2020年初, 欧文康考迪亚大学 faculty member Erin Nelson was on maternity leave and itching to start a new research project, amidst diaper-changing and the round-the-clock care that comes with raising two small children, 一个新生儿. Dr. Nelson has a strong background in interpersonal communications in the healthcare arena, 当前所未有的公共卫生封锁开始时, she felt an urgency to dive in and study what was happening in society.
“我在我两个月大的儿子的房间里, 母乳喂养和思考, “上帝, 有这么多事情在发生，我希望我是在做研究,’”尼尔森回忆道. 仿佛在回应, an idea popped to mind for rallying a research team to study the role of communication during the crisis. “That definitely was not a thought I had on my own,” 纳尔逊说,. “这是神的旨意.”
纳尔逊, 沟通 教授也在 CUI的医疗管理计划 并且正在帮助建立 菲律宾十大网赌网站公共卫生硕士学位 课程, posted an open invitation on social media to see if anyone was interested in partnering to research communication-related aspects of responses to the virus outbreak.
最先做出回应的是Dr. Cathi Sinardi，导演 医疗管理硕士课程, 公共卫生硕士课程和康考迪亚大学欧文分校的两名本科生 医疗保健管理专业. Sinardi, 像成千上万的父母一样, 突然让她的孩子在家上学了, 5 - 8岁, 同时也建设了康考迪亚大学欧文分校 医疗管理 她在田纳西州家里的节目.
“I wanted to do research, but it had been so long that I did not know where to start,西纳尔迪说. “Knowing Erin from teaching in our program, I admired her and her abilities. 看到那个帖子真是个好机会. I felt blessed and commented immediately that I wanted to be involved.”
合作, 还有做全职工作的母亲, accomplishing this level of research is amazing to me.
The group secured a small grant with which to pay participants to take a long survey with questions related to the experience of loss during the health-driven disruption. “我们认为我们应该阐明附带损害, 情感上和关系上, 这是真的,Sinardi说. “There was so much going on that it was unfolding right as we were doing our research.”
What surprised Sinardi most was “the amount of loss that people were dealing with at one time,她说。. “这是一次又一次的复合亏损. It was incredible to read through the responses where people talked about how they couldn’t go to a graduation. 他们失去了社交能力, 出去呼吸新鲜空气, their kids lost socializing in school and were dealing with a new way of virtual learning.”
The resulting paper reported that people not only experienced loss, 但同时经历了许多不同的损失. Their survey responses illuminated how they coped communally and individually, 以及他们的反应是适应不良还是有益的, 纳尔逊说,.
让大家吃惊的是, 《健康传播杂志, 这个领域的顶级期刊, accepted and then published their research in February 2021. 这篇论文的标题是:Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Compounded Loss and Coping during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” shares findings from the team’s survey of 257 North American participants about “the types of losses experienced due to COVID-19, 内疚和不合法的感觉, 共同应对, 以及一般的应对行为.” The authors concluded that because of the varying degrees of intensity of the losses of such things as a loved one, 例行工作:例行的工作或体育活动, “人们对失去亲人的悲痛感到内疚, subsequently were less likely to appraise the losses as communal and more likely to utilize avoidant coping mechanisms on their own.” The paper then discussed public health implications of the findings.
“Publication happened way faster than I expected,” 纳尔逊说,. “Usually, it takes a very long time and you get rejected more often than you get accepted. To get accepted for the first one was an absolute surprise.”
Zoom上的孩子
Just as remarkable is that the team did it in the throes of rearing young children. All but one author was raising small children while participating in the research project. 其中一个还怀孕了.
“在我们的Zoom会议上, 有小孩子在后面尖叫, 要零食, 我在大厅里大喊大叫, 我在换尿布，但我还在听,’”尼尔森说。. “这绝对是一场混战. 这就是作为母亲做研究.”
Kids made many appearances in the meetings, says Sinardi, the mute button was liberally used.
“一个人会母乳喂养, another pushing pause and jumping up to tear their kids apart from fighting,西纳尔迪回忆道. “这个群体可以相互理解. 如果有人说，‘我得走了:PBS的节目没了. YouTube结束了. 他们的平板电脑死了，我们理解这一点.” Naptime was priceless research time, there were some late nights. “After the kids went to bed and [my Concordia] work was done, then came the research,Sinardi说.
Sometimes the foursome was editing the same online document at the same time — each from the different time zone in which she lived. “合作的方面, 还有做全职工作的母亲, accomplishing this level of research is amazing to me, 我为此感到骄傲,西纳尔迪说.
Nelson adds that the main reason she thoroughly loves working 在欧文的康考迪亚大学 is the value placed on work-life balance.
她说:“我可以成为一名研究人员、一名教师和一名母亲。. “Concordia has the most amazing work-life balance I’ve ever seen, has given me the ability to be a teacher and focus on my research, 同时平衡我的家庭. 这是我在这里工作的首要原因.”
It’s very clear that God had a hand in driving this the whole way.
Nelson also says she enjoyed this particular research more than anything she’s done before.
“这是我第一次真正充满激情, 这项研究给了我动力和力量,她说。. “I was using my critical thinking skills to evaluate what was going on from a communication standpoint with the media, 政府机构, 以及人际关系方面. 我对家庭的运作方式特别感兴趣. 这就是我的动力.”
The achievement also highlights the value of cross-school collaboration at Concordia, 哪一个“与我们这里的社区对话?,西纳尔迪说.
Not to mention that two 欧文康考迪亚大学 authors helped produce research published in a leading peer-reviewed journal — and being presented at two conferences as well — which “is incredibly important, 这表明我们有一个多么伟大的机构,尼尔森说。.
The team now has three more papers either published or under review by significant journals. The new and additional research deals with loss and conflict within families during the societal response to COVID.
“It’s very clear that God had a hand in driving this the whole way,西纳尔迪说. “这是一种祝福，也是一段不可思议的旅程.”