Caroline Sanders

Sanders, Dr. Caroline

she/her

MBE, PhD, RN

Professor
Phone
Office
10-1556
Campus
Prince George

Biography

Dr. Sanders, MBE, is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at UNBC. Having held a clinical academic position in the United Kingdom, Dr. Sanders remains an interdisciplinary scholar focusing on child health, rare conditions, and action-and-participant-orientated engagement. Research focuses on child and family health and well-being. Dr. Sanders applies qualitative and mixed-method approaches, specifically phenomenology, narrative inquiry, and participatory action research, often framed within patient-oriented research. Clinical-academic research methods focus on rare conditions and early childhood, explicitly focusing on developing and translating knowledge across healthcare and community boundaries. Research and international collaborations have focused on the experiences and impact of living with a rare condition, specifically how the medical landscape influences choice and informed decision-making. Caroline has a longstanding partnered research program within the field of variation in sex development with a focus on exploring the meaning and impact of living with a rare condition by uncovering the influences that shape gender, wellness, resilience, and long-term health outcomes.

Caroline’s research program concerns early childhood development, how knowledge is both created and taken up in practice to improve health in the early years for rural and northern children and their families and communities. Working with interdisciplinary providers, community partners, decision-makers, children, youth, and their families and young adults, scholarship focuses on discovery and applied science. Within a framework of compassionate systems leadership, Caroline is focused on understanding how the implementation and impact of relevant knowledge can be developed and used to evaluate healthcare approaches and interventions in academic and applied clinical contexts, such as decision-making, program engagement and evaluation. An emerging area of scholarship focuses on the nursing workforce in rural settings, specifically domestic internationally-educated nurses. Caroline has published and presented widely on variations of sex development, early childhood health and well-being and clinical and northern issues, and has developed numerous knowledge translation outputs.

Research and Expertise

Research Fields
  • Health
  • Health and Well-being
Areas of Expertise
Variation in sex development across the life course, impacts and influences of health service delivery and gender-informed policy, the nature of everyday learning and experience in early childhood, workforce planning, onboarding, and orientation to support sustainability in rural communities, knowledge translation tools and outputs, qualitative research methodologies, particularly narrative and arts-based approaches, phenomenology, participatory action research and development of interdisciplinary research partnerships.
Languages Spoken
  • English
Currently accepting graduate students
Supervises In
Nursing, PhD Health Sciences
Available to be contacted by the media as a subject matter expert

Selected Publications

Koopmans, E., Provencher, L., Irving, L., & Sanders, C. (2022). Weaving a new blanket together: Lessons on compassionate leadership and engagement from a virtual regional summit on early childhood wellness in northern communities of British Columbia, Canada. Research Involvement and Engagement. https://researchinvolvement.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40900-0…

Sanders, C., Frank, T., Amyot, T., Cornish, K., Koopmans, E., Usipuik, M., Irving, L., & Pelletier, C. (2022). Day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal qualitative study with Canadian parents of young children. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491221115475

Magritte, E., Williams, J., Amyot, E., Usipuik, M., & Sanders, C. (2022). Listening to individuals, “not doing surgery doesn’t mean doing nothing”. Horm Res Paediatr https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/525452

Usipuik, M., Sanders, C., Amyot, E., Banner, D., & Jones, T. (2022). Menstruation management and medication for people with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The Canadian Journal of Human sexual development. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjhs.2021-0043

Sanders, C., Amyot, E., Usipuik, M., Crawford, L., Callens, N., Chanoine, JP., & Jones, T. (2022). Lifespan healthcare transitions among individuals with intersex traits in Canada: A mixed methods and qualitative study. BMJ Open, e055759. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055759

Sanders, C., Amyot, E., Usipuik, M., Todd, N., & Jones, T. (2021). What mental health supports do people with intersex variation want, and when. Person centered trauma informed life-cycle care. Psychology of Sexualities Review. 12(1). Summer.https://shop.bps.org.uk/psychology-of-sexualities-review-vol-12-no-1-su…

Leake, E., Koopmans, E., & Sanders, C. (2020). Primary care provider’s involvement in caring for young adults with complex chronic conditions exiting pediatric care: An integrative literature review. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, 19, 1-22. https:/doi.org/10.1080/24694193.2020.1733707

Buckley, B. S., Sanders, C., Spineli, L., Deng, Q., & Kwong, J. S. W. (2019). Conservative interventions for treating functional daytime urinary incontinence in children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 9, CD012367. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012367.pub2

