Interview with PhD student, Bronte Johnston

We spoke to Bronte Johnston, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health and a member of FLOURISH (D’Souza Lab). In the interview below, Bronte discusses her research on youth access to contraceptives and shares her passion for perinatal and reproductive health education.

Tell us about your research.

My research is focused on evaluating and improving access to sexual healthcare across urban and rural areas in Vancouver Island. I’m specifically interested in assessing unmet youth contraception needs within these communities. Oftentimes, young people do not have reliable access to contraceptives. This can be due to a lack of supply or lack of practitioners in their area who can administer contraceptives, such as IUDs. As a result, their needs go unfulfilled.

A big part of my research involves working with community partners to develop feasible recommendations – whether that be local community programming or improved health policies – that can help improve access to contraceptives for young people.

Why is reliable access to contraceptives so important?

Contraception is a valuable health care tool that plays an important role in improving the health and well-being of populations around the globe. It allows people to make decisions about if and when they’d like to have children. It helps control fertility rates and improve the health of pregnancies within a country. It also has a lot of other benefits that aren’t directly related to pregnancy, such as managing menstruation and endometriosis.

We know that contraception has a wide range of functions and benefits. Yet, globally it is not always viewed as a healthcare tool. It’s often viewed politically, with contraception and abortion care rights being minimized in communities in North America and around the world. That’s why research that focuses on improving education and access to contraceptives is so important.

You were awarded a WHRI Graduate and Fellowship Research Award in Women’s Health. Tell us about what this award means for you and your research.

I received a one-year grant through the Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) at BC Women’s Hospital. The Institute was actually one of the reasons I chose to study at the University of British Columbia. I was interested in learning more about the amazing work the WHRI does in perinatal and reproductive health. This award motivates me to work hard on my thesis, not only for the youth and the communities that I’m collaborating with, but also for the WHRI, who are doing so much great research. It’s also really encouraging to see how invested the province of British Columbia is in recognizing the importance of contraceptive care. It means a lot to be given the resources to conduct research in this field.

Tell us about your work as a member of FLOURISH.

I’m currently working with FLOURISH to evaluate the impacts of the International Network of Obstetrical Survey Systems (INOSS) – a global network of countries that have established or are in the process of establishing Enhanced Obstetric Survey Systems (EOSS). These systems enable gathering clinical and non-clinical data on cases of serious illnesses in pregnancy and childbirth, with the view of determining root causes behind their occurrence and preventing them from occurring in the future. Although the work of EOSS has had an immense impact in reducing serious adverse pregnancy events, globally their impact has not been quantified, which is the aim of my project.

As part of my project, I will be conducting a living systematic review of the literature as well as interviews with representatives of high-, middle- and low-income countries that have established or are establishing an EOSS to learn about the positive impacts their systems have had on pregnancy and postpartum health. Through the interviews, we will also be learning more about the barriers and facilitators to establishing these systems, which will help inform the development of Canada’s own EOSS – CanOSS.

Tell us about the reproductive health course you co-created at McMaster.

A few years ago, I collaborated with Dr. Elizabeth Cates to create an undergraduate perinatal and reproductive health course for McMaster’s Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc). We hoped the course would help increase awareness about reproductive health and help students learn more about research and careers in the field. Even if you’re not interested in becoming, say, a midwife or an obstetrician, knowing about pregnancy and reproductive health is vital because it’s an important part of so many people’s lives and so many areas of health research and care.

Teaching the course has been a fantastic experience. I enjoy it so much that I still co-teach it from Vancouver. There are so many researchers at McMaster who study perinatal and reproductive health, so we get to welcome a lot of guest speakers. I really love how engaged the students are. The quality of their work speaks to why a course of this nature is so important. Perinatal and reproductive health are topics that learners are interested in but oftentimes not given an opportunity to study. Dr. Cates and I have published a paper on our experiences with the course to hopefully support other institutions who are interested in creating something similar.

What advice would you give to incoming PhD students or those thinking of entering your field?

My biggest piece of advice is to study something that you’re passionate about. Youth contraception access is a very personal topic to me, as I grew up in a rural town in Ontario. It’s great to give back and have this opportunity to help young people who are living in similar environments.

I also recommend building a strong support group. Dr. D’Souza has been an incredible mentor and I’m so honored to be part of his lab. You need people in your corner – mentors, friends and family – who will support you and help you find the tools you need to be successful.

Even though school can be busy, it’s important to make time for your hobbies. I’m a runner and I have a great triathlon team here at UBC. Exercise gives me time to relax and refresh before I go back to studying.