Addressing the Shortage of Health Professionals in Official Language Minority Communities to Strengthen Retention Strategies for the Benefit of New Brunswick Francophone and Acadian Communities: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Design.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has highlighted already existing human resource gaps in health care systems. New Brunswick health care services are significantly weakened by a shortage of nurses and physicians, affecting regions where Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) reside. Since 2008, Vitalité Health Network (the "Network"), whose work language is French (with services delivered in both official languages, English and French), has provided health care to OLMCs in New Brunswick. The Network currently needs to fill hundreds of vacant physician and nurse positions. It is imperative to strengthen the network's retention strategies to ensure its viability and maintain adequate health care services for OLMCs. The study is a collaborative effort between the Network (our partner) and the research team to identify and implement organizational and structural strategies to upscale retention. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to support one of New Brunswick health networks in identifying and implementing strategies to promote physician and registered nurse retention. More precisely, it wishes to make 4 important contributions to identify (and enhance our understanding of) the factors related to the retention of physicians and nurses within the Network; determine, based on the "Magnet Hospital" model and the "Making it Work" framework, on which aspects of the Network's environment (internal or external) it should focus for its retention strategy; define clear and actionable practices to help the Network replenish its strength and vitality; and improve the quality of health care services to OLMCs. METHODS: The sequential methodology combines quantitative and qualitative approaches based on a mixed methods design. For the quantitative part, data collected through the years by the Network will be used to take stock of vacant positions and examine turnover rates. These data will also help determine which areas have the most critical challenges and which ones have more successful approaches regarding retention. Recruitment will be made in those areas for the qualitative part of the study to conduct interviews and focus groups with different respondents, either currently employed or who have left it in the last 5 years. RESULTS: This study was funded in February 2022. Active enrollment and data collection started in the spring of 2022. A total of 56 semistructured interviews were conducted with physicians and nurses. As of manuscript submission, qualitative data analysis is in progress and quantitative data collection is intended to end by February 2023. Summer and fall 2023 is the anticipated period to disseminate the results. CONCLUSIONS: Applying the "Magnet Hospital" model and the "Making it Work" framework outside urban settings will offer a novel outlook to the knowledge of professional resource shortages within OLMCs. Furthermore, this study will generate recommendations that could contribute to a more robust retention plan for physicians and registered nurses. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/41485.

Factors Related to the Intention to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19 in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada.

Vaccine refusal by even a small subset of the population can undermine the success of the vaccination campaigns which are currently underway worldwide. The goal of this study was to identify determinants of intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine. More precisely, it aimed at examining whether socioeconomic factors, levels of mistrust toward authorities, perceived scientific consensus, and perceived severity of COVID-19 can predict vaccination intentions against COVID-19. Vaccination intentions included being ready to get vaccinated, contemplating vaccination, and not considering vaccination. A sample of 399 individuals from New Brunswick, Canada, completed an online survey in March and April 2021. Results revealed that participants who declared they would probably get vaccinated were more likely to report lower levels of mistrust toward authorities, as well as higher perceived scientific consensus and perceived severity of COVID-19, compared to those who did not intend to get vaccinated or remained unsure. Strategies to guide healthcare professionals in assisting their patients in making the best healthcare decision for their family and themselves are discussed.

Parents and caregivers' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19

Despite the possible benefits of pediatric vaccination against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), getting children and adolescents vaccinated may prove challenging as pediatric vaccination was already a hot topic prepandemic. This study aimed to understand parents and caregivers' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. A total of 406 parents and caregivers living in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, completed an online survey in March and April 2021. Results indicated that the majority of parents were willing to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19, but a quarter of parents were not considering getting their children vaccinated, were unlikely to do so or remained unsure. Results of a multinomial logistic regression revealed that parents were more willing to vaccinate their children when they showed low levels of vaccine hesitancy, considered they had satisfactory access to relevant information regarding the vaccination of their children, had higher household incomes, and had greater levels of parental agreement on vaccination. Parents were also more willing to get their children vaccinated when they believed that a higher percentage of children would eventually get the COVID-19 vaccine. Implications for education campaigns aiming at improving COVID-19 vaccination of children and adolescents are further discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (French) Malgre les avantages possibles de la vaccination pediatrique contre le coronavirus (COVID-19), il peut s'averer difficile de faire vacciner les enfants et les adolescents, car la vaccination pediatrique etait deja un sujet brulant avant la pandemie. Cette etude visait a comprendre la volonte des parents et des soignants de vacciner leurs enfants contre la COVID-19. Un total de 406 parents et soignants vivant dans la province du Nouveau-Brunswick, au Canada, ont repondu a une enquete en ligne en mars et avril 2021. Les resultats ont indique que la majorite des parents etaient disposes a faire vacciner leurs enfants contre la COVID-19, mais qu'un quart des parents n'envisageaient pas de faire vacciner leurs enfants, etaient peu susceptibles de le faire ou restaient incertains. Les resultats d'une regression logistique multinomiale ont revele que les parents etaient plus disposes a faire vacciner leurs enfants lorsqu'ils presentaient de faibles niveaux d'hesitation a l'egard de la vaccination, qu'ils consideraient avoir un acces satisfaisant aux informations pertinentes concernant la vaccination de leurs enfants, que les revenus du menage etaient plus eleves et que les niveaux d'accord parental sur la vaccination etaient plus importants. Les parents etaient egalement plus disposes a faire vacciner leurs enfants lorsqu'ils pensaient qu'un pourcentage plus eleve d'enfants allait recevoir le vaccin contre la COVID-19. Les implications pour les campagnes d'education visant a ameliorer la vaccination contre la COVID-19 chez les enfants et les adolescents sont egalement discutees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Vaccinating children and adolescents against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will likely be an important step in overcoming the current pandemic. This study aimed to identify factors related to parents' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 in New Brunswick, Canada, in the hope that such knowledge may help education campaigns address parents' concerns and health care workers adapt their intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)