Meet Some Of Our Research Assistants

Name: Clélie Delbreil

Project title: After the pandemic: Austerity, recovery or transition?

Supervisor: Prof. Simon Tremblay-Pepin

"Our project consisted of organizing a two-day conference to encourage debate on public policy after the pandemic, which took place in Montreal and online. Topics included: how to improve housing, the economy, the environment and relations with First Nations communities."

"My role: to prepare and communicate with the panelists. I would contact the speakers, coordinate them, answer their questions, book the hotel and meals. I was working on the human side of things."

Name: Joelle Willett

Project Title: Bridging the Ethical Gaps

Supervisor: Prof. Monique Lanoix

We are looking to interview health care aides to get a deeper understanding of the ethical dilemmas they face in their work.

For example, a client may ask their aide not to use a lift machine and just lift them by hand, but this is not what the aide should do and could cause injury for both involved.

I really enjoy qualitative research because of the depth of knowledge and understanding you get with the participant interviews.

Skills I've developed:

• Developing research questions
• Comparing analytic software to find the best one for the project.

Name: Sandrine M'Basssé Florent

Project Title: Cultural Beliefs about Relationship and Mental Health in the Sub-Saharan Diaspora in Canada

Supervisor: Prof. Buuma Maisha

We are examining 2 topics:

1. How members of the Sub-Saharan diaspora in Canada perceive women who have been sexually abused;
2. How does this same group perceive mental health. Is it more spiritual or physical, etc.?

Aside from gathering information, transcribing allowed me to understand how others perceive the world and to enter their world. This is part of respecting cultural diversity. It also prepares me for the work I will do as a therapist.

I played a role in all the steps: approval, researching the methodology, learning the technical skills of the Invivo software such as coding the themes, transcribing and how the interviews are conducted.

Name: Thanh Hai Doan

Project Title: Voices from the Hot Zone

Supervisor: Prof. Monique Lanoix

This project is about learning from the voices of personal support workers who cared for elderly people affected by Covid-19. We want to see what challenges they faced, what initiatives or solutions they invented to help them do their job better or improve their work environment, what they want and need, and how their organizations could provide a better working environment. We're also interested in what values keep them doing this work.

Doing a literature review helped me sharpen my literature reading skills. We found related reports from previous years so we can compare the situation for PSWs before Covid to during the pandemic. I learned how to write a proper application for research to be approved by the Ethics Board Committee, which was so helpful for me later in doing my thesis.