My substantive research has been primarily in the fields of chronic illness and cancer experience and relational aspects of health service delivery within these illness contexts. I am intrigued by the complexity of the challenge associated with ensuring that all patients receive the information and support they require in order to live as well as possible despite these conditions. I work with health care professionals, health service decision makers, and patient advocacy groups to find better ways to assist patients in navigating health care systems and negotiating for the health supports they require. My research has focused particular attention on the insights that health care consumers… contribute to our understanding of ideological and structural barriers within our current systems of service delivery. Toward this end, I also work on methodological options toward ensuring that experiential knowledge obtained from consumer perspective research is appropriately designed to be useful within an evidence-oriented health care planning context.
Connie Canamis a faculty member in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia.