Shannon D. Scott

• RN, PhD
• Professor at University of Alberta

COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020. This novel disease impacted how health information was communicated as information on both the disease itself and on public health guidelines changed rapidly. The purpose of this research was to create knowledge translation (KT) tools about COVID-19 to increase public confidence in science and...

Background Anti-Asian racism is linked with adverse mental health conditions in young East Asian populations. There is a need to explore how to develop mental health resources for East Asian parents, yet minimal research explores anti-racism strategies for this work. Purpose The objectives were to: open a critical dialogue for developing anti-raci...

Importance Transition to adult care is a challenging and complex process for youth and emerging adults with chronic health and/or mental health conditions. Patient navigation has been proposed to improve care during transition, but previous studies have used single disease cohorts with a nonrandomized design. Objective To compare the effectiveness...

Objectives Despite being a frequent entry point of care, it remains unknown if families' needs are being met across pediatric emergency departments (PEDs). Study objectives were to describe caregivers' perceived overall PED experience and needs and to what extent these needs were met. Methods This descriptive, cross-sectional survey with medical r...

Background Health literacy assessment is key to better meeting family needs and developing informed strategies to promote positive health outcomes for children. The objective of this study was to describe the health literacy of caregivers who use Canadian pediatric emergency departments and relate it to demographic and visit-specific variables. Me...

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)...

Immigrant adolescents in Canada face challenges accessing accurate sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services. Many challenges stem from taboos associated with SRH, cultural and religious restrictions, and social beliefs regarding the unnecessity of SRH education for adolescents. We explored the SRH experiences of immigrant adole...

Caregivers with low health literacy are more likely to overestimate illness severity and have poor adherence with health-promoting behaviors. Our primary objective was to relate caregiver health literacy to the urgency of emergency department (ED) utilization. The secondary objective was to explore the relationship between social and demographic ch...

Public health measures (PHMs) implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic introduced sudden changes to adolescents’ everyday routines and required adolescents to repeatedly adapt their routines at a critical developmental stage. While meant to protect physical health, the PHMs destabilized mental health. Using a youth-engaged approach and interpretive...

Background Connecting end-users to research evidence has the power to improve patient knowledge and inform health decision-making. Differences in the culture and language of the end users may shape the effectiveness of knowledge mobilization (KMb). This scoping review set out to understand current approaches and methods when creating or adapting KM...

Background Optimizing a child’s emergency department (ED) experience positively impacts their memories and future healthcare interactions. Our objectives were to describe children’s perspectives of their needs and experiences during their ED visit and relate this to their understanding of their condition. Methods 514 children, aged 7–17 years, and...

Background A recent priority-setting exercise reported that youth are interested in understanding what the early signs and symptoms of generalized anxiety are, and when they should seek help. This environmental scan aimed to understand what information is currently available online for Canadian youth about the signs and symptoms of generalized anxi...

The objective of this review was to explore parents’ experiences and information needs regarding management of their child with an intellectual and/or developmental disability (IDD) in the emergency department (ED). We searched six electronic databases and grey literature to identify primary studies in English published since 2000. We synthesized q...

Purpose: There is mounting evidence supporting a role for intranasal (IN) ketamine for procedural sedation in children due to its less invasive delivery. Drug administration and monitoring is largely performed by nurses and clinical uptake requires understanding their perceptions. We explored nursing perspectives of IN ketamine for procedural sedat...

Background Paediatric heart failure poses life-long, burdensome symptoms for the health care system and families. Diagnosis and discharge are stressful and anxiety-provoking for caregivers. They face uncertainty about their child’s health and become responsible for administering complex care in the home. Little is known about this topic. Our study...

Introduction Pain affects all children, and in hospitals across North America, this pain is often undertreated. Children who visit the emergency department (ED) experience similar undertreatment, and they will often experience a painful procedure as part of their diagnostic journey. Further, children and their caregivers who experience social injus...

Background The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic marked a period of uncertainty as public health guidelines, diagnostic criteria, and testing protocols or procedures have continuously evolved. Despite the virus being declared a worldwide pandemic, little research has been done to understand how parents manage caring for their child diagnosed with...

The global pandemic has intensified the risk of moral distress due to increased demands on already limited human resources and uncertainty of the pandemic’s trajectory. Nurses commonly experience moral distress: a conflict between the morally correct action and what they are required or capable of doing. Effective moral distress interventions are r...

