Research Assistant

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Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

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At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The Healthy Families Laboratory is a research laboratory in the Department of ECPS at UBC. Under the direction of Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen (Associate Professor), our team aims to identify risk and protective factors associated with the intergenerational transmission of stress.

The Research Assistant will work closely with the lab’s Research Coordinator and Principal Investigator as well as other members of the Healthy Families Lab team, including students, staff, and collaborators. They will provide administrative support to the lab and assist in research administration of ongoing projects, including:

1. Pregnancy During the Pandemic (PdP): a longitudinal cohort study that launched in April 2020. Our goal is to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental and physical wellbeing of pregnant individuals and their babies. Some of the babies born during the study are now toddlers and we are continuing to collect data on parent health and child development.
2. BEAM-PdP Neuroimaging Study: Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health (BEAM) is an app-based mental health and parenting program. Our goal is to address maternal mental health and parenting stress through psychoeducation and peer support delivered on a mobile app. The BEAM program seeks to address family health needs through peer coaching, weekly videos, and an online social connection forum. We have conducted several studies testing the efficacy of the BEAM program and are now improving the app interface and the training program for the peer coaches in the program. We are also launching neuroimaging at sites in Calgary, AB and Vancouver, BC to examine the impact of perinatal depression and early intervention on child brain development.

The Research Assistant will perform a variety of day-to-day activities, including: preparing study materials, communicating with patient partners, recruiting and enrolling participants, assisting in data collection for an ongoing longitudinal cohort and randomized controlled trial (RCT), organizing and attending team meetings, administrative tasks, and assisting with knowledge translation activities. Due to the sensitive nature of our research, this Research Assistant must understand and adhere to the ethics of confidentiality, sensitivity, and respect when communicating with all research participants.

Organizational Status
The Research Assistant will be supervised by and report to the Research Coordinator. In accordance with the UBC hybrid work guidelines, the position will offer a flexible workplace environment that includes both remote work and onsite work at UBC and may include some onsite work at the BC Women’s and Children’s Research Institute.

Work Performed
The Research Assistant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Assist in daily operations of the Healthy Families Lab and affiliated projects
• Assist with research by reading and synthesizing literature
• Work collaboratively with members of the Healthy Families Lab and study teams
• Coordinate with patient partners and collaborators at other institutions
• Delegate simple, project-specific tasks to lab volunteers
• Schedule and create agendas for lab meetings
• Recruit study participants for new and ongoing studies
• Assist in data collection and management of survey data, including data cleaning, extraction, and coding
• Assist in creating content for knowledge translation (e.g., Healthy Families Lab website, social media accounts, participant newsletter)
• Assist in creating electronic surveys using REDCap
• Operate, maintain, and troubleshoot problems with lab equipment
• Order and maintain lab supplies and equipment

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Training will be provided to ensure that the Research Assistant will have a strong understanding of the established lab and research protocols. Errors made could influence the ability of research team to meet deadlines, compromise the results of research projects, and relationships with participants, and therefore impact the credibility of the investigators and the lab.

The Research Assistant is required to conduct all research activities in an ethical manner and with adherence to the Tri-Council Policy Statement concerning Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS-2). Any procedures or data recorded as part of this research must be accurate and must accurately reflect the work performed. Strict confidentiality of all study participants must be adhered to. All activities involving participants are accountable to the Research Assistant, Principal Investigator, the Department Head, and the Research Assistant’s governing professional organization (if applicable).

Supervision Received

Most aspects of work will be done under the supervision of the Research Coordinator. The Research Assistant will work closely with the Principal Investigator’s students (undergraduate, graduate), staff, and collaborators in the Healthy Families Lab.

The Research Assistant will attend weekly supervision meetings with the Research Coordinator, weekly Healthy Families Lab meetings and study coordination meetings, which will be held onsite and virtually (on Zoom), depending on operational requirements.

Supervision Given

The Research Assistant will assist in seeing out daily lab operations, which may include distributing work and providing mentorship and training to volunteers and undergraduate students.

Minimum Qualifications
High school graduation, some additional training in a related field and a minimum two years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

Preferred Qualifications

A bachelor's degree or equivalent in psychology or a related field is preferred. Successful applicants will have excellent organization, time management, and communication skills (written and oral). They will have an interest in family health research, be able to work on assigned task independently, and have excellent interpersonal skills that support teamwork and professional interactions with patients. The Research Assistant must successfully complete the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS-2) online tutorial. Experience with MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook), SPSS, and Zoom is required. Experience with constructing and managing electronic surveys (REDCap), perinatal or family health research, and/or neuroimaging protocols would be an asset.