About Our Study

Drive For Change is a three-year community-based research project aiming to tackle systemic racism in the British Columbia healthcare system. 

Our work is committed to centring the voices of African, Caribbean, and Black people living with HIV. We want to understand the challenges that African, Caribbean, and Black people living with HIV face in the healthcare system, including racism, HIV stigma, and discrimination. Our goal is to use this research to come up with ideas for change. 

We are asking community experts to share their experiences and ideas for improving the healthcare system. We are also exploring how peer navigators can offer respectful and culturally responsive support in the healthcare system. We want to hear what community experts think about these services and how they want peer navigators to support them. 

“Community experts of lived experience” have first-hand knowledge of issues through their day-to-day life experiences. The community experts participating in our study are African, Caribbean and Black people living with HIV in British Columbia.

“Cultural responsiveness” means actively learning about and respecting a person’s culture, and making sure their culture is considered when providing services.

What do we want to learn?

We are exploring these questions through focus group discussions with community experts and peer navigators:

1. How do African, Caribbean, and Black people living with HIV experience racism, HIV stigma, and discrimination in the British Columbia healthcare system? 


2. How can peer navigators address racism, HIV stigma, and discrimination and other barriers to care in the British Columbia healthcare system?


3. What should a culturally responsive peer navigation program for African, Caribbean, and Black people living with HIV look like? What does the community want to see?

This study is generously supported by a Vancouver Foundation Participatory Action Research (Investigate) Grant (2022-2025; grant # FOI22-7248).

We respectfully acknowledge the land on which we work is the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.