Stigma and its influence on the sexual and mental health of vulnerable populations of youth, as well as coping and risk responses to sexual violence

My research focuses on health issues of youth, with a particular emphasis on understanding how certain groups of young people are targeted and stigmatized, how this influences their coping and risk behaviours, and what protective factors in their relationships and environments can help buffer this risk and influence their health. The vulnerable groups targeted by stigma that I study include: sexual minority youth (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens), homeless and runaway youth, sexually-abused and sexually-exploited teens, pregnant and parenting adolescents, youth in custody, immigrant and refugee populations, and indigenous young people in Canada and other countries.

Select Current Projects:

Enacted stigma, gender, and risk behaviours of school youth
(funded by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse)
A multi-site international study exploring the ways young people are targeted and stigmatized in school settings, such as being excluded, teased, or being threatened with or experiencing actual physical violence—this is what is meant by “enacted stigma.” While our focus is primarily on stigma related to sexual orientation, we are also looking at stigma among youth with disabilities and chronic conditions, and obese teens. Further, we are looking at the link between being targeted for stigma and HIV risk behaviours and problem substance abuse, as well as identifying protective factors that appear to reduce the risk behaviours, even in the presence of being targeted for stigma. After the primary analyses, we will conduct focus groups with youth, and people who work with teens, to identify strategies to reduce enacted stigma and to promote healthier behaviours among stigmatized youth. As part of this international study, we will be conducting cross-national comparisons within three different ethnic groups, in three different countries: European-heritage youth, Asian-heritage youth, and indigenous youth, in Canada , the US , and New Zealand.

Stigma And Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Consortium
(funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research)
This interdisciplinary capacity enhancement grant brings together a new team of experienced researchers, new investigators, trainees and community partners to advance a program of research into the influences of stigma and trauma on health disparities of sexually-exploited and at-risk youth. This team of biomedical, clinical, health services and social science researchers is developing innovative, cross-cutting, complementary approaches to understanding stigmas influence on health at several levels: from individual biological traits and responses that affect behavioural choices for coping with stigma; to interpersonal and environment risk and protective factors that worsen or improve health outcomes for youth; to community- and population- level influences of stigma on health access and health policy for vulnerable groups. We will explore how to create ethically sensitive studies of this elusive population, and test new technniques for gathering data, including the use of computer and web technology. The goal of this program is to identify how stigma contributes to health disparities, as well as strengths and protective factors that can be changed which buffer youth from the effects of stigma, and then to develop and test effective interventions at the individual, family, community, and policy levels to reduce stigma and decrease health disparities for sexually-exploited and vulnerable youth.

BC Adolescent Health Survey IV
(Funded by the BC Inter-Ministry Committee, Child Health BC, and in part by CIHR)
This is the 2008 cluster-stratified province-wide school-based anonymous pencil-and-paper health survey of students in grades 7-12 in BC (N=29,000+). The largest survey of its kind in Canada, measures include health & risk behaviors, risk exposures, and protective factors. The data will provide a 4th cohort for health trends among youth in BC (earlier surveys completed in 1992, 1998, 2003). These data also form the basis for a series of funded reports for provincial and federal government health bodies, including a focus on substance use, mental health issues, physical activity and obesity, Aboriginal health issues; they also are the key source of information for several projects that are funded as part of the CIHR/PHAC Chair in Public Health Research, including a focus on trends in violence exposure and various risk behaviours, effects of school-based policies around homophobic bullying, and trends in sexual health. 

Devries K, Free C, Morison L, Saewyc E. (2009). Factors associated with sexual behaviour of Aboriginal youth: Implications for health promotion. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 855-862.

Devries KM, Free C, Morison L, Saewyc E. (2009). Factors associated with pregnancy and STI among Aboriginal students in British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 100(3), 226-230.

Saewyc, EM. (in press for 2009). Sexual abuse: Medical and psychological perspectives. In Shweder, R.A. (ed.), The Chicago Companion to the Child. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press.

Saewyc EM, Brunanski D, Bingham D, Hunt S, Northcott M, Smith A, & the McCreary Centre Society.: Moving Upstream: The Health of Aboriginal Marginalized and Street-Involved Youth in BC. Monograph: Vancouver, BC: McCreary Centre Society, 2009. ISBN#: 978-1-895438-88-8.

Smith A, Stewart D, Peled M, Poon C, Saewyc E & the McCreary Centre Society.: A Picture of Health: Highlights of the 2008 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey. Monograph: Vancouver, BC: McCreary Centre Society. 2009 ISBN#: 978-1-895438-89-5.

