 


Presentation Objectives:

1) Introduce anthrocomplexity, the Cynefin Framework, and sensemaking as a way of collecting and analyzing mass data on understanding human experience in order to be able to act
2) Illustrate the type of questions where natural language processing and AI might be useful in analyzing the data


Bio:
Dr. Campbell-Scherer is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and a family physician with clinical and research interests in evidence-based clinical practice and implementation science. She completed her residency in family medicine at McMaster University, then worked as a rural family physician prior to spending five years on faculty at the University of Michigan. She joined the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta in 2009 and became the associate dean of the Office of Lifelong Learning and Physician Learning Program in 2017. She also leads an interdisciplinary research team – The 5As Team Program – which focuses on improving primary care for people living with obesity.


The University of Alberta Artificial Intelligence (AI) Seminar is a weekly meeting where researchers (including students, developers, and professors) interested in AI can share their current research. Presenters include local speakers from the University of Alberta and industry as well as other institutions. The seminars discuss a wide range of topics related in any way to Artificial Intelligence, from foundational theoretical work to innovative applications of AI techniques to new fields and problems are of interest.Learn more at the AI Seminar website and by subscribing to the mailing list!

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