Trainee Award Recipients 2023-2024
Dr. Jaylyn Leighton
Dr. Jaylyn Leighton, R/TRO, completed her PhD at the University of Waterloo in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Faculty of Health. Currently, Dr. Leighton is working with the St. John’s Rehab (SJR) research team to facilitate a co-design research project to collaboratively design and implement a ‘Long COVID Education and Awareness Hub’ that supports the psychosocial recovery of individuals with long-COVID and their caregivers. The ‘hub’ will be available online (www.livingwithlongcovid.ca) and will house a number of outcomes that have been identified by participants as being useful in supporting long COVID care provisions across the continuum of care.
Supervisor: Dr. Marina Wasilewski, Scientist at St. John’s Rehab, Assistant Professor with the Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto
Research Overview
‘Long COVID’ (LC) -- a condition characterized by a cluster of symptoms lasting 12+ weeks -- impacts 10-35% of people who contract the COVID-19 virus. The lasting impacts of LC affect people’s holistic health, relationships, income, return to work, and access to rehabilitation services. During phase one (April 2022-January 2023) of this project we conducted qualitative interviews with n=51 people living with long COVID, n=15 caregivers, and n=32 health and social care providers working in the context of long COVID. Phase two (March – July 2023) entailed facilitating 8 co-design workshops virtually with stakeholders (n=11 people living with long COVID, n=4 caregivers, and n=10 health and social care providers) to co-design a ‘Long COVID Education and Awareness Hub’ that will enhance public awareness of LC, build capacity of the scope of practice for HCP collaboration, and equip providers with best practices, strategies, and resources related to LC. During the co-design workshops, we collectively identified four key areas that need to be addressed across long COVID care provisions. This includes: (1) education, (2) advocacy and public health messaging, (3) health care reform and care integration, and (4) peer support. For each of the key areas, we also collectively identified 2-3 knowledge translation outcomes that are needed to better support long COVID care provisions. For example, this includes a 5-part documentary series portraying ‘a day in the life of someone living with long COVID’, an animated whiteboard series using the personas and journey map utilized during the co-design workshops, a digital mapping of long COVID care provisions across Canada, etc. Phase three (current to April, 2024) will include: (1) facilitation of a ‘Long COVID World Café’ (October, 2023), creation of online ‘hub’ webpage and digital content (working with digital designers and medial companies), and facilitation of 5 pre-implementation workshops (February-March, 2024). It is our hope to launch the ‘Long COVID Education and Awareness Hub’ By May of 2024.
Meera Premnazeer
Meera Premnazeer completed her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto (UofT). Now she is a PhD Student at the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI) at UofT. Meera’s research is focused on improving healthcare delivery for people with stroke and their caregivers across Canada.
Her passion and research center around the area of patient- and family-centered care. Meera has received the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Student Scholarship, and the Gwen Bell Endowment Fund from RSI. She is also a recipient of the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation Future Scholar Award.
Supervisor: Dr. Jill Cameron, Professor and Vice Chair Research in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto
Research Overview
Worldwide, COVID-19 is known to cause a 7.6-fold increased risk of having a stroke. As a result, people with stroke (PWS) also commonly have COVID-19. This further complicates recovery from and caregiving for PWS. Despite this, there has been no research that examines the needs of PWS and family caregivers.
My research aims to understand the perspectives and preferences of PWS and caregivers for patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) across the care continuum within the context of COVID-19.
This novel research will contribute to the development of models of PFCC to support recovery and caregiving across the care continuum.
Orianna Scali
Orianna Scali completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Ryerson University and is currently completing her Master of Science at the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto (UofT). Orianna’s research focuses on exploring Family Centered Care (FCC) across the care continuum in family caregivers of individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). The goal of her research aims to understand the specific perceived challenges in the context of SCI across the care continuum through qualitative inquiry of family caregivers of individuals with SCI.
Supervisor: Dr. Jill Cameron, Professor and Vice Chair Research in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto
Research Overview
Family caregivers play a critical role in the wellbeing of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Caregivers are not routinely prepared or supported in their role. These challenges can be compounded if the individual with SCI also experiences COVID-19. Models of patient and family centered care are proposed to enhance the health care system’s abilities to meet the needs of individuals with SCI and family caregivers. Through examination of the preferences of family caregivers of individuals with SCI in the context of COVID-19, researchers will be able to develop health service delivery models of family centered care (FCC).