Saewyc EM, Homma Y, Skay CL, Bearinger LH, Resnick MD, Reis E.: Protective factors in the lives of bisexual adolescents in North America. Am J Public Health. 2009 Jan;99(1):110-7.

Poon CS, Saewyc EM.: Out yonder: sexual-minority adolescents in rural communities in British Columbia. Am J Public Health. 2009 Jan;99(1):118-24.

Edinburgh LD, Saewyc EM.: A novel, intensive home-visiting intervention for runaway, sexually exploited girls. J Spec Pediatr Nurs. 2009 Jan;14(1):41-8.

Parkes SA, Saewyc EM, Cox DN, MacKay LJ.: Relationship between body image and stimulant use among Canadian adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2008 Dec;43(6):616-8.

Smith A, Peled M, Albert M, MacKay L, Stewart D, Saewyc E, & the McCreary Centre Society.: Making the Grade: A Review of Alternate Education Programs in British Columbia. Monograph: Vancouver, BC: McCreary Centre Society, 2008. ISBN #: 978-1-895438-86-1.

Saewyc EM, MacKay L, Anderson J, Drozda C.: It’s Not What You Think: Sexually Exploited Youth in British Columbia. Monograph: Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia, 2008. ISBN #: 978-0-9810280-0-2.

Edinburgh L, Saewyc E, Levitt C.: Caring for young adolescent sexual abuse victims in a hospital-based children's advocacy center. Child Abuse Negl. 2008 Dec;32(12):1119-26.

Saewyc EM, Poon C, Homma Y, Skay CL.: Stigma management? The links between enacted stigma and teen pregnancy trends among gay, lesbian and bisexual students in British Columbia. Can J Human Sexuality. 2008 Fall;17(3) 123-131.

Saewyc E, Taylor D, Homma Y, Ogilvie G.: Trends in sexual health and risk behaviours among adolescent students in British Columbia. Can J Human Sexuality. 2008 Spr-Sum;17(1-2), 1-13.

Saewyc E, Tonkin R. (2008). Surveying adolescents: Focusing on positive development. Paediatrics & Child Health, 13(1), 43-47.

Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar, Career Investigator Award – 2004-2009

National Institutes of Health Pediatric Research LRP award – 2003-2005

National Research Service Award, Pre-doctoral Fellowship, National Institute of Nursing Research – 1998-2001

Finalist, New Investigator Award, Society for Adolescent Medicine – 1997

British Columbia

Jayson Anderson (UBC)
Brittany Bingham (SFU)
David Brown, PhD (UBC, PHSA)
Dana Brunanski (UBC)
Jane Buxton, MD (BC CDC)
Scott Carlson, PhD (UBC)
Richard Carpiano, PhD (UBC)
Weihong Chen, PhD (UBC)
Marisa Collins, MD (UBC)
Kim Daly, MS, RN (UBC)
Christopher Drozda, MS (UBC)
Angela Henderson, PhD, RN (UBC)
Pam Hirakata, PhD (UBC)
Yuko Homma, MS (UBC)
Sarah Hunt, MS (UVic, MCS)
Margaret Jackson, PhD (SFU)
Semee Joo (UBC)
Jennifer Lloyd, PhD (UBC)
Laura MacKay, PhD (UBC)
Stephanie Martin (MCS, BC)
Jennifer Matthews, MS (UBC)
Allison Murray (MCS, BC)
Gina Ogilvie, MD (BC CDC)
Bernie Pauly, PhD (UVic)
Maya Peled, PhD (MCS, BC)
Heather Peters, MSW (UNBC)
Colleen Poon, PhD (MCS, BC)
Jerilynn Prior, MD (UBC)
Paddy Rodney, PhD, RN (UBC)
Jean Shoveller, PhD (UBC)
Sherry Simon (MCS, BC)
Annie Smith, ALM (MCS, BC)
Duncan Stewart, MS (MCS, BC)
Sandy Whitehouse, MD (BCCH)

California
Coco Auerswald, MD, MPH (San Francisco)

Minnesota

Laurel Edinburgh, MSN, PNP
Carolyn Garcia, PhD, MPH, MS, RN

Emily Huehman, MA
Eric Meininger, MD, MPH
Kate Richtman, JD

New Zealand

Terryann Clark, PhH, MPH
Elizabeth Robinson

Ontario

Melissa Northcott (Carlton, ON)

Washington

Cheryl Kaiser, PhD (UW, Seattle)

MSC: McCreary Centre Society, BC