Alysha McFadden, MSc (PhD candidate), RN, CCHN (c)

Assistant Professor of Nursing
Having over a decade of recent community health nursing experience allows me to share nursing theory-practice connections within the community health curriculum in exciting ways. My Christian faith inspires me to care deeply about Equity, Diversity, Decolonization, Indigenization, and Inclusion and aligns with my teaching and research approaches and objectives.

Alysha McFadden’s areas of expertise for the past 15 years include community health, health promotion, and disease prevention to prevent undue suffering. Her scholarly interests stem from clinical experiences and priorities articulated from patients, community members, and research partners that draw attention to the global and local histories of oppression that create health inequities. (Health inequities refer to differences in health that are unfair, unjust, and avoidable). Alysha has studied and worked in the United States, Vancouver, northern Canada, and Haiti. Alysha’s doctoral research examines how we can improve healthcare and social service provision, practices, and policies to foster health equity for children, youth, and their families. Her program of research focuses on understanding the institutional and social elements necessary to deliver relational, anti-racist/anti-oppressive, and decolonizing (RAD) healthcare to achieve community-determined indicators of health and wellness. Alysha is interested in the social and structural determinants of health, and how intersectoral partnerships can work collaboratively to address systemic injustices that impact health and human flourishing, particularly for children and families in the context of their communities.

  • PhD(c) in Nursing (University of British Columbia, Canada; TBD)
  • Masters of Science in Health Sciences - Medical Anthropology (Simon Fraser University, Canada; 2015)
  • Bachelor of Science in Nursing (Calvin University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; 2007)

Expertise

Research Topics: McFadden’s research interests stem from clinical experiences and community-identified priorities. Alysha’s research topics have included: breastfeeding; nursing knowledge & racism; processes & impacts of racialization; child-led tours; young children’s participation in research; intersectional feminist theory; public health critical race theory; equity-oriented approaches for early years systems; Two-Eyed Seeing; decolonizing nursing knowledge.

Nursing education: Community health nursing (NURS 317 & 318)

Knowledge mobilization: Integrated knowledge translation; collaborative data analysis

Research methodology: critical inquiry; critical ethnographic methods; intersectional feminist theory; public health critical race theory; community-engaged research; child-led methods; Two-Eyed Seeing

Alysha has co-received multiple community engagement research funds to support community-identified priorities. 

Selected Research

  • Rieger, K.L. (Nominated Principal Applicant), Tuppurainen, A. (Principal Applicant - Knowledge User), Co-investigators: Reimer-Kirkham, S., Burton, B., Duff, M., Liuta, N., McFadden, A., Sawatzky, R., Schwarz, K., Smoker, S., Steeves, K. Taylor, E.J., Teakle, A., West, C., Younie, L., Collaborators: Anderson, C., Creighton, A., Horton, M., Lanz, A., Laurel, S., Rankin, C., Sharma, S., Stevenson, M., Victor, P., Warkentin, K., Wilkinson, K., Woodland, G. Trainees: Agoston, I., Lounsbury, K., Wilson, J. (2023-2024). Advancing Equity-oriented Arts-based Spiritual Care in Healthcare Services through an Interdisciplinary Investigation. CIHR Project Grant Priority Announcement: Patient-Oriented Research. $100,000.
  • Carwana, C., (Nominated Principal Investigator), Stoindjo, T., Loock, C., Bland, C., Jassemi, S., Moore, E., McIntosh, G., Hanson, D., Pikksalu, K., Hodgson, K., Samji, H., Duffy, D., & McFadden., A. (2021-2022). 2021 Clinical Research Capacity Building Award RICHER Social Pediatrics Research Support Grant: Building Capacity to Leverage Past Successes into Ongoing Excellence in Community-Based Clinical Research from BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute: $65,000.

Awards & Honors

  • Canadian Nurses Foundation: Carolyn Sifton Research Award (2022-2023); Lundbeck Research Award (2018-2019); Military Nurses Association Award (2014-2015)
  • UBC President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award (2020-2023)
  • UBC Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship (2018-2023)
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Doctoral Award (2018-2022)   
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Masters Award (2014-2015)
  • Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (2007)

Recent Publications

Selected Publications

  • McFadden, A., Lynam, M. J., & Hawkins, L. (2023). Two-Eyed Seeing as a strategic dichotomy for decolonial nursing knowledge development and practice. Nursing Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1111.nin.12574
  • McFadden, A., Varcoe, C., & Brown, H. (2023). Examining Child-Led Tours and Child Standpoint Theory as a Methodological Approach to Mitigate Asymmetrical Adult-Child Power Dynamics in Ethnographic Research: A Child-Led Tour of Elfish Antics and Sensorial Knowledge. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231182878
  • Gerlach, A., & McFadden, A. (2022). Re-envisioning an early years system of care towards equity in Canada: A critical, rapid review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159594
  • Gerlach, A., & McFadden, A. (2021). Orienting an Early Years System of Care towards Equity: Research brief for the Office of the Representative of Children and Youth in British Columbia (Research brief). Retrieved from the Office of the Representative of Children & Youth BC. DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.31333.52961
  • McFadden, A., & Erikson, S. L. (2020). How nurses come to race: Racialization in public health breastfeeding promotion. Advances in Nursing Science, 43(1), E11-E24. doi:10.1097/ANS.0000000000000288
  • Hilario, C. T., Browne, A. J., & McFadden, A. (2018). The influence of democratic racism in nursing inquiry. Nursing Inquiry, 25(1), e12213-n/a. doi:10.1111/nin.12213

  • NURS 317 Community Health
  • NURS 318 Clinical Practice: Community Health