Background The eCOVID19 Recommendations Map & Gateway to Contextualization (RecMap) website was developed to identify all COVID-19 guidelines, assess the credibility and trustworthiness of the guidelines, and make recommendations understandable to various stakeholder groups. To date, little has been done to understand and explore parents’ experienc...

Effects of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on children stem beyond immediate infectious and post-infectious risks. Our aim was to conduct a scoping review and produce an online Interactive Evidence Map (IEM) highlighting available literature around unintended effects of the pandemic on children’s and adolescents’ mental, psychosoci...

Introduction Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, parents and children faced significant challenges as a result of prevention measures implemented to control the spread of the disease. Ensuring that families have access to essential health information is critical for improving health outcomes and adherence to public health r...

Aim: To synthesize qualitative studies relating to caregivers' information needs and experiences caring for a child with chronic heart failure. Background: Children with chronic heart failure (HF) place a considerable burden on healthcare systems each year and is associated with significant stress for caregivers. Despite substantial knowledge gener...

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...

Background In 2016, we developed a pediatric parent advisory group to inform our research program which creates innovative knowledge translation (KT) tools for parents on priority topics related to acute childhood illness. We implemented a mixed methods strategy to evaluate the experiences of group members. The purpose of this paper is to present t...

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in drastic changes in people's lives, more so in individuals with chronic conditions, such as children with chronic respiratory disorders requiring home non-invasive ventilation. Our research question was: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the daily lives of children using home NIV and their families...

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 Knowledge translation (KT) strategies are widely used to facilitate the implementation of EBIs into healthcare practices. However, it is unknown what and how KT strategies are used to facilitate the sustainability of EBIs in institutional healthcare settings. Objectives This scoping review aimed to consolidate the current evidence on (i...

Plain language summary Access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services is a basic human right. All individuals require access to appropriate SRH services to maintain their optimal sexual and reproductive health. Adolescents require special guidance, support, and youth-friendly services in matters of SRH as they enter puberty and explore the...

Objectives To describe the extent to which caregivers’ emotional and communication needs were met during pediatric emergency department (PED) visits. Secondary objectives included describing the association of caregiver emotional needs, satisfaction with care, and comfort in caring for their child’s illness at the time of discharge with demographic...

Background: Health literacy is defined as a set of skills needed to effectively function in a health care setting. In American pediatric emergency departments (PEDs), the prevalence of low health literacy among caregivers is approximately 50%. Caregivers with lower health literacy are more likely to overestimate severity of illness, overutilize hea...

Parents and youth across Alberta were engaged to identify specific research questions that are a priority to them. Two lists, containing 27 topics were developed with local parent and youth advisory groups, and sent to participants via online questionnaires. Topics were rated from one (least important) to five (most important) and ranked in order o...

BACKGROUND The eCOVID19 Recommendations Map & Gateway to Contextualization (RecMap) website was developed to identify all COVID-19 guidelines, assess the credibility and trustworthiness of the guidelines, and make recommendations understandable to various stakeholder groups. To date, little has been done to understand and explore parents’ experienc...

Background Paediatric emergency departments (EDs) have been identified as inherently stressful for families, making it challenging to understand and meet families’ global needs, beyond urgent medical care. There is a paucity of research describing how effectively the emotional and communication needs of family caregivers are met during ED visits....

Introduction Connecting end-users to research evidence has the power to improve patient knowledge and inform health decision-making. However, recognized barriers to or determinants of effective knowledge mobilization (KMb) are differences in culture and language among the end users of the evidence. This scoping review set out to understand current...

Some ethnocultural groups in Canada experience low routine childhood vaccination, with social locations and discriminations contributing to inequities. This study aimed to characterize routine childhood vaccination in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the influence of discriminatory experiences when accessing health services. We condu...

Importance: To ensure that youths can make informed decisions about their health, it is important that health recommendations be presented for understanding by youths. Objective: To compare understanding, accessibility, usability, satisfaction, intention to implement, and preference of youths provided with a digital plain language recommendation...

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of plain language compared with standard language versions of COVID-19 recommendations specific to child health. Study design and setting: Pragmatic, allocation-concealed, blinded, superiority randomized controlled trial (RCT) with nested qualitative component. Trial was conducted online, internationally. P...

Background The chronicity of congenital heart disease (CHD) comes with significant psychosocial consequences for both children and adolescents living with CHD and their primary caregivers. Children and adolescents living with CHD undergo multiple traumatizing invasive surgical and medical procedures, struggle with disabilities resulting from their...

