Cary Brown, PhD, MA, BMR(OT)

Email

cary1@ualberta.ca

Cary Brown, PhD, is full professor and accepts graduate students in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Credentials

PhD – Medical Sociology/Primary Care – University of Liverpool, UK

MA – Medical Anthropology – University of Manitoba

BMR(OT) – University of Manitoba

Background Information

Dr. Brown is a full time faculty member at the University of Alberta. She has practiced clinically as an occupational therapist, department supervisor and academic in Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Dr. Brown teaches and researches in the areas of knowledge translation, health literacy, sleep, and chronic pain across the life span. She has numerous publications on these topics and presents regularly at national and international conferences. Annually, Dr. Brown teaches a graduate module in Sleep and Health and has received previous funding for research in the areas of disordered sleep in both children and persons with dementia. Her interest in disordered sleep is linked to her research activities in chronic pain, one of which received the Canadian Pain Society – Pain Awareness Award 2010 for Knowledge Translation activities.

Professional Interests

Dr. Brown is interested in environmental modification for sleep problems, human/companion dog bond, pain meaning construction, knowledge translation, and the concept of scholarship as it applies to students in higher education. She has experience in educational website development, survey design, critical review and health literacy development for caregivers of vulnerable populations.

Current Research

Recent research projects include:

• A scoping review of social housing policy regarding companion dog access
• The relationship between sleep and companion dogs in the lives of people with chronic pain  
• Hand self-Shiatsu to promote sleep onset and maintenance (adult patients with chronic pain, young athletes post-concussion, veterans, and youth with chronic pain)
  
• Understanding what pain patients understand to be meaningful in the rehabilitation encounter 
• Occupational therapists experience of workplace fatigue, stress and resiliency 
• Supporting students transition into practice 
• Testing the Children's Best Bedroom Environment for Sleep (CBBES) manual for parents of children with cerebral palsy
  
• Exploring how knowledge users become aware of the on-line resource Pain and Dementia website.
• Non-pharmacological sleep interventions for children with chronic health conditions: A knowledge synthesis and dissemination project.
• Understanding Healthcare Providers’ Barriers to Prescriptions/Recommendation of Non-Pharmacological Sleep Interventions for Community-Based Seniors Living with Dementia.
• Sleep: A critical but overlooked aspect of dementia management. Systematic review project

Dr. Brown's teaching areas include:

• Evidence-based practice
• Occupational therapy approaches to sleep 
• Knowledge translation

She supervises MScOT final capping projects that primarily use the methods of Critical Review, Concept Analysis and Product Evaluation

Dr. Brown is very interested in discussing mentorship with students who are looking to further their studies at the graduate level in the areas of pain management, complexity theory applied to health, and non-pharmacological sleep interventions across the life span.