S. Michelle Driedger

• PhD
• Chair at University of Manitoba

Background Despite high COVID-19 vaccine coverage in Canada, vaccine acceptance and preferred delivery among newcomers, racialized persons, and those who primarily speak minority languages are not well understood. This national study explores COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, access to vaccines, and delivery preferences among ethnoculturally diverse pop...

Background Most research that includes Red River Métis tends to be pan-Indigenous. Grouping Métis with First Nations and Inuit can diminish their unique and diverse experiences, as well as distinctions-based approaches. Taking a step toward addressing this problem, the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF; the national government of the Red River Métis)...

Background: To evaluate the effects of a web-based, personalized avatar intervention conveying the concept of community immunity (herd immunity) on risk perception (perceptions of the risk of infection spreading (to self, family, community, and vulnerable individuals)) and other cognitive and emotional responses across 4 vaccine–preventable disease...

Background Adaptive designs (ADs) are intended to make clinical trials more flexible, offering efficiency and potentially cost-saving benefits. Despite a large number of statistical methods in the literature on different adaptations to trials, the characteristics, advantages and limitations of such designs remain unfamiliar to large parts of the cl...

The arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada marked the first time since the H1N1 influenza pandemic that adult vaccination became central in public health discourse, thus evoking feelings and discourse about individuals’ responsibility to get vaccinated. Public health institutions made efforts to ensure vaccines were accessible, and various local or...

Objective and ApproachTo address the opioid crisis within the Red River Métis (RRM) Community, understanding opioid use is crucial to empower regional health authorities to adapt health programs, services, and policies to meet their unique needs effectively. The investigation utilized focus groups with a Community-Based Participatory Research and C...

Systematically marginalized populations, like Red River Métis, have been greatly affected by COVID-19. Manitoba’s Indigenous COVID-19 vaccine policy initially delayed prioritization of Métis. Our research team, which included Métis partners, examined the consequences of these decisions (COVID-19 infections, health service use, vaccine uptake) among...

Identifying effective interventions to promote children’s vaccination acceptance is crucial for the health and wellbeing of communities. Many interventions can be implemented to increase parental awareness of the benefits of vaccination and positively influence their confidence in vaccines and vaccination services. One potential approach is using n...

Testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) using dried blood spot (DBS) specimens has been an integral part of bio-behavioural surveillance in Canada for almost two decades, though less is known regarding the use of DBS in surveillance of other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI). A systematic rev...

Background Little is known about how intersecting social privilege and disadvantage contribute to inequities in COVID-19 information use and vaccine access. This study explored how social inequities intersect to shape access to and use of COVID-19 information and vaccines among parents in Canada. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews on...

Research partnerships between researchers and knowledge users (KUs) in child health are understudied. This study examined the scope of KU engagement reported in published child health research, inclusive of health research partnership approaches and KU groups. Search strategies were developed by a health research librarian. Studies had to be in Eng...

We examined the perspectives of the Red River Métis citizens in Manitoba, Canada, during the H1N1 and COVID‐19 pandemics and how they interpreted the communication of government/health authorities’ risk management decisions. For Indigenous populations, pandemic response strategies play out within the context of ongoing colonial relationships with g...

Background: Adaptive designs (ADs) are intended to make clinical trials more flexible, offering efficient and potentially cost-saving benefits. Despite a large number of methods-based research papers in the literature on different adaptations to trials, the advantages and limitations of such designs remain unfamiliar to large parts of the clinical...

Background In Part I of this review, we outlined the study characteristics and methodologies utilized in adaptive clinical trials reported in the literature from 2010–2020. Herein, the second part of this analysis presents a secondary analysis of the trials captured within this timeframe that enrolled children. Methods This analysis seeks to genera...

Background Red River Métis families need access to meaningful and appropriate resources when their children are sick. At the invitation of the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) to partner in this research, our aim was to understand Red River Métis parents’ experiences and preferences for seeking child health information when their child is acutely il...

Background: Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination coverage have been observed in Canada and in other countries. We aimed to compare vaccination coverage for at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine between First Nations people living off reserve and Métis, Black, Arab, Chinese, South Asian and White people. Methods: We used data col...

Background and Aims Involving research users in collaborative research approaches may increase the relevance and utility of research findings. Our primary objectives were to (i) identify and describe characteristics of Canadian federally and provincially funded health research projects that included research users and were funded between 2011 and 2...

Background Negative information about vaccines that spreads online may contribute to parents’ vaccine hesitancy or refusal. Studies have shown that false claims about vaccines that use emotive personal narratives are more likely to be shared and engaged with on social media than factual evidence-based public health messages. The aim of this study w...

Canadians and Quebecers increasingly consult complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners in parallel with biomedical providers. The close relationship between vaccine hesitancy and CAM use remains under explored in Western countries. We present the results of a qualitative study conducted among one of Quebec's most used CAM approache...

Lead ammunition is commonly used to hunt waterfowl and other wildlife in the Arctic. Hunting with lead is problematic because the toxicant can be transferred to the consumer. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate perceptions and awareness of the risks associated with using lead ammunition among Arctic populations. Results of the Nunavik Child Devel...

Health care providers' recommendations can play an important role in individuals' vaccination decisions. Despite being one of the most popular complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), naturopathy is understudied in relation to vaccination decisions. We sought to address this gap through this study of vaccination perspectives of naturopathy pra...

Empirical research in psychology and political science shows that individuals collect, process, and interpret information in a goal-driven fashion. Several theorists have argued that rather than striving for accuracy in their conclusions, individuals are motivated to arrive at conclusions that align with their previous beliefs, values, or identity...

Population-based screening programs invite otherwise healthy people who are not experiencing any symptoms to be screened for cancer. In the case of breast cancer, mammography screening programs are not intended for higher risk groups, such as women with family history of breast cancer or carriers of specific gene mutations, as these women would rec...

The management of any Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), such as COVID-19, requires several strategies: public health surveillance and active testing of suspected cases, isolating those with the disease as well as their contacts, providing risk communication messaging for actions that people can adopt to protect themselves an...

Objectives Screening for prostate cancer in healthy asymptomatic men using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is controversial due to conflicting recommendations from and a lack of strong evidence regarding the benefit of population-based screening. In Canada and internationally, there is variability in how family physicians (FPs) approach PS...

Objective: Testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) using dried blood spot (DBS) specimens has been an integral part of bio-behavioural surveillance in Canada for almost two decades. A systematic review was conducted to assess the current evidence regarding the validity of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infec...

Objective Mapping literature on Indigenous families’ experiences seeking child health information and identifying barriers and facilitators to information access. Design Scoping review. Data sources We searched Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Scopus and CINAHL for peer-reviewed literature and Google Advanced for grey literature. We screened tables of...

BACKGROUND Gamification has been used successfully to promote various desired health behaviours. Previous studies have used gamification to achieve desired health behaviours or facilitate their learning about health. OBJECTIVE In this scoping review and environmental scan, we aimed to describe gamified digital tools that have been implemented and...

Background Gamification has been used successfully to promote various desired health behaviors. Previous studies have used gamification to achieve desired health behaviors or facilitate their learning about health. Objective In this scoping review, we aimed to describe digital gamified tools that have been implemented or evaluated across various p...

Vaccines are one of the most important and successful public health interventions to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. However, unlike childhood diseases and routine vaccines, COVID-19 is a novel threat, and COVID-19 vaccines may elicit specific anxieties. Through focus groups, we examine the concerns and attitudes toward the COVID-19 vacci...

Background and objective There has been growing emphasis on increasing impacts of academic health research by integrating research findings in healthcare. The concept of knowledge translation (KT) has been widely adopted in Canada to guide this work, although lack of recognition in tenure and promotion (T&P) structures have been identified as barri...

At the beginning of 2021, when Canada started distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the unprecedented scope and severity of the pandemic led to very high levels of public awareness and attention, with Canadians actively seeking information. We argue that while there was continuous public health communication about COVID-19 and the newly available vacc...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic triggered extreme preventive measures, including economic and social lockdowns. Many experts and commentators, however, have argued in favor of a harm reduction approach, giving individuals the liberty to assess their risk and potentially engage in risky behavior more safely. Drawing on concepts from harm reduction...

Structural and systemic inequalities can contribute to susceptibility to COVID-19 disease and limited access to vaccines. Recognizing that Racialized and Indigenous Peoples may experience unique barriers to COVID-19 vaccination, this study explored early COVID-19 vaccine accessibility, including barriers and potential solutions to vaccine access, f...

