Post-doctoral Fellow

**Post-Post-Doctoral Fellow - SPRINT Senior Care / Sunnybrook Research Institute - Mental Health Navigation for Older Adults, Sunnybrook Research Institute**

**(Temporary Full-time, 1 year term)**

Seniors with complex needs often require additional supports to successfully navigate the healthcare system in order to have their physical, mental and social care needs met. Unfortunately, the fragmentation of the health system makes this a challenge. It is therefore not surprising that transitions in care are often the most stressful times for patients, families and their caregivers.

To meet better support the needs of seniors and other vulnerable patient groups, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and SPRINT Senior Care have partnered to create new integrated models of care to meet the mental health needs of seniors with complex care needs. This includes the use of a patient navigator (community transition lead) who is either a social worker or occupational therapist that is paired with patients (and caregivers) who have complex care needs that require post-hospital discharge mental health support. The navigator would create a customized care plan for each patient as needed and work with hospital staff and community agencies in the patients’ local community to ensure that patients and their caregivers are connected to the right community resources and supports to keep them health at home and ensure continuity of care.

To support optimal roll-out of these senior-based mental health services, we are seeking a one-year post-doctoral fellow to: 1) support a mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) of this mental health patient navigator program at Sunnybrook. The post-doctoral fellow will work with SPRINT Senior Care to help refine the scope and activities of these programs by:

- Undertaking qualitative interviews with patients, family members, hospital staff and community partners about their expectations of this new navigator role, and to obtain their feedback on the effectiveness in meeting the mental health needs of patients;
- Collect and analyze performance measures via hospital data (e.g., charts), surveys (e.g., quality), and other available data sources related to the patient navigation program.

The outcomes of this evaluation framework will provide the necessary information on how to optimize these innovative models of senior care; leading to efficiencies in the healthcare system and better patient mental health outcomes.

Qualifications:

- A PhD degree in social work, occupational therapy, gerontology or related disciplines is required;
- PhD must be obtained within 5 years of start date;
- Research expertise/experience with mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) preferred;
- Excellent organizational skills with strong attention to detail;

Sunnybrook Research Institute is committed to providing accessible employment practices that are in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). If you require accommodation for disability during any stage of the recruitment process, please indicate this in your cover letter.

Sunnybrook Research Institute is strongly committed to inclusion and diversity within its community and welcomes all applicants including but not limited to: visible minorities, all religions and ethnicities, persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQ+ persons, and all others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.

Please be advised that to be eligible for employment at Sunnybrook, all new hires must have received the full series of a COVID-19 vaccine or combination of COVID-19 vaccines approved by Health Canada (e.g., two doses of a two-dose vaccine series, or one dose of a single-dose vaccine series); AND have received the final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days ago. Medical exemptions or any other kind of requested exemption based upon the Hospital’s obligations pursuant to the Ontario Human Rights Code will be considered on a case-by-case basis