About
This program investigates how structural, economic, and policy barriers shape survivors’ access to essential health and social services, including dental care, an often-overlooked component of recovery and well-being. Using a health systems and policy lens, the program also examines the economic and societal costs of gender-based violence (GBV), highlighting how violence drives inequities and imposes profound financial burdens on individuals, communities, and public systems. Through collaboration with survivors, community organizations, and policymakers, this work generates actionable evidence to inform survivor-centered policy reform and strengthen integrated models of care that advance equity, access, and healing across the health and social system.
This program of research is grounded in community-partnered and participatory approaches that allow survivors’ voices and lived experiences to inform the inquiry and translation. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods are used to capture the complex intersections between violence, access, and health system response. Methodologically, the program integrates literature reviews to synthesize existing evidence and identify policy and service gaps; qualitative studies to explore and elevate survivor and provider experiences of navigating fragmented systems; and cost-of-illness analyses to quantify the individual, health system, and societal costs of gender-based violence. Complementing these approaches are quantitative analyses using matching methods and linked data, combining study and administrative datasets, to generate robust, population-level insights into patterns of service use, inequities in access (including to dental care), and the broader economic implications of GBV.
Research for Impact
Restoring Smiles Community Partnership Project
Research Launch and Art Exhibition
Panel Discussion of Research Implications
Interdisciplinary Research Roundtable on GBV
Untangling Gender-Based Violence: Insights from Research and Practice
Publications
Inequities in Access to Dental Care for Individuals Impacted by GBV:
- Toccalino D, Chadambuka C, Arruda-Caycho I, Arora N, Powell M, Quiñonez C, Essue BM. Roles of dentistry in identifying and supporting individuals who have experienced gender-based violence: a scoping review. BMJ Public Health. 2025 May 26;3(1):e001770. doi: 10.1136/bmjph-2024-001770. https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 40433069/ - Chadambuka C, Arruda-Caycho I, Juando-Prats C, Perez-Brumer A, Meisami T, Quiñonez C, Powell M, Singhal S, Ratto M, Haddadi G, Chauke R, O’Campo P, Essue BM. Improving Access to Necessary Oral Healthcare Among Racialized Women Impacted by Intimate Partner Violence: A Qualitative Exploration of Care Seeking Experiences. October 2025. https://
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/ 10.1111/ edt.70026
IPV-Related Cost of Health Services Utilization:
- Dusing GJ, Essue BM, O’Campo P, Metheny N. Long-term public healthcare burden associated with intimate partner violence among Canadian women: A cohort study. Health Policy. 2025 May;155:105282. doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2025.105282. https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 40036909/ - Metheny N, Dusing GJ, Essue BM, O’Campo P. Non-Physical Intimate Partner Violence and Long-Term Public Healthcare Costs in a Representative Sample of Canadian Women. Violence Against Women. 2025 Aug 3:10778012251362231. doi: 10.1177/10778012251362231 https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 40754773/
Structural Determinants of Access for Individuals Impacted by GBV:
- Essue BM, Chadambuka C, Perez-Brumer A, Arruda-Caycho I, Tocallino D, Balasa R, Namyalo PK, Ravanera C, Kaplan S. Women’s experiences of gender-based violence supports through an intersectional lens: a global scoping review. BMJ Public Health. 2025 Feb 6;3(1):e001405. doi: 10.1136/bmjph-2024-001405. https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 40017981/ - Essue BM, Chadambuka, C Arruda-Caycho I, Ravanera C, Perez-Brumer A, Balasa R and Kaplan S. https://
www.gendereconomy.org/ intersectional-analysis-of-gender-based-violence/ - Chadambuka C, Essue BM. A policy review on the visibility of migrant women exposed to, and at risk of gender-based violence: Considerations for inclusive and equitable policies and programs in Canada. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024 Feb 16;4(2):e0002919. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002919.
Accepting Students
Students will gain experience with the following:
- Reviews
- Benefit-Cost Analysis
- Extended Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Cost of Illness
- Policy Analysis
