Dr. Karen Urbanoski

About Karen

Karen is the Canada Research Chair in Substance Use, Addictions and Health Services, scientist at CISUR, and associate professor in Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. As a social epidemiologist, her research focuses on the social-structural determinants of substance-related harms, the organization of service systems, and population health equity. She leverages large population-based datasets coupled with targeted community-based studies to explore the connections between people’s perceived needs for services of different kinds, their experiences of care, and health outcomes.

Prior to coming to the University of Victoria, Karen completed her training and worked as a scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario. She still holds positions as a collaborator scientist at CAMH and assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. After completing her PhD in public health at the University of Toronto, Karen completed post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry.

Karen’s work broadly aims to promote a better understanding of how to ensure equitable access to addiction services among the population in need. Her research interests include pathways to addiction treatment; coercion and compulsory addiction treatment; treatment motivation and therapeutic processes; policies that impact on service access and use; and treatment and systems evaluation.

Videos of Karen

Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Urbanoski+Karen

Projects

• A mixed methods evaluation of safer supply initiatives to reduce illicit drug overdose in BC
• BC Co/Lab
• Compulsory addiction treatment: toward evidence-based policy and practice
• Evaluation of the Victoria SAFER program
• Healthy mothers, healthy families: Evaluating integrated treatment for pregnant and parenting women with addictions
• Island Health alcohol and other drug treatment services
• Managed alcohol and cannabis substitution: A feasibility study
• Perspectives of People who use Drugs on Safer Supply: A concept mapping study
• Provincial peer network evaluation
• Reducing Stigma in Primary Care
• The Mothering Co/Lab
• The role of child protection in substance use services for women
• Youth Experiences Project: Police discretion with youth who use illicit substances

Publications

• A Brief on Methodology: Using Proximity Analysis to Study the Impact of Substance Use Services On Local Neighborhoods
• A concept mapping study of service user design of safer supply as an alternative to the illicit drug market
• Alcohol and Other-Drug Related Harms in BC's Island Health Region
• Applicability of a national strategy for patient-oriented research to people who use(d) substances: a Canadian experience
• A system-level study of initiation, engagement, and equity in outpatient substance use treatment
• Client Engagement in Legally-Mandated Addiction Treatment: A Prospective Study Using Self-Determination Theory
• Co/Lab Campbell River Community Report: Piloting equity-oriented Monitoring for Substance Use and Health in British Columbia Communities
• Co/Lab Substance Use Monitoring Framework: Equity-Oriented Monitoring of Substance Use and Health (Overview)
• Commentary on Pilarinos et al. (2019): Scientific realism and the study of coerced substance use treatment
• Community networks of services for pregnant and parenting women with problematic substance use
• Doing community-based research during dual public health emergencies (COVID and overdose)
• Effect of Risk Mitigation Guidance opioid and stimulant dispensations on mortality and acute care visits during dual public health emergencies: retrospective cohort study
• Effects of comorbid substance use disorders on outcomes in a Housing First intervention for homeless people with mental illness
• Evaluation of risk mitigation measures for people with substance use disorders to address the dual public health crises of COVID-19 and overdose in British Columbia: a mixed-method study protocol
• Evidence Brief: Needle and Syringe Exchange Programs
• Evidence Brief: Supervised Consumption Sites are Necessary Public Health Services
• Factors associated with 60-day adherence to “safer supply” opioids prescribed under British Columbia's interim clinical guidance for health care providers to support people who use drugs during COVID-19 and the ongoing overdose emergency
• Frequent use of emergency departments for mental and substance use disorders
• Health equity-oriented approaches to inform responses to opioid overdoses: a scoping review protocol
• Implementation of pharmaceutical alternatives to a toxic drug supply in British Columbia: A mixed methods study
• Implementation of risk mitigation prescribing during dual public health emergencies: A qualitative study among Indigenous people who use drugs and health planners in Northern British Columbia, Canada
• Inpatient care provider perspectives on the development and implementation of an addiction medicine consultation service in a small urban setting
• Integrated treatment programs for pregnant and parenting women with problematic substance use: Service descriptions and client perceptions of care
• Investigating Patterns of Participation in an Online Support Group for Problem Drinking: a Social Network Analysis
• Just have this come from their prescription pad: the medicalization of safer supply from the perspectives of health planners in BC, Canada
• Levels and predictors of participation in integrated treatment programs for pregnant and parenting women with problematic substance use
• Need for equity in treatment of substance use among Indigenous people in Canada
• Opioid agonist therapy during residential treatment of opioid use disorder: Cohort study on access and outcomes
• Parenting Interventions for Mothers With Problematic Substance Use: A Systematic Review of Research and Community Practice
• Performance Measurement in Mental Health and Addictions Systems: A Scoping Review
• Practice brief: Implementing the Victoria SAFER Initiative
• Prescribed safer supply during dual public health emergencies: a qualitative study examining service providers perspectives on early implementation
• Response: Examining Safer Opioid Supply Policies
• Risk of Overdose‐Related Death for People with a History of Incarceration
• Service Use and Unmet Needs for Substance Use and Mental Disorders in Canada
• Seven Core Principles of Substance Use Treatment System Design to Aid in Identifying Strengths, Gaps, and Required Enhancements
• The North American opioid crisis: evidence and nuance on prescribed safer supply
• What We Heard: Co/Lab Community Dialogues Trends and Recommendations for Action on the Toxic Drug Emergency
• “If I knew I could get that every hour instead of alcohol, I would take the cannabis”: need and feasibility of cannabis substitution implementation in Canadian managed alcohol programs
• “If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would be here”: experiences of the first year of a safer supply program during the dual public health emergencies of COVID-19 and the drug toxicity crisis