Vaccination is an essential public health intervention to control the COVID-19 pandemic. A minority of Canadians, however, remain hesitant about COVID-19 vaccines, while others outright refuse them. We conducted focus groups to gauge perceptions and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines in people who live in a region with historically low rates of ch...

Risk prevention measures are more likely to be accepted if people trust risk managers and their ability to handle the crisis, which often depends on who communicates with the public. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some Canadian officials became the main spokespersons of pandemic response in their jurisdiction, speaking almost daily to the public. We...

Objectives Red River Métis are Indigenous people hailing from the Canadian Prairies who have historically experienced poor health outcomes due to colonial practices. Researchers from the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) partnered with health services researchers to test whether MMF-led COVID initiatives were associated with access to COVID-19 testin...

UNSTRUCTURED The COVID-19 pandemic generated an explosion in the amount of information shared online, including false and misleading information on the virus, and recommended protective behaviours. Prior to the pandemic, online mis- and disinformation were already identified as having an impact on people’s decision to refuse or delay recommended va...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic generated an explosion in the amount of information shared online, including false and misleading information on the virus, and recommended protective behaviours. Prior to the pandemic, online mis- and disinformation were already identified as having an impact on people's decision to refuse or delay recommended va...

Background Health care providers’ knowledge and attitudes about vaccines are important determinants of their own vaccine uptake, their intention to recommend vaccines, and their patients’ vaccine uptake. This qualitative study’ objective was to better understand health care providers’ vaccination decisions, their views on barriers to COVID-19 vacci...

Objective To investigate COVID-19 vaccine uptake and intent among pregnant people in Canada, and determine associated factors. Methods We conducted a national cross-sectional survey among pregnant people from May 28 through June 7, 2021 ( n = 193). Respondents completed a questionnaire to determine COVID-19 vaccine acceptance (defined as either re...

Objectives: Our study aimed to (1) identify barriers to equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for Canadians with disabilities and (2) present recommendations made by study participants to improve immunization programs in terms of inclusivity and equitable access. Methods: We invited Manitobans living with disabilities to participate in online fo...

Background: Amid rising concern about opioid use across Canada, Métis leaders in Manitoba are seeking information on prescription opioid dispensing in Red River Métis populations to assist with planning and implementing appropriate evidence-based harm-reduction strategies in their communities. We examined patterns of prescription opioid dispensing...

Background Vaccination coverage needs to reach more than 80% to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic, but vaccine hesitancy, fuelled by misinformation, may jeopardize this goal. Unvaccinated older adults are not only at risk of COVID-19 complications but may also be misled by false information. Prebunking, based on inoculation theory, involves ‘forewarnin...

Objective To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on early childhood vaccination coverage in Alberta, Canada. Setting Alberta, a western Canadian province, which has a population of 4.4 million and approximately 50 000 births annually. Design In this retrospective cohort study, population-based administrative health data were analysed to de...

Response measures to mitigate the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impacted access to routine vaccination services. We evaluate the impact of the pandemic on routine infant vaccination uptake by comparing vaccination coverage, vaccine delays and doses administered in 2019 and 2020, in Quebec, Canada. Using a population-based vaccination registry,...

Background Vaccinating children (≤17 years old) is important for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. As parents are primary decision makers for their children, we aimed to assess parents’ perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination for their children, including for some underserved populations (e.g., newcomers, Indigenous peoples, and...

Introduction In Canada, the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted many routine health services, placed additional strain on the health care system, and resulted in many Canadians being either unable or unwilling to attend routine immunization appointments. We sought to capture and synthesize information about changes to routine immunization programs in...

Introduction: In Canada, the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted many routine health services, placed additional strain on the health care system, and resulted in many Canadians being either unable or unwilling to attend routine immunization appointments. We sought to capture and synthesize information about changes to routine immunization programs i...

Ethical research practice within community-based research involves many dimensions, including a commitment to return results to participants in a timely and accessible fashion. Often, current Indigenous community-based research is driven by a partnership model; however, dissemination of findings may not always follow this approach. As a result, pro...

Vaccine hesitancy–the reluctance to receive recommended vaccination because of concerns and doubts about vaccines–is recognized as a significant threat to the success of vaccination programs and has been associated with recent major outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Moreover, the association between complementary and alternative medicine (...

