When you and your family take part in a research study, you are helping us:
Improve treatments and find cures
Transform care with breakthrough technologies
Gain new insight into child health and development
Build healthier communities through improved prevention, policy and practice
Current Research Studies
The following studies are led by BC Children's Hospital investigators and are currently recruiting study participants. Click on the study title below for more information.
Developing a web-based intervention for parents of children with DCD
Does your child have (or is suspected to have) Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)? Researchers at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital are inviting parents of children with DCD living in British Columbia to complete a survey to inform the development of a future on-line intervention for children with DCD.
Navigating the healthcare, school and community systems when your child has DCD
If you are a parent of a child with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), our researchers would like to hear from you about navigating the healthcare, school and community systems when managing the challenges arising from your child’s motor coordination difficulties. The outcomes from this study will help inform government about the service needs of children with DCD and their families.
Developing and evaluating a mental health self-assessment tool for post-secondary students
More than 50% of post-secondary students experience a mental health concern. Our researchers are inviting post-secondary students to participate in focus groups to help them develop a mental health tool that will help students assess their mental health needs and link them to resources.
Researchers at UBC and BC Children's Hospital are inviting pregnant women to participate in a nutrition study to determine if natural folate is as effective as synthetic folic acid in increasing serum and red blood cell folate concentrations during pregnancy.
An estimated one in five women experience anxiety during pregnancy. Researchers at UBC and BC Children's Hospital are seeking pregnant women to participate in a study to develop a scale, the Pregnancy Specific Anxiety Scale (PSAS), that aims to detect anxiety and its severity among pregnant women.
Evaluating Virtual Reality as a Procedural Preparation for MRI
Virtual reality has been shown to benefit individuals preparing for clinical procedures such as sedation, medical imaging, and surgeries. Researchers at BC Children's Hospital are seeking children between the ages of four to 13 to participate in a study to explore if virtual reality can be used to prepare children for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
P2RISM Study - Help improve care for moms and babies in BC
Are you pregnant and planning to deliver at BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre? Our researchers are studying healthy pregnant women and babies to help health care providers better interpret lab test results. This study will help providers identify and manage health problems that could impact moms and babies.
Optimizing the Management of Pain and Irritability in Children with Severe Neurological Impairment
Photo credit: Mavreen DavidIs your child experiencing pain and you don't know why? Our researchers are looking for children between the ages of six months and 18 years with neurological problems who cannot communicate verbally about their pain. The study aims to improve the management of ongoing, unexplained pain and irritability in children with severe, neurological impairments.
Development and validation of the Understanding Your Physical Symptoms and Emotions Questionnaire
Do you have physical symptoms that get in the way of your life? Researchers at BC Children's Hospital are looking for families of youth (11-18 years old) with any type of physical symptoms to help them develop a questionnaire to understand the relationship between stress and physical symptoms.
Help researchers understand what information matters to pregnant women making treatment decisions
Pregnant volunteers are needed for the UBC study "Navigating The Grey Zone." Researchers will conduct a 15 minute interview with volunteers to find out how to help pregnant women decide if they should take steroids to help their babies' lungs when faced with the possibility of an early delivery.
SMART ERP Study - Pilot trial of intensive treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
The Provincial OCD Program at BC Children’s Hospital is actively recruiting greater Vancouver youth (7-19 years old) who have obsessive compulsive disorder (moderate or higher severity) to participate a pilot trial of intensive treatment (i.e. exposure and response prevention).
Do you have a toddler under 18 months old? This study will compare the effect of drinking regimens on toddler growth and development from 18 - 24 months of age.
The Canadian Pharmacogenomics Network for Drug Safety (CPNDS) is conducting a national study to determine the genetic link that explains why some children suffer adverse drug reactions, while others do not.
Are you or your child being cared for at either BC Children’s Hospital or BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre? You can further medical research in a wide-range of areas by donating samples, such as blood, to the BC Children’s Hospital BioBank. A single biospecimen could fuel many research projects, any one of which might lead to an important medical breakthrough.
