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Pandemic making broad impact on children’s mental health, researchers find Professor Lance Rappaport led one of Canada's first studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children. Irritability, anxiety, and depression are among the symptoms reported by children in a new study that documents the pervasive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health. Led by UWindsor psychology professor Lance Rappaport, a team of researchers surveyed children aged 8 to 13 from 190 families in the Windsor-Essex region and their parents or guardians. “The first goal was to establish a baseline to measure the acute effect of the pandemic,” said Dr. Rappaport, director of the Development and Etiology of Anxiety and Related conditions (DEAR) Lab. “We then focused on establishing whether the impact on children was limited to PTSD-related symptoms consistent with trauma or included broader impacts consistent with chronic stress,” he said. “Understanding the exact effect of the pandemic allows us to now design new treatments…
Researcher to explore issues of LGBTQ+ students in science and tech Michael Godfrey has received a postdoctoral fellowship to explore improving equity, diversity, and inclusion within science. Michael Godfrey (BHK 2014) has secured the first-ever Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) postdoctoral fellowship in the UWindsor Faculty of Science with his application: “Campus climate and persistence of LGBTQ+ students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” Dr. Godfrey says he was hopeful when he applied, but knew the awards are extremely competitive. He enjoyed an “extraordinary feeling” when he received the second-highest score in his disciplinary committee. “This kind of fellowship really recognizes your capability as a scholar and the importance of your program of research at the federal level,” he says. This is only the second SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship to be awarded to a UWindsor researcher. The fellowship supports the most promising Canadian new scholars by assisting them in establishing a research…
Contest offering prizes for joining vaccine campaign Graduate Student Society president Adam Pillon gets in the ring in the fight against COVID-19. UWindsor students, staff, and faculty will have a chance to win a share of 55 prizes valued at more than $17,400 through a contest encouraging others to do their part to K.O. COVID by getting the COVID vaccine. The Get Social about the Jab to Win! contest opens at 1 p.m. Monday, Aug. 9, and offers prizes that include tuition vouchers, Amazon gift cards, and an Apple laptop or iPad Air tablet computer. To enter weekly draws, “like” a post on the UWindsor Facebook or Instagram accounts with the #TakeAJabUWindsor or #KOCOVID hashtag, explaining why you decided to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Larger prizes are available for sharing a photo, video, or text message supporting the #TakeaJab campaign. Find details, including contest rules and eligibility, an entry form, and a calendar of prize draws, on the “Get Social about the Jab to Win” website. Courtesy: https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2021-08-06/contest-offering-prizes-joining-vaccine-campaign
Study finds pandemic driving nurses out of the profession In follow-up interviews as a part of a study into the pandemic’s effects on local nurses working on both sides of the border, many who haven’t already left the profession say they are looking for a way out. Nurses are exhausted. Follow-up interviews that were part of a University of Windsor study into the pandemic’s effect on local nurses has found many of them have left the profession in the past year, while others said they were counting down the days to retirement. “Most nurses we spoke to were tired, depressed, angry, and looking to get out, if they hadn't left already,” said UWindsor researcher Dana Ménard, one of four UWindsor faculty members conducting the study. “They are burnt out and beaten down.” The research project began in 2020 with interviews of 36 registered nurses working in Windsor or Michigan. The research team of psychology professors Dr. Ménard and Kendall Soucie and nursing professors Jody Ralph and Laurie Freeman re-interviewed 19 of the nurses…
UWindsor study shows nurses ae feeling 'disposable' and 'burned out' Photo: (monkeybusinessimages / iStock) A study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has had on local nurses and their profession shows that many have left their jobs and others are counting down the days to retirement. Research began in 2020, when a team of UWindsor researchers interviewed 36 registered nurses working in Windsor or Michigan. Head researcher Dr. Dana Menard says the pandemic was relatively new and there was still optimism after the first round of interviews. The latest findings come from 19 interviews one year later. She says they paint a grim picture. "Our participants were almost universally exhausted, depressed, burned out, frustrated," she says. "They felt disposable, expendable and a lot of them were really expressing these doubts of fears that things would ever get back to any semblance of normal." Menard says many nurses felt they could no longer spend adequate time with patients due to understaffing. "In some cases people told us that…
$287,000 Awarded for Local Health Research WE-SPARK Health Institute and its funding partners have awarded 14 research grants totaling $287,000 to tackle local health challenges. The grants provide funding to promote the development of early-stage, innovative health research and health education projects in Windsor-Essex and support other health research programs to increase their prospects for future funding. Projects include studies related to emerging topics in health, addressing gaps in healthcare needs, igniting new ideas, generating and disseminating knowledge, and sparking collaborations. The grants involve collaborators across WE-SPARK’s four partner institutions — Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, St. Clair College, the University of Windsor and Windsor Regional Hospital — along with numerous community members, students and volunteers across Windsor-Essex. “Grants are the fuel that allows researchers to put together a team, to move their idea forward and tackle the biggest health problems that impact society” said…
Researchers teaming up to build COVID-19 vaccine confidence among students and young adults A research team will employ students from the University of Windsor and St. Clair College to foster confidence in COVID vaccines. Image: Freepik.com A group of experts with WE-Spark Health Institute received a $50,000 grant to support the project “Students Igniting Vaccine Confidence Program in Windsor-Essex.” The funds are part of a federal initiative investing $2.25 million to promote vaccine confidence through information sharing. The funds will be jointly administered by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The program will focus on four main objectives: identify and understand drivers of both vaccine confidence and hesitancy; focus on the unique perspective of racially and ethnically diverse younger populations; develop and implement evidence-based practices to address personal, social, and physical barriers to vaccine knowledge and trust;…
‘Tired, depressed, angry’ nurses leaving jobs during pandemic, Windsor study finds Dana Menard, lead investigator of an ongoing study that says nurses are burning out and quitting the profession, is pictured on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. PHOTO BY DAX MELMER /Windsor Star Windsor nurses are so “burnt out and beaten down” by COVID-19 workloads and conspiracy theories that many are quitting the profession, according to an ongoing study. A University of Windsor probe into the pandemic’s effects on local nurses reveal some have taken early retirement, switched jobs or gone on stress leave. It’s a trend that nursing organizations across Ontario and Canada are also noticing. “The participants were almost universally exhausted, burned out, frustrated, depressed,” she said. “They felt disposable. They felt expendable. And there was a lot less of that light at the end of the tunnel kind of hope that things would get better. There was a lot more concern about the variants. There was a lot of concern about vaccination rates not being has high as they need to be,…
Testing tool provides early detection of COVID-19 cases The WE-Spark COVID-19 Dashboard can detect outbreaks of COVID-19 in real time. A new tool from the WE-Spark Health Institute combines local wastewater surveillance testing with University of Windsor saliva-based screening to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The interactive dashboard compares the levels of the virus in wastewater to active or new COVID-19 cases in Windsor-Essex to detect outbreaks in real time. It pulls data from several local Windsor-Essex wastewater treatment plants, noted UWindsor professor Lisa Porter, the institute’s executive director. “The dashboard, combined with the wastewater and saliva screening, provides a surveillance platform to support the safe re-opening of Windsor-Essex,” she said. “If we have learned anything through the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the importance of having this kind of surveillance that can be rapidly deployed to isolate affected populations and avoid widespread outbreaks that can devastate our…