In pediatric critical care, nurses are the primary caregivers for critically ill children and are particularly vulnerable to moral distress. There is limited evidence on what approaches are effective to minimize moral distress among these nurses. To identify intervention attributes that critical care nurses with moral distress histories deem import...

Background: Smartphone applications offer a novel platform for delivering health information to parents. This study created and evaluated an app-based symptom checker that recommends educational tools to parents based on their child's symptoms. Methods: Symptoms extracted from 23 knowledge translation (KT) tools for 10 children's illnesses compr...

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...

p> Introduction: Children and adolescents have been shown to manifest COVID-19 differently than adults, frequently displaying less severe symptoms or appearing asymptomatic as well as presenting lower risk of death. However, the effects of the pandemic, declared in March 2020, stem beyond the immediate infectious risk for this population. Our aim w...

p> Introduction: Children and adolescents have been shown to manifest COVID-19 differently than adults, frequently displaying less severe symptoms or appearing asymptomatic as well as presenting lower risk of death. However, the effects of the pandemic, declared in March 2020, stem beyond the immediate infectious risk for this population. Our aim w...

Pediatric functional constipation (FC) is a common childhood problem that involves difficult or painful defecation and can be caused by a variety of different factors. In children, FC is often unrecognized and poorly treated, and has potential to cause abdominal pain, appetite suppression, loss of control over defecation, and family disruption. A r...

Anaphylaxis, or anaphylactic reactions, are a severe allergic reaction with a rapid onset and can be fatal. Children are disproportionately at risk for hospitalization and emergency department visits due to anaphylaxis. A previously conducted mixed studies systematic review and qualitative descriptive study found that parents lacked confidence in r...

Asthma is the most common chronic condition in children with an estimated 15% of children and youth living with asthma in Canada. Acute asthma exacerbations, or asthma attacks, are the main reason for children to seek emergency care, contributing to financial burdens for families and healthcare systems. This burden highlights opportunities to reduc...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic underlined that guidelines and recommendations must be made more accessible and more understandable to the general public to improve health outcomes. The objective of this study is to evaluate, quantify, and compare the public’s understanding, usability, satisfaction, intention to implement, and preference for dif...

BACKGROUND Canada is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse countries with over seven million individuals out of a population of 38 million being foreign-born. Immigrant adolescents (aged 10-19) make up a substantial proportion of newcomers to Canada. Religious and cultural practices can influence adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviours, a...

Background: Canada is one of the world's most ethnically diverse countries, with over 7 million individuals out of a population of 38 million being born in a foreign country. Immigrant adolescents (aged 10 to 19 years) make up a substantial proportion of newcomers to Canada. Religious and cultural practices can influence adolescents' sexual attitu...

Background Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in children is a leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits, resulting in substantial health care costs and stress for families and caregivers. The majority of pediatric AGE cases are caused by viral infections and can be managed at home using strategies to prevent dehydration. To increase knowledge of,...

BACKGROUND Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in children is a leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits, resulting in substantial health care costs and stress for families and caregivers. The majority of pediatric AGE cases are caused by viral infections and can be managed at home using strategies to prevent dehydration. To increase knowledge of,...

Background A decline in routine vaccination was reported by some countries early in the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of the pandemic, determinants of routine childhood vaccination may have changed. Changes over time in parents’ perceptions of routine vaccines and intentions for their children during the pandemic have not been fully explored. U...

Youth are vulnerable to mental health challenges. Social media presents an opportunity to evaluate disinhibited mental health discourse and self-disclosure. The objective of this study was to explore reported experiences and information needs related to youth seeking support for mental health on the social media platform, Reddit.com. We searched tw...

Background Parents/caregivers strongly influence their child’s experience in the pediatric emergency department (PED). Understanding their needs can improve families’ PED experience and care. Objectives To describe caregivers’ perceived emotional, practical, and informational needs in the PED and how well these needs were met Design/Methods This...

Background There is limited evidence to evaluate the sustainability of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for healthcare improvement. Through an integrative review, we aimed to identify approaches to evaluate the sustainability of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) and sustainability outcomes. Methods Following Whittemore and Knafl’s methodologi...

Background: The chronicity of congenital heart disease (CHD) comes with significant psychosocial consequences for both children and adolescents living with CHD and their primary caregivers. Children and adolescents living with CHD undergo multiple traumatizing invasive surgical and medical procedures, struggle with disabilities resulting from their...

