Assistant Professor Charlene Chu and her co-author Dr. Vivian Stamatopoulos of Ontario Tech University have won the 2024 International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation award for Paper of the Year. Selected from a list of fifteen research papers from around the globe, this award recognizes not only Chu’s high calibre of research but also the impact of her work on the lives of older adults and family caregivers in long-term care settings.
“It is an incredible honour to win paper of the year. This recognition affirms that our work has had a critical impact – We were able to give family caregiver’s a voice when they had none for so long,” says lead-author Chu, who is also an Affiliated Scientist at the KITE Research Institute at UHN.
The award-winning paper, which was first published in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Wellbeing, examined the experiences of family caregivers during the COVID19 pandemic and the subsequent lock-down policies that were in place in both Ontario and British Columbia. These policies meant that many family caregivers, who provided a significant amount of care to their loved ones who resided in long-term care homes, were unable to perform their crucial role. The paper Chu says, was the first to describe that these family caregiver’s had experienced as a form of collective trauma.
“There were multiple contributing factors to this trauma as shared by family caregivers. This included being separated from their loved ones, experiencing hostile encounters with long-term care staff and administrators or being unaware or uninformed about shifting policies, and ultimately coming to terms with their powerless and inability to be a caregiver during this very unprecedented time,” says Chu.
The paper and its recognition have made a significant impact on the lives of family caregivers. Chu notes that many continue to thank her and Dr. Stamatopolous for their work that has drawn attention to the secondary impacts of the lock-down policy in long-term care. It has also been well-received by those in leadership in the long-term care sector as they look to reimagine their response to future pandemics.
Chu also notes that the tenor of the conversation around pandemic policies as it relates to long-term care, continues to evolve since the paper was published. Now she says, when you read about pandemic management, most policies are looking at different ways to manage the health of long-term care residents and how to maintain relationships with family caregivers
“I think this paper highlighted the serious damage that was done to family caregivers from a psychological perspective and the harm to residents, and as a result, pandemic policies are at least considering social connections, and the infrastructure that needs to be place to ensure the same lockdown policies are not repeated” says Chu.
Moving forward, Chu and Stamatopolous are focused on thinking about future research that might address issues identified in the paper, including a lack of transparency between staff and caregivers. She is considering what digital technologies might be utilized to increase transparency, and avoid that sense of powerlessness experienced by family caregivers.
“This work was the first step in trying to define and understand the problem, and the experiences of family caregivers. Now that we have a good understanding of the issues, we can collaboratively develop interventions to address these gaps in an inclusive way,” says Chu.