Office of Research Services (ORS)

Research Chairs: Souraya Sidani

Canada Research Chair in Design and Evaluation of Health Interventions

Ryerson University
Tier 1

(416)-970-5000 ext 2572
ssidani@ryerson.ca

Research Involves

Designing and evaluating acceptable health interventions.

Research Relevance

The research is leading to the development of methods for designing and evaluating health interventions.

Helping Patients Get the Help They Need

Sometimes getting patients to take their medicine or have surgery is easier said than done. Even when a health intervention has been found to be effective through research, some patients refuse to use it because they see it as unacceptable or unsuitable to their condition and lifestyle. What's a doctor to do?

According to Canada Research Chair Souraya Sidani, doctors need to take patients' preferences into account when devising health interventions or they won't always get their patients' compliance. She herself is developing strategies to ensure that the patients' perception of what is an acceptable treatment is part of an overall treatment plan.

Aware that identifying patients' preferences to treatment options is an important step toward providing patient-centred care, Sidani is also refining a method for determining patients' preferences for treatment options.

Health care providers and researchers will be able to adapt Sidani?s strategies and methods to assess patients' preferences and then provide treatment options that are consistent with the patients? preferences. This will help motivate patients to get the help they need.