Introduction In a recent child health research priority setting exercise conducted in Alberta (CA), youth identified “mental health” as a priority topic. Specifically, youth were interested in understanding what the early signs and symptoms of anxiety were, and when they should seek help. Objective The objective of this study was to understand wha...

Objective To develop a reporting guideline for overviews of reviews of healthcare interventions. Design Development of the preferred reporting items for overviews of reviews (PRIOR) statement. Participants Core team (seven individuals) led day-to-day operations, and an expert advisory group (three individuals) provided methodological advice. A pa...

Digital storytelling aims to illuminate complex narratives of health and illness when used as a method in health research. Digital stories are three to five minute videos that integrate written and narrated stories with multiple aesthetic components. There is increasing interest in digital storytelling as a research method, yet there is limited syn...

Background Literature suggests that immigrant adolescents receive limited sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education and rarely utilize SRH services in Canada. This study sought to explore the SRH information needs of immigrant adolescents in the province of Alberta.MethodsA qualitative descriptive methodology was undertaken to conduct 21 indiv...

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Background: Our research groups have developed a number of parental knowledge translation (KT) tools to help families understand common childhood illnesses and make informed decisions regarding when to seek urgent care. We have developed a series of videos to help parents understand how to manage common acute childhood illnesses at home and when t...

BACKGROUND Background - Our research groups have developed a number of parent knowledge translation (KT) tools to help families and caregivers understand common childhood illnesses and make informed decisions regarding when to seek urgent care. We have developed a series of videos to help parents understand how to manage common acute childhood illn...

UNSTRUCTURED Childhood heart failure is a factor in many hospital admissions each year. It can impose a steep learning curve for parents who need to learn the key information to care for their child at home. In this study, we conducted an environmental scan to identify and assess web-based knowledge translation tools about childhood heart failure f...

Background Patient stories are a knowledge translation (KT) strategy that embody the patient experience. Patient stories are used to inform healthcare policy, delivery, and patient engagement, and have many positive impacts on the uptake of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) in healthcare. However, there is little evidence on the use and influence...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic heightened anti-Asian racism towards East Asian diasporas in North America. Experiences of racism encountered by East Asian communities have been documented to negatively impact their mental health. Methods: A scoping review was undertaken following Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) methodology to (a) map the foci of...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic underlined that guidelines and recommendations must be made more accessible and more understandable to the general public, including adults, parents, and youth, to improve health outcomes. The objective of this study is to the public’s (youth, parents, and adult populations) understanding, usability, satisfaction,...

Little is understood about the unintended consequences of cannabis liberalization on children. Subsequently, this scoping review aimed to map and identify evidence related to acute cannabis intoxication in children. We searched three medical literature databases from inception until October 2019. We identified 4644 information sources and included...

Introduction The Truth and Reconciliation Commission drew attention to the inequalities and systemic harms experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada and called on the Canadian government and healthcare professionals to close the gap related to Indigenous communities’ access to appropriate healthcare services. The Manitoba Métis Federation (self-g...

Background Stories can be a powerful tool to increase uptake of health information, a key goal of knowledge translation (KT). Systematic reviews demonstrate that storytelling (i.e. sharing stories) can be effective in changing health-promoting behaviours. Though an attractive KT strategy, storytelling is a complex approach requiring careful plannin...

Background: A number of evidence-based knowledge translation (KT) tools for parents of children with acute health conditions have been developed. These tools were created and tested with parental input and disseminated to groups proficient in English. Therefore, it is unclear whether they are useful for populations that are more diverse. To enhanc...

Objective To explore parents' self-reported experiences and information needs regarding recognition and management of pediatric anaphylaxis. Methods We searched Ovid Medline, Ovid PsychInfo, CINAHL Plus, the Cochrane Library, and grey literature to identify primary studies in English or French published since 2000. We used a mixed-method appraisal...

BACKGROUND We have developed a series of knowledge translation (KT) tools which integrates parental experiences to communicate evidence-based information about acute childhood health conditions to parents and caregivers. While we created these tools with parent input, it is unclear if they are useful for diverse parent groups, including specific im...

Background: We have developed a series of knowledge translation (KT) tools that integrate parental experiences to communicate evidence-based information about acute childhood health conditions to parents and caregivers. While we created these tools with parent input, it is unclear if they are useful for diverse parent groups, including specific im...

BACKGROUND Concussions, known as mild traumatic brain injuries, are complex injuries caused by direct or indirect blows to the head and are increasingly being recognized as a significant public health concern for children and their families. Previous research has identified few studies examining the efficacy of educational interventions on parental...

