April 26, 1999 For Immediate Release

UNBC Nursing professor Bev Leipert is beginning a new research project on women's health in northern BC and she's looking for local women to participate in the study. The purpose of the study is to understand how women in northern communities view their health and stay healthy. In addition, Professor Leipert is interested in women's suggestions of how to strengthen women's health in the North.

"This research is particularly focused on northern health issues for women," says Professor Leipert, who is conducting the research as part of her doctoral degree in Nursing. "Living in the North can be both healthy and unhealthy. I want to hear what women in the North think about how living here affects their health."

Women living in the Northern Interior and Cariboo Health Districts are welcome to participate in the study. Participation will include interviews with Professor Leipert, who is available to travel to the participant's home community. She can be contacted (collect) at 960-6510 or via e-mail at leipertb@unbc.ca

"Women's perspectives of health often differ from what professionals think about women's health," says Professor Leipert. "We rarely seem to ask people what their issues are, but it's really the first step in providing health services that are relevant to the people those services are designed to support. The findings will be provided to women, health policy-makers, and health-care practitioners at the local, provincial, and federal levels."

The health of rural and northern women has been a neglected part of health research in Canada. The Northern Secretariat of the BC Centre of Excellence in Women's Health, located at UNBC, seeks to increase understanding of northern women's health issues. Professor Leipert's study, one of the first of its kind in northern Canada, has received support from the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship at the University of Alberta - the most prestigious graduate scholarship at U of A.