6th annual BC Substance Use Conference

Call for Abstracts

Conference dates: May 31 and June 1, 2024

For our 6th annual BC Substance Use Conference, we will be hosting a blended conference, with both virtual and in-person options for attendance. The in-person program will be held at the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel, and the audience will be a mix of researchers, health care providers, community partners, and people with lived and living experience.

The conference theme this year is From Idea to Implementation: Putting Evidence, Experience, and Ways of Knowing into Action. We hope this theme will facilitate discussions focused on ways to implement new and innovative research, clinical guidance, and accumulating clinical and lived experience into an accessible, flexible, inclusive, equitable, and person-centred system of substance use care that is able to adjust to the rapidly evolving needs of people who use substances.

To showcase the broad range of important work being done in the field of substance use care, oral and poster presentation opportunities are available to four key groups from across BC: Researchers and research teams, Regional Health Authorities (RHA), non-profit organizations, and community groups.

In order to facilitate an appropriately inclusive representation of the experience, expertise, and innovation that informs developments in substance use care in BC, we have defined two distinctive categories for work presented at the conference:

1) Community/programmatic abstracts (e.g., based on reports, evaluations, quality improvement projects or other programs/initiatives conducted within a Regional Health Authority, Community Action Team, or other similar setting/type of work)

2) Research abstracts - Research or Clinical focus (e.g., based on a systematic study or project)

The process and timeline for abstract submission and review are outlined below.

Important Dates & Timeline

Abstract submissions are now closed.

    • Submission Deadline: February 26, 2024 at 12pm PST (closed)
    • Notification of Acceptance: Week of March 11, 2024. The conference committee will review abstracts and notify all applicants by this date
    • Confirmation of Acceptance: March 22, 2024. Applicants will be required to confirm by email whether they will be presenting by this date.
    • Presentation and/or poster information to be submitted to UBC CPD by early April 2024 (more information to follow)

Conference Learning Objectives

  1.  Identify approaches for implementing clinical guidance and public health programming that are responsive and tailored to a constantly shifting substance use landscape
  2.  Describe strategies to assess and implement novel substance use treatments and innovative practices
  3. Describe emerging substance use research and strategies to advance substance use care, policy, programming, and advocacy
  4. Demonstrate culturally safe and humble approaches to substance use care and research that improve health and social outcomes for Indigenous people who use substances
  5. Practice person-centered strategies to engage people who use substances and their chosen families in the full spectrum of substance use care based on individual needs, goals, and preferences

Abstracts Must Include

    1. Presentation title (maximum 10 words)
    2. Presenter name, title, and contact details (and co-author(s), if applicable)
    3. Preferred presentation format: oral or poster*
    4. A maximum 350-word abstract
      -See below for content details based on the abstract category (Community/Programmatic or Research)
    5. A maximum 100-word description of how your abstract fits into the overall conference theme, “From Idea to Implementation: Putting Evidence, Experience, and Ways of Knowing into Action”.

*Note: Currently there are a limited number (~6-8) of oral presentation spots planned. If your submission is not successful for an oral presentation, it will still be considered for a poster presentation. If you would prefer a poster presentation, please indicate this with your submission.

Research - Criteria for Acceptance

Research proposals will be evaluated by a review committee according to the following criteria:

Title and overall abstract structure:

  • Is the title specific, concise, and adequately descriptive of the study’s purpose?
  • Does the title demonstrate the abstract’s relevance to research audiences, including interested clinical and community audiences?
  • Does the abstract contain headings/sections/dedicated text to clearly describe or demonstrate the following:
    -The rationale and objectives of the study
    -The population of interest
    -The study’s design and methods
    -The study’s results
    -The study’s alignment with the theme of the conference

Rationale and objectives:

  • Is the rationale for the study adequately described and clearly situated in the context of the target population’s needs and challenges?
  • Are the study’s aims, objectives, hypotheses, or research question(s) clearly stated as applicable?

Methods:

  • Are the study’s methods clearly described?
  • Are the methods appropriate to the study’s aims and objectives?
  • Where applicable, are the data sources clearly specified?
  • Where applicable, are the analytical techniques and software tools clearly specified?

Results:

  • Does the abstract provide an adequate overview of the study results that will be presented at the conference? (Abstracts should not only say that “results will be presented.”)

Conclusions:

  • Are the conclusions clear and concise?
  • Do the conclusions align with stated study’s aims and objectives?
  • Are the conclusions supported by the results presented?
  • Where appropriate, are the study’s key limitations and outstanding challenges acknowledged?
  • Where appropriate, are next steps or implications for policy, clinical practice, research inquiry, or further work outlined?

Relevance, impact, and appeal:

  • Is the study relevant to the conference theme?
  • Is the study relevant to the BC context?
  • Does the study present a novel or otherwise notable approach to addressing recognizable needs of people impacted by substance use and workers in this field?
  • Does the study have the potential to create impact (e.g., change clinical or public health practice or policy, improve health, reduce inequalities in healthcare)?

Community/Programmatic - Criteria for Acceptance

Community/programmatic proposals will be evaluated by a review committee according to the following criteria:

Title and overall abstract structure:

  • Is the title specific, concise, and adequately descriptive of the intervention/program and its goal(s)?
  • Does the title demonstrate the abstract’s relevance to clinical, research, and community audiences?
  • Does the abstract contain sections/dedicated text describing the following:
    -The population of interest
    -The overview of the intervention/program
    -The intervention/program’s impacts
    -Lessons learned
    -Scalability/applicability in other contexts
    -The intervention/program’s alignment with the theme of the conference

Population of interest:

  • Does the abstract clearly describe the population that the intervention/program seeks to serve?
  • Are the goals of the intervention/program clearly situated in the context of the target population’s needs?

Overview of the intervention/program:

  • Does the abstract clearly describe the intervention/program, including the approaches/methods involved in the design, implementation, and, where appropriate, evaluation?
  • Are the methods appropriate to the intervention/program’s goals and objectives?
  • Where applicable, are the data sources clearly specified?
  • Where applicable, are key tools and resources clearly specified?

Impacts:

  • Does the abstract provide an adequate overview of the outcomes/impacts of the intervention/program on the target population and, if applicable, the broader community? (Abstracts should not only say that “outcomes will be presented.”)

Lessons learned:

  • Does the abstract clearly indicate whether the stated outcomes/impacts align with the intervention/project/program’s original goals?
  • Are any unintended consequences acknowledged and addressed as appropriate?
  • Are the project/program’s key limitations and challenges acknowledged and addressed as appropriate?
  • Where appropriate, are next steps or implications for policy, clinical practice, and research outlined?

Scalability/applicability: 

  • Does the abstract include any considerations pertaining to the intervention/program’s scalability or adaptability to other settings or jurisdictions?

Relevance, impact, and appeal:

  • Is the intervention/program relevant to the conference theme?
  • Does the intervention/program present a novel or otherwise notable approach to addressing recognizable needs of people impacted by substance use and care providers in this field?
  • Is the intervention/program relevant/applicable to the substance use-related needs and challenges in BC?
  • Would a BC-based audience benefit from this presentation?
  • Does the intervention/program have the potential to create impact (e.g., change clinical or public health practice or policy, improve health, reduce inequalities in healthcare)?

Additional Information

There are plenty of online resources with tips on creating oral and poster research presentations, such as this one: https://guides.library.ubc.ca/science_101/posters

If you have any questions about this process, please contact [email protected] with “Conference Research Abstract Submission” or “Conference Community/Programmatic Abstract Submission” in the subject line.

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