Background: Concussions, which are known as mild traumatic brain injuries, are complex injuries caused by direct or indirect blows to the head and are increasingly being recognized as a significant public health concern for children and their families. Previous research has identified few studies examining the efficacy of educational interventions...

Bronchiolitis, or lower airway swelling, is a common cause of pediatric hospital admissions. Parents have expressed wishes for more information regarding bronchiolitis but had difficulty finding reliable information, suggesting the need for more effective and easily accessible information resources. Knowledge translation (KT) tools like videos prov...

African immigrant children experience some of the poorest mental health outcomes in Canada, yet limited research has systematically mental health determinants among this growing demographic. Our participatory action research project (PAR) explored, from the perspectives of parents, the factors influencing the mental health of African immigrant chil...

Background Pet therapy, or animal-assisted interventions (AAI), have demonstrated positive effects for patients, families and health care providers (HCP) in inpatient settings. However, the evidence supporting AAI in emergency or ambulatory care settings is unclear. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness of AAI on patient, f...

Objective To systematically review the scientific literature examining parents' experiences and information needs for the management of their child's asthma exacerbations. Methods We searched five databases for quantitative and qualitative studies in Canada and the United States from 2002 onwards. A convergent integrated approach and the Mixed Met...

Primary Subject area Advocacy Background A growing body of literature supports the active involvement of stakeholders in the prioritization and dissemination of evidence-based health care information. However, in child health related research, the perspectives of parents and youth are rarely acknowledged. Objectives To engage parents and youth in...

Primary Subject area Technology Background Providing resources that aid in detection and identification of serious childhood illness helps parents feel better equipped to assess their child’s health and significantly changes parental health-seeking behaviours. Some of these resources are limited by accessibility and scalability. Remote locations a...

Primary Subject area Emergency Medicine - Paediatric Background Liberalization of cannabis policy in Canada has led to concerns that increasing access to cannabis and cannabis infused products (e.g. edibles) for adults will have negative, unintended consequences for children. Objectives We conducted a scoping review to map the available evidence...

BACKGROUND Childhood heart failure is a factor in many hospital admissions each year. It can impose a steep learning curve for parents who need to learn the key information to care for their child at home. In this study, we conducted an environmental scan to identify and assess web-based knowledge translation tools about childhood heart failure for...

Background: Childhood heart failure is a factor in many hospital admissions each year. It can impose a steep learning curve for parents who need to learn the key information to care for their child at home. In this study, we conducted an environmental scan to identify and assess web-based knowledge translation tools about childhood heart failure f...

Objective The Primary Care Asthma Paediatric Pathway (PCAPP) included an EMR embedded pathway that provided an evidence-based approach to paediatric asthma management. The aim of this qualitative study was to use a theory-based approach to understand the facilitators and barriers that impacted the implementation of the PCAPP in primary care.Methods...

Purpose: To explore the experiences, information needs and preferences of children who have had a concussion and their parents who have cared for them. Design: Qualitative description. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted via Zoom with children who have had a concussion between ages 5 and 16 years and parents who have...

BACKGROUND We have developed a number of evidence-based knowledge translation (KT) tools for parents of children with acute health conditions. These tools were created with parent input from, pilot-tested with, and disseminated to groups proficient in English with “westernized” cultural upbringings. It is therefore unclear if they are as useful for...

Aim Ethical and logistical issues often exacerbate recruitment problems in child health studies. This study aims: (a) to provide new knowledge on how parents want to hear about child health research and (b) to inform the KidsCAN PERC iPCT initiative's re-examination of recruitment and retention strategies for pediatric emergency department research...

Recent Canadian and international events have sparked dialogue and action to address racism within the nursing discipline. While the urgency to seek and implement antiracist solutions demands the attention of nurses, we contend that a contemporary analysis of the mechanisms that continue to perpetuate racism within nursing's theoretical foundation...

Background Engaging youth throughout the research process improves research quality and outcomes. Youth advisory groups provide one way for youth to express their opinions on relevant issues. Objective This study aimed to identify research‐ and health‐related youth advisory groups (‘groups’) in Canada and understand the best practices of these gro...

Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most common bacterial ear infection affecting up to 80% of children before the age of three. Despite the common occurrence of the illness and the wide range of material available at clinics and online, parents are not always aware of these resources and they are often difficult to understand. We worked with parents t...