All samples are collected through routine medical procedures. You will not be asked to make appointments for additional procedures to donate to the BioBank. Patient confidentiality is protected by the BioBank, and personal information will never be released to anyone outside of the BioBank.
A team of applied science researchers at the University of British Columbia and BC Children's Hospital have developed a systematic feedback method that could help public health authorities in their efforts to contain COVID-19.
A new digital self-assessment tool for youth was found to be 93 per cent accurate in identifying mental health concerns in a study published today in The Journal of Pediatrics.
Congratulations to the BC Children's and BC Women's investigators who were awarded funding through the highly competitive Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant Fall 2019 competition.
Congratulations to the BC Injury Research & Prevention Unit at BC Children’s Hospital, whose video on physical literacy received an award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research 2019 IHDCYH Talks Video Competition.
We believe there’s nothing we can’t do with your support. It can take years to turn scientific breakthrough into new interventions and treatments. Funding helps speed the pace of change. When given the resources, we can bring transformative therapies – and hope – out of the laboratory and into the clinic to save and improve children’s lives.
Does your child have (or is suspected to have) Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)? Researchers at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital are inviting parents of children with DCD living in British Columbia to complete a survey to inform the development of a future on-line intervention for children with DCD. 
If you are a parent of a child with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), our researchers would like to hear from you about navigating the healthcare, school and community systems when managing the challenges arising from your child’s motor coordination difficulties. The outcomes from this study will help inform government about the service needs of children with DCD and their families. 
More than 50% of post-secondary students experience a mental health concern. Our researchers are inviting post-secondary students to participate in focus groups to help them develop a mental health tool that will help students assess their mental health needs and link them to resources. 
Researchers at UBC and BC Children's Hospital are inviting pregnant women to participate in a nutrition study to determine if natural folate is as effective as synthetic folic acid in increasing serum and red blood cell folate concentrations during pregnancy.
An estimated one in five women experience anxiety during pregnancy. Researchers at UBC and BC Children's Hospital are seeking pregnant women to participate in a study to develop a scale, the Pregnancy Specific Anxiety Scale (PSAS), that aims to detect anxiety and its severity among pregnant women.
Virtual reality has been shown to benefit individuals preparing for clinical procedures such as sedation, medical imaging, and surgeries. Researchers at BC Children's Hospital are seeking children between the ages of four to 13 to participate in a study to explore if virtual reality can be used to prepare children for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Are you pregnant and planning to deliver at BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre? Our researchers are studying healthy pregnant women and babies to help health care providers better interpret lab test results. This study will help providers identify and manage health problems that could impact moms and babies.
Do you have physical symptoms that get in the way of your life? Researchers at BC Children's Hospital are looking for families of youth (11-18 years old) with any type of physical symptoms to help them develop a questionnaire to understand the relationship between stress and physical symptoms.
Pregnant volunteers are needed for the UBC study "Navigating The Grey Zone." Researchers will conduct a 15 minute interview with volunteers to find out how to help pregnant women decide if they should take steroids to help their babies' lungs when faced with the possibility of an early delivery.
The Provincial OCD Program at BC Children’s Hospital is actively recruiting greater Vancouver youth (7-19 years old) who have obsessive compulsive disorder (moderate or higher severity) to participate a pilot trial of intensive treatment (i.e. exposure and response prevention).
Do you have a toddler under 18 months old? This study will compare the effect of drinking regimens on toddler growth and development from 18 - 24 months of age. 
The Canadian Pharmacogenomics Network for Drug Safety (CPNDS) is conducting a national study to determine the genetic link that explains why some children suffer adverse drug reactions, while others do not.
Are you or your child being cared for at either BC Children’s Hospital or BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre? You can further medical research in a wide-range of areas by donating samples, such as blood, to the BC Children’s Hospital BioBank. A single biospecimen could fuel many research projects, any one of which might lead to an important medical breakthrough.
