Learn about our mixture computerized adaptive testing (mixture-CAT) application for tailored patient-reported outcome (PRO) measurements by integrating information about SDOH in diverse populations.
Health surveys often use the same questions for everyone. This works well for some people but not for everyone, because people from diverse cultures, traditions, and life experiences may understand and interpret questions differently. To address this issue, we are developing and evaluating a novel application, called mixture-CAT, for tailoring PRO measurements to each person.
Read Novel Methods for EPHM research project summary (opens in new tab)
It was important for us to first understand how people with diverse experiences and backgrounds answer the same questions, through a process called ‘calibration’. From this, we learned which questions were most relevant to each person.
Together with patient partners, we created a short EPHM Online Survey Report 1 (opens in new tab) that provides a summary of participants and some results from the online survey answered by more than 11,000 people in Canada in 2023.
A list of presentations is available under Publications and Presentations by Our Team.
The current stage of the project builds on the previous objective by comparing the performance of the different measurement tools. More information is available on the survey information page (opens in new tab).
Together with the patient partners, we created a short EPHM Online Survey Report 2 (opens in new tab) that provides a summary of participants in the second phase of the EPHM project. More than 2,000 people in Canada answered surveys between Nov. 2024 and June 2026.
In July 2026 we sent a brief newsletter (opens in new tab) to all participants announcing the end of data collection and providing a brief overview of the next steps.
In the final part of the project, we are asking people with diverse experiences and backgrounds for in an interview to (a) understand the public's view on how different modalities of measuring questionnaires adequately reflect their experiences on pain and wellbeing, and (b) create and refine resources to support the understanding of mixture-CAT as an approach to Equitable People-Centred Health Measurement.
Principal investigators: R. Sawatzky (principal investigator); L. Cuthbertson and L. Templeton (knowledge user), L. Lix, M. Santana, A. Salmon, K. Schick-Makaroff, S. Zelinsky (patient partner), B.D. Zumbo.
Patient Partners: K. Giroux, T. Flynn, D. Williams, J. Bennett, R. Hovey, C. Ballantyne, A. Maybee.
Co-investigators: M. Antonio, S. Clelland, K. Courtney, C. Falk, A. Gadermann, J. Jackson, S. Klarenbach, J. Kopec, J-Y. Kwon, F. Lau, J. Liu, A. Mehdipour, J. O’Rourke, A. Pinto, P. Ratner, L. Russell, T. Sajobi, J. Sorensen, C. Son, M. Verdam, A. Wolff, H. Wong.
International investigators: J. Evans, F. Fischer, C. Gibbons, M. Hawkins, J. Öhlén, J. Valderas.
Collaborators: B. Forde (Technology Partner – Cambian); C. Beach S (Fraser Health Authority); Lorraine Grieves (Provincial Health Services Authority – Trans Care BC), Roland Simon (Health Quality Alberta)
Personnel: C. Berendonk, A. Bitchy, M. Kuo, M. Moynihan, A. Sasaki, M. Wu
Trainees: E. Berhan, J. Stacey, M. Suzuki, N. Wiebe