BACKGROUND Background: ‘Herd immunity’ or ‘community immunity’ refers to the reduced risk of infection among susceptible individuals in a population through the presence and proximity of immune individuals. Recent studies suggest that improving understanding of community immunity may increase intentions to get vaccinated. OBJECTIVE Objective: We a...

Background Herd immunity or community immunity refers to the reduced risk of infection among susceptible individuals in a population through the presence and proximity of immune individuals. Recent studies suggest that improving the understanding of community immunity may increase intentions to get vaccinated. Objective This study aims to design a...

Background: ‘Herd immunity’ or ‘community immunity’ refers to the reduced risk of infection among susceptible individuals in a population through the presence and proximity of immune individuals. Recent studies suggest that improving understanding of community immunity may increase intentions to get vaccinated.Objective: We aimed to design a web ap...

A number of countries have implemented vaccination in pregnancy as a strategy to reduce the burden of influenza and pertussis. The aim of this study was to assess the involvement of Canadian maternity care providers in administration of vaccines to their pregnant patients. A cross-sectional web-based survey was sent to family physicians, obstetrici...

Developing COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement Readiness Strategy Guidance for Travelers Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR). First named investigator: Prof C Jardine 2 year funding

Culturally Responsive Supports for Metis Elders and Metis Family Caregivers—ERRATUM - Elizabeth J. Cooper, Julianne Sanguins, Verena Menec, Audrey Frances Chartrand, Sheila Carter, S. Michelle Driedger

Background Outbreaks of disease are common fodder for political debate and public discourse. In the past decade alone, health officials have faced a steady stream of serious public health threats, from H1N1 to Ebola and Zika, as well as large outbreaks of measles and other highly contagious illnesses. These incidents command intense media attention...

Little research has focused on how Indigenous girls and their familial female caregivers negotiate issues pertaining to wellbeing and decision-making practices. To address this gap, we employed a novel intergenerational Indigenous partnership methods using various decolonizing action and arts-based activities, to allow participants to guide and mod...

Communicating about health risks in the Arctic can be challenging. Numerous factors can hinder or promote effective communication. One of the most important components in effective communication is trust in an information source. This is particularly true when a risk is unfamiliar or complex because the public must rely on expert assessment rather...

It is important to recognize that experiences of racial and gendered violence are a sad legacy of colonialism. The experiences of historical trauma are on-going. These affect the mental and physical wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Addressing historical trauma through community-informed practices is central to creating space for...

Objective: Influenza vaccine uptake among Canadian pregnant individuals is suboptimal. Failure to incorporate vaccination into routine prenatal care and a lack of recommendations from healthcare providers are recognized as barriers to vaccination. The aim of this study was to assess Canadian maternity care providers' knowledge, attitudes, and prac...

Background Although children have historically been excluded from clinical trials (CTs), many require medicines tested and approved in CTs, forcing health care providers to treat their pediatric patients based on extrapolated data. Unfortunately, traditional randomized CTs can be slow and resource-intensive, and they often require multi-center coll...

This study examines how a medically contested procedure for people living with multiple sclerosis was framed by the news media and challenged by user-generated Facebook content. While expected narrative patterns ensued (advocates being positive and the scientific community being cautious), embedded were collective action oppositional frames that fo...

Policy decisions about the approval and funding of new cancer drugs must often be made in an environment of complex uncertainty about clinical and cost-effectiveness data. The focus of this article is on the results from qualitative interviews with senior officials (n = 16) who make decisions about or influence cancer drug policy in various organiz...

Historical trauma and the negative effects of colonialism continue to be played out within Canadian culture. These processes have a deleterious effect on physical and psychological health outcomes among Indigenous Peoples. Through the creation of a safe space as part of a decolonizing, participatory activity program spanning 7 weeks, First Nations...

Background The belief that early detection is the best protection against cancer underlies cancer screening. Emerging research now suggests harms associated with early detection may sometimes outweigh the benefits. Governments, cancer agencies, and organizations that publish screening guidelines have found it is difficult to “un-ring the bell” on t...

Background In recent years, shared decision making (SDM) has been promoted as a model to guide interactions between persons with MS and their neurologists to reach mutually satisfying decisions about disease management – generally about deciding treatment courses of prevailing disease modifying therapies. In 2009, Dr. Paolo Zamboni introduced the w...

“Vaccine hesitancy” is a concept now frequently used in vaccination discourse. The increased popularity of this concept in both academic and public health circles is challenging previously held perspectives that individual vaccination attitudes and behaviours are a simple dichotomy of accept or reject. A consultation study was designed to assess th...

Author List. (PDF)

Questions asked during the First questionnaire and Second questionnaire. (PDF)

During the first wave of the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009, Aboriginal populations in Canada experienced disproportionate rates of infection, particularly in the province of Manitoba. To protect those thought to be most at-risk, health authorities in Manitoba listed all Aboriginal people, including Metis, among those able to receive priority acce...

Recent infectious disease outbreaks have resulted in renewed recognition of the importance of risk communication planning and execution to public health control strategies. Key to these efforts is public access to information that is understandable, reliable and meets their needs for informed decision-making on protective health behaviours. Learnin...

Worldwide, more than 50 million cases of dengue fever are reported every year in at least 124 countries, and it is estimated that approximately 2.5 billion people are at risk for dengue infection. In Bangladesh, the recurrence of dengue has become a growing public health threat. Notably, knowledge and perceptions of dengue disease risk, particularl...

The news media has long been recognized as an important social player in civil society in shaping public discourse concerning current events, particularly in the communication of science, policy, and risk issues. While the media may not tell us what our thoughts should be, it has considerable power in influencing the same by virtue of what it does,...

Assigning ‘blame’ is a normal human reaction when trying to identify who or what was responsible for something going wrong. What was done, by whom, the extent of the damage, combined with the system in place to prevent a reoccurrence can influence short and long-term trust. Studies to date have examined how governments have handled large-scale publ...

Background: The recurrence of dengue has become a growing public health threat. This research examines the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practice of local community members regarding dengue transmission in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It also investigates explanatory demographic and socioeconomic factors that affect community knowledge, beli...

Background: The recurrence of dengue has become a growing public health threat. This research examines the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practice of local community members regarding dengue transmission in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It also investigates explanatory demographic and socioeconomic factors that affect community knowledge, belie...

Certain populations are more at-risk than others during a pandemic, and health systems are required to develop targeted risk messaging to ensure that those populations have access to necessary protective materials and information. During the H1N1 pandemic in 2009–2010, the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF), with support from Manitoba Health, carried...

Objectives: The 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic prompted public health agencies worldwide to respond in a context of substantial uncertainty. While many lessons around successful management strategies were learned during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, the usefulness and impact of mathematical models to optimize policy decisions in protecting pu...

Developing appropriate risk messages during challenging situations like public health outbreaks is complicated. The focus of this paper is on how First Nations and Metis people in Manitoba, Canada, responded to the public health management of pandemic H1N1, using a focus group methodology (n = 23 focus groups). Focus group conversations explored pa...

The development and implementation of a remediation plan for the residual arsenic trioxide stored at the former Giant Mine site in the Canadian Northwest Territories has raised important issues related to trust. Social and individual trust of those responsible for making decisions on risks is critically important in community judgements on risk and...

Arguably, the two most critical components in any response to a pandemic are effective risk communication and the rapid development of a vaccine. Despite the roll-out of a publicly-funded H1N1 vaccine program across the country, less than half of all Canadians were vaccinated during the 2009-10 pandemic. Using focus group data, this study examined...

The disproportionate effects of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic on many Canadian Aboriginal communities have drawn attention to the vulnerability of these communities in terms of health outcomes in the face of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. Exploring the particular challenges facing these communities is essential to improving public health pla...

Despite the availability of a variety of information sources, the news media remain one of the dominant sources of representations of advances in science, technology, government policies and other issues important to society. Some researchers have argued that story leads are important for conveying the content of an entire story and are highly memo...

Background Since the completion of three clinical trials indicating that voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is an effective method to reduce men’s chances of acquiring HIV, use of the procedure has been advocated in Kenya. Media messages shape popular understandings of the benefits and limitations of male circumcision. The objectives of thi...

Effects of climate change and its induced extreme environmental events have been the object of intense public debate in recent years. Extreme environmental events, such as heat waves, and their impact upon the elderly and the poor are of special concern to policy- and decision-makers. However, how the public views these issues is critical for deali...

This study examined the ways in which health care providers (general practitioners and specialists) and patients communicate with each other about managing musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders, a major cause of long-term pain and physical disability. In managing their illness, patients must interact closely with health care providers, who play a large r...