The Beyond the Binary team, along with LET’S (who has a role as a Community Collaborator) applied for a funding opportunity with CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) Planning and Dissemination Grants.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant Approved!
We received word in March that our application was successful. Here is what CIHR wrote: On behalf of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) we are pleased to inform you that your recent application submitted to the Planning and Dissemination Grants – Institute Community Support competition,” Advancing Gender Inclusive and Equitable Research with Research Ethics Boards”, has been approved for funding.
Goal of Beyond the Binary
The goal of Beyond the Binary Canada is to provide nationally relevant, community informed guidance that enables researchers to conduct gender inclusive health research for cisgender women, trans, non-binary, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming, gender creative, and additional gender divergent identities. When we refer to promoting gender equity in research, we mean the meaningful acknowledgment, engagement, and integration of gender diverse people throughout research practices and processes.
Reason for Beyond the Binary
Women’s health research is a relatively contemporary category of research, established in response to gender-based inequities. To promote gender equitable care, programming, and policy, gender equitable research practices are needed. Beyond the Binary in BC (BTB) is a community-engaged, person centered project initiated by the Women’s Health Research Institute in 2018. It aims to support a culture of gender-inclusivity within the women’s health research community. Our core output is the BTB Guide: a tool that acknowledges how research is a key determinant in health care priority-setting (e.g. policy, practice), and promotes critical reflection on research decision-making.
Trans and gender diverse individuals are increasingly visible in society. In Canada, younger generations are 7 times more likely to identify as trans or non-binary compared to previous generations. To address persistent inequities in health outcomes among gender diverse peoples, their experiences need to be accounted for in health research.
To respond to and address the discrimination and prejudice experienced in healthcare settings and the poor health outcomes that ensue, women’s health and the existence of gender diverse peoples must be prioritized.
Learning Community Engagement
The BTB Guide was developed in relationship with two steering committees, and a core team. The Community Steering Committee (CSC) included people with lived and living experiences of gender-based inequities and those working toward equity (e.g. advocates, educators, care providers). The Research Steering Committee (RSC) included women’s health researchers, ethicists, research administrators, and trainees. As agents within our key audience, we convened the RSC first to identify their gender equitable research practice learning goals and preferences for knowledge delivery. Most identified language (additive, neutral, anatomy) as a growth area, and desired guidance to enable change.
Mindful of power dynamics and the burden of representation CSC members could feel, committees were met with separately until the following precedents were established:
(1) we were prioritizing community experiential knowledge;
(2) we were applying anti-oppressive and trauma & resilience-informed principles. Accordingly, RSC and project team members undertook Trans Inclusion training with PRISM, and established reflexivity as critical practice to mitigate the perpetuation of un/conscious biases. In alignment with these goals, we engaged the CSC prior to the RSC in every round.
The Guide was developed using justice oriented, participatory, and emergent design. Its contents were elaborated per CSC and RSC engagements, making changes and adding aspects in response to their priorities. The CSC focused on the appropriateness of the Guide, in terms of responding to community experiences. The research steering committee RSC focused on acceptability, as to the application of the guide in real-world settings. It includes sections on why language matters, implications on research practices, and example scenarios of research processes (participant recruitment, data collection, result reporting), in addition to a Glossary of Terms. CSC members emphasized how using the right words is not enough to make research equitable. Researchers need to be able to understand the importance of using the words, and how to use them appropriately. The CSC also called for the use of community-created references, to center the knowledge of those who are most impacted by the phenomena associated with the term/concept.
Knowledge Mobilization
Our learning community has informed key messages in knowledge mobilization activities and are represented as team members. Our three key messages include:
1) people who embody gender diverse identities have experienced harms;
2) language is continuously evolving;
3) learning (and unlearning) is an active commitment. This relationship-centered work requires time, resources, and care. Our ongoing work, which involves a national consultation with expanded representation of research and community members, is activating these lessons.