Sanders, C., Hall, J., Dessens, A., Bryce, J., Callens, N., Cools, M., Kourime, M., Kyriakou, A., Springer, A., Audi, L., Balasamo, A., Iotova, V., Mladenov, V., Krawczynski, M., Nordenskjold, A., Roza, M., Classhsen-van der Griten, H., Hiort, O., Riedl, S., & Ahmed, S. F. (2018). Involving individuals with disorders of sex development and their parents in exploring new models of shared learning: Proceedings from A DSDnet COST action workshop. Sexual Development, 12(5), 225-231. https://doi.org/10.1159/000490081

Carter, B., Whittaker, K., & Sanders, C. (2018). Evaluating a telehealth intervention for urinalysis monitoring in children with neurogenic bladder. Journal Child Health Care, 23(1), 45-62. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1367493518777294

Bray, L., Carter, B., Sanders, C., Blake, L., & Keegan, K. (2017). Parent-to-parent peer support for parents of children with a disability: A mixed method study. Patient Education and Counselling, 100(8), 1537-1543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2017.03.004

Ahmed, S. F., Achermann, J. C., Arlt, W., Balen, A., Conway, G., Edwards, Z., Elford, S., Hughes, I. A., Izatt, L., Krone, N., Miles, H. L., O’Toole, S., Perry, L., Sanders, C., Simmonds, M., Wallace, A. M., Watt, A., & Willis, D. (2016). Society for Endocrinology UK guidance on the initial evaluation of an infant or an adolescent with a suspected disorder of sex development (Revised). Clinical Endocrinology, 84(5), 771-788. https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.12857

Sanders, C., Carter, B., & Lwin, R. (2015). Young women with a disorder of sex development: Learning to share information with health professionals, friends and intimate partners about bodily differences and infertility. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71(8), 1904-1913. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12661

Leake, E., Koopmans, E & Sanders, C. (2020) Primary care provider’s involvement in caring for young adults with complex chronic conditions exiting pediatric care: An integrative literature review. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing. 19;1-22.doi: 10.1080/24694193.2020.1733707.

Webster, J., Sanders, C., Ricci, S., Kyle, T. & Carman, S (Eds.). (2019). Canadian Maternity and Pediatric Nursing 2nd Edition (pp.1432-1463). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.Buckley BS, Sanders CD, Spineli L, Deng Q, Kwong JSW. (2019) Conservative interventions for treating functional daytime urinary incontinence in children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Issue 9. Art. No.: CD012367. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012367.pub2. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012367.pub2/full

Sanders, C., Breen-Reid, K & Scarisbrick, S. (2019). Canadian Pediatric Populations and Specific Challenges. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, doi: 10.1080/24694193.2019.1650599

Sanders, C., Smith, D., Neill, S. & Jones, M. (2019). A local review of child death overview panels in the UK: Lessons for the future. Current Pediatric Research. Journal Child Health Care, https://doi.org/10.1177/1367493519844101

Sanders, C., Hall, J., Sanders, C., Dessens, A., Bryce, J., Callens, N., Cools, M., Kourime, M., Kyriakou, A., Springer, A., Audi, L., Balasamo, A., Iotova, V., Mladenov, V., Krawczynski, M., Nordenskjold, A,. Roza, M., Classhsen-van der Griten, H., Hiort, O., Riedl, S. & Ahmed, SF. (2018). Involving individuals with disorders of sex development and their parents in exploring new models of shared learning: Proceedings from A DSDnet COST action workshop. Sexual Development. 12, 225-231 doi: 10.1159/000490081.

Carter, B., Whittaker, K & Sanders, C. (2018). Evaluating a telehealth intervention for urinalysis monitoring in children with neurogenic bladder. Journal Child Health Care, 23(1), 45-62. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1367493518777294

Sanders, C., Edwards, Z., & Keegan, K. (2017). Exploring stakeholder experiences of interprofessional teamwork in sex development outpatient clinics. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 31(3), 376-385

Ahmed, S. F., Achermann, J. C., Arlt, W., Balen, A., Conway, G., Edwards, Z., Elford, S., Hughes, IA., Izatt, L., Krone, N., Miles, HL., O’Toole, S., Perry, L., Sanders, C., Simmonds, M., Wallace, AM., Watt, A. & Willis, D. (2016). Society for Endocrinology UK guidance on the initial evaluation of an infant or an adolescent with a suspected disorder of sex development (Revised). Clinical endocrinology, 84(5), 771-788.

Sanders, C., Carter, B., & Lwin, R. (2015). Young women with a disorder of sex development: learning to share information with health professionals, friends and intimate partners about bodily differences and infertility. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(8), 1904-1913.