My research mainly focuses on understanding the needs and abilities of older adults with disabilities, and their caregivers, including individuals receiving home care services, palliative care and adults with sensory impairments. My research typically involves analysis of large datasets to explore how individuals are functioning in their daily lives, where they are experiencing impairments and difficulties, their use of the health care system and methods to evaluate the care received. I also use these datasets to create computerized outputs to assist health professionals, and decision-makers, when determining the needs of individuals, and their caregivers, and also to evaluate the quality of health care being provided.

Selected externally-funded research projects:

1. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR, Project Grant). 2018-2021.Developing and testing quality indicators for palliative care using existing data.  PI:  Guthrie DM; Co-investigators: Cohen J, Declercq A, Fisher K, Goodridge D, Hirdes JP, Seow H, Silveira M,  Tanuseputro P; Knowledge-users:  Baxter S, Binkle H, Paris C, Riske A, Stevens S, Taylor D, Wityk Martin TL.

2. Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control.  2017-2020.  Developing new palliative care quality indicators and benchmarks in cancer across Canada.  Co-PIs:  Seow H, Barbera L; Co-investigators: Burge F, Lawson B, McGrail K, Guthrie D, Sutradhar R

3. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)/Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), Team 17.  2019-2024. The interface between sensory and cognitive function in dementia.  Co-PIs:  Phillips N, Wittich W; Co-investigators:  Campos J, Chasteen A, Guthrie D, Mick P, Pichora-Fuller MK, Orange JB, Savundranayagam M. 

I have opportunities for undergraduate students (Kinesiology and Physical Education/Health Sciences) interested in an honours thesis project that would involve analysis of existing data. I am also willing to supervise graduate students interested in areas of aging, sensory impairments, home care/ palliative care and methods to assess the quality of care. Contact me for more information. 

For more information about my research pertaining to the opportunities below, visit 3D Research: Driving Decisions with Data page.

Graduate Student Supervision

Graduate supervision for the Masters or PhD programs are available in the areas of aging, sensory impairments, home care, palliative care and quality indicators.

Undergraduate Honours Thesis

If you are enrolled in the Kinesiology and Physical Education or Health Sciences programs and are interested in doing a fourth-year honours thesis project involving analysis of existing electronic health records, contact me at dguthrie@wlu.ca. 

For a complete list of publications, visit Scholars Commons.

1. Seow H, Guthrie DM, Stevens T, Barbera LC, Burge F, McGrail K, Chan KKW, Peacock SJ, Sutradhar R. Trajectory of end-of-life pain and other physical symptoms among cancer patients receiving home care. Current Oncology 2021; 28:1641-1651. doi: 10.3390/curroncol28030153.
2. Seow H, Sutradhar R, Burge F, McGrail K, Guthrie D, Lawson B, Erbas O, Chan K, Peacock S, Barbera L. End-of-life outcomes with or without early palliative care: A propensity-score matched, population-based cancer cohort study. BMJ Open 2021; 11:e041432. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041432.
3. Stevens T, Keller H, Williams N, Downar J, Guthrie DM. A cross-sectional nutrition profile of palliative home care clients in Ontario and performance of the interRAI Palliative Care Nutrition CAP. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition 2021; 45: 183-192. doi: 10.1002/jpen.1827.
4. Seow H, Dutta P, Johnson MJ, McMilan K, Guthrie DM, Costa A, Currow D. Prevalence and risk factors of breathlessness across Canada: A national retrospective cohort study in home care and nursing home populations. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2020; doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.11.034.
5. Seow H, Stevens T, Barbera LC, Burge F, McGrail K, Chan KKW, Peacock SJ, Sutradhar R, Guthrie DM. Trajectory of psychosocial symptoms among home care patients with cancer at end-of-life. Psycho-Oncology 2020; 30:103-110. doi: 10.1002/pon.5559.
6. Cheung G, Martinez-Ruez A, Knell R, O’Callaghan A, Guthrie DM. Factors associated with terminally ill people who want to die. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2020; 60(3): 539-548. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.04.003.
7. Urqueta Alfaro A, MacGraw C, Guthrie DM, Wittich W. Older adults with dual sensory loss in rehabilitation show high functioning and may fare better than those with single sensory loss. PLoS ONE 2020; 15: e0237152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237152.
8. Mick P, Hämäläinen A, Phillips NA, Kolisang L, Pichora-Fuller MK, Guthrie DM, Wittich W. The prevalence of hearing and vision loss in older Canadians: An analysis of Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.  Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement 2020; 40(1): 1-22. doi:10.1017/S0714980820000070.
9. Guthrie DM, Williams N, Beach C, Maxwell CJ, Mills D, Mitchell L, Reid RC, Poss JW. Development and validation of Caregiver Risk Evaluation (CaRE): A new algorithm to screen for caregiver burden.  Journal of Applied Gerontology 2020; 40: 731-741. doi: 10.1177/0733464820920102.
10. Seow H, Tanuseputro P, Barbera L, Earle C, Guthrie D, Isenberg S, Juergens R, Brouwers M, Myers J, Sutradhar R. Development and validation of a prognostic survival model with patient-reported outcomes for patients with cancer. JAMA Network Open 2020;3(4):1-12. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.1768.