| Other investigators or team members (optional) | For the purpose of this student-centred project proposal, Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, academic supervisor, is named as the NPI. He is an epidemiologist and University Professor in Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led over a dozen epidemiological and community-based research projects, served on several national and provincial advisory committees and science tables, and was a frequent media commentator during the pandemic. He currently serves on the iCARE executive committee and is a co-applicant. *Co-investigators Sohana Sadique – Sohana Sadique is a PhD student in Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan with training in epidemiology and experience in public health and operational research. She will lead the project, including study coordination, data collection, data management, quantitative analysis, interpretation of findings, and knowledge dissemination under Dr. Nazeem’s guidance; Dr. Kim Lavoie – Dr. Kim Lavoie is a Professor of Psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Medicine. She is also Co-Director of the Montreal Behavioural Medicine Centre. Her research focuses on health behaviour change, behavioural interventions, motivational communication, chronic disease management, and public health. Dr. Lavoie has made significant contributions to research on vaccination behaviour, COVID-19, cardiovascular and respiratory health, and the development of evidence based behavioural interventions; Dr. Cory Neudorf – Dr Neudorf is a public health physician and professor in the Dept of Community Health & Epidemiology, Division of Public Health & Preventive Medicine , University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine. He is the President of the Urban Public Health Network of Canada, and a frequent co-applicant and knowledge user of community-based research projects aimed at improving the public health system and health equity and focused much of his research and public communication during the pandemic on COVID-19 prevention and mitigation including through increasing equitable uptake of vaccines. He is an iCARE co-applicant; Dr. Thilina Bandara – Thilina Bandara PhD is a public health systems and services researcher based at the University of Saskatchewan. His research interests are public health governance, immunization equity and One Health. He has been involved in epidemiological and policy based inquires at local, provincial and national public health organizations. He is currently also the President of Saskatchewan Public Health Association and an Advisory Board Member with the National Collaborating Centre for the Determinants of Health; Dr. Arinjay Banerji – Dr. Arinjay Banerjee is a virologist, Canada Research Chair in Zoonotic Viruses and Animal Reservoirs and a Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Emerging Leader. Dr. Banerjee is the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Zoonotic Viruses and Comparative Immunology at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Dr. Banerjee’s laboratory focuses on three main themes that are inspired by the One Health ideology, (1) virus-host interactions in wildlife reservoir species, such as bats, (2) virus-host interactions in spillover species, such as humans, and (3) antiviral solutions. |
| Analysis Plan Description | Objective 1: Characterize epistemic trust dispositions and their distribution (ETMCQ-R subscale scores will be used to classify participants into Trusting, Mistrustful, and Credulous dispositions based on their dominant score. Population-weighted prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals will describe the distribution of dispositions across the Canadian adult population. Distributions will be examined across key sociodemographic and equity-related characteristics); Objective 2: Identify factors associated with epistemic trust dispositions (Multivariable analyses will examine sociodemographic, attitudinal, institutional-trust, and information-environment factors associated with each epistemic trust disposition. Machine learning methods, including Random Forest and Artificial Neural Network models, will be used to identify variables with strong predictive value. Model performance and variable importance will be assessed using rigorous validation procedures); Objective 3: Assess the association between epistemic trust dispositions and vaccine-related outcomes (Binary logistic regression will assess the association between epistemic trust disposition and vaccine uptake, including MMR and influenza vaccination, reporting crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Ordinal logistic regression will be used for vaccine intention measured on a Likert scale. Models will adjust for key confounders identified and and survey weights will be incorporated.) |
