Muhajarine sees the big picture

Nazeem Muhajarine, head of the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology. Photo by Silas Polkinghorne

By Silas Polkinghorne

February 23, 2007

Community groups are Nazeem Muhajarine’s patients.

Along with his colleagues, Muhajarine, the head of the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, looks at the bigger picture – not only at the problems of individual patients, but at what makes groups of people vulnerable to disease or to diminished well-being.

In his case, Muhajarine’s research has exposed lagging early childhood literacy rates in Saskatoon and has paved the way for policymakers to confront the problem.

Some research in the department still falls under traditional epidemiology or database-driven research, but more and more, Muhajarine and others are realizing they have a specific contribution to make to the College of Medicine and to the University – to perform research that makes an impact on society.

“There is an increasing recognition that we cannot just be isolated in the ivory tower, and that we need to really work with community groups, and to make a difference,” he said.

To facilitate change, researchers must ensure that they involve community organizations as well as school boards, health authorities, and governments, he said.

In 2000, Muhajarine and Sue Delanoy, executive director of Saskatoon Communities for Children, began a study called Understanding the Early Years. They compiled data on kindergarten children in the Catholic and public school divisions in Saskatoon and looked at pre-literacy competency, or “readiness to learn.”

“We tried to understand what kind of neighbourhood factors and neighbourhood conditions, what kind of family conditions, create children who come to school really prepared to take advantage of the schools, prepared to learn.”

The researchers saw that Saskatoon children were falling behind. As a result, the public and Catholic school divisions have set up major literacy programs that are bringing excitement and importance to literacy in the community, fostering the sense that “reading in the early stages of a child’s life is critical.”

The project has also shown that pockets of Saskatoon’s population lack library access, particularly the core areas – the same areas where children are struggling most with pre-literacy. In part because of the study’s findings, the city is now planning a library branch in the Riversdale-Pleasant Hill area, Muhajarine explained.

And, in response to the findings that children were behind in reading skills, Saskatoon Health Region has hired speech-language pathologists.

“They are concrete examples of how the research has made a difference,” said Muhajarine, who also works with the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit.

Muhajarine recently received a Knowledge Translation Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). He explained that “knowledge translation” is about turning research results into policy and good practices, but prefers the term “knowledge exchange,” implying a two-way dialogue between University and community.

“We were researching something that the community groups want researched. It wasn’t an idea that actually came up from my head or from the literature. It actually came from the community.”

It is also important to communicate research results in a timely fashion, in a way everyone can understand. The results are not only for academics, but also for the people who might pick up an information sheet in a library display, he said.

Muhajarine adds that any separation between University and community is artificial and doesn’t serve anyone.

“We are members of the community of the University, but we are also members of the community in which the University finds itself, the larger community, the community outside the university … We are working to make our own lives better, and our neighbours’ lives better, and our children’s lives better.”

Working at a university is a privilege, but also an opportunity, he said. It is a chance to train the next generation of citizens, and also a chance to produce information and insights that matter to people’s lives – not in 10 or 15 years, but today, or tomorrow.

“I think all departments – all colleges – should really take the responsibility of working with community seriously.”

Muhajarine now plans to focus on understanding the human-made physical environment and how it contributes to children’s physical activity and nutritional intake.