Michelle Lobchuk

Associate Professor Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Nursing, University of Manitoba

  • Winnipeg MB

Empathic understanding of our partners in care - Family Carers in Canada

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Biography

I was born, raised, and am a long-life Manitoban. I come from a family of proud nurses. I was always immensely impressed with the respect my nurse-mother garnered from family and friends who sought her counsel about life and death issues in the community where I grew up. I eventually became a diploma trained nurse at Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre. Due to the encouragment of our progressive instructors at the School of Nursing, I followed obtaining my University-education that led to completion of my Interdisciplinary PhD at the University of Manitoba. As a result of my advanced training in research and excellent mentors, I grew to love the enterprise of science and research. Based on my profound clinical experiences at the bedside, I continue to conduct research to help clinicians, patients, and their family caregivers feel understood. I believe that feeling misunderstood is one of the the most distressing experiences of being a human being. The humbling but essential process of seeking empathic understanding serves the basis for my studies that target stigmatized conditions - such as, lung cancer, at-risk health behaviours, and urinary incontinence. In my CAreLab at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, collaborators, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate and doctoral students join me in building family caregiver science that demands our increased attention to meet the needs of our partners in care - family caregivers in an aging population.

Industry Expertise

Elder Care
Health Care - Providers
Research
Health and Wellness

Areas of Expertise

Empathy
Family Caregiving
Caregiving
Perceptual understanding
Video-feedback
Stigmatized conditions
Symptom management
Quantitative Methods
Qualitative Methods

Accomplishments

Research Manitoba Research Chair in Caregiver Communication

2017-04-09

The Chair Award has provided me with research time protection and ability to support students and post doctoral research fellows in advancing family caregier science with a particular focus on interventions in empathic communication.

College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba Excellence in Professional Nursing - Research

2017-04-09

This award is in recognition of my role in advancing knowledge in nursing practice.

Canadian Association of Nursing in Oncology/Pfizer Excellence in Nursing Research Award

2017-04-09

This award is in recognition of my contributions toward oncology nursing research.

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Education

Health Sciences Centre School of Nursing

RN Diploma

Nursing

1988

University of Manitoba, Faculty of Nursing

Baccalaureate of Nursing

Nursing

1991

University of Manitoba, Faculty of Nursing

Master of Nursing

Restorative Nursing

1993

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Affiliations

  • Associate Professor, University of Manitoba, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Nursing

Languages

  • English

Media Appearances

About my caregiving research program and CAreLab, Grace Hospital

CJNU Radio  radio

2017-10-21

I was invited to speak to listeners about the type of research I am conducting in the CAreLab located at Grace Hospital.

RN's Research Bridges the Gap between Student and Caregiver. Scope of Practice Series

College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba  online

2017-06-30

The news journal article captures the communication research I am conducting in the CareLab with caregivers and nursing students.

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Clinical Research: Bringing Discoveries to the Bedside

St. Boniface Hospital Research  online

2017-06-30

Website describing my research including a video recording of an interview with Greg Mackling, St. Boniface Foundation for their website, "Research Was Here".

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Event Appearances

Keynote: Keeping family caregivers healthy keeps patients healthy

Centre on Aging Spring Research Symposium  University of Manitoba Bannatyne Campus, Brodie Centre

Research Grants

Caregiver Communication Research Environment: A Naturalistic Setting for Empathic Communication

Canada Foundation for Innovation

2017-04-09

Infrastructure funding to build a naturalistic setting to conduct communication studies in support of carers - professional and family.

Improving Empathic Accuracy through an In-Class Intervention provided via videoconferencing

Society for Personality and Social Psychology Small Research Grants Program

2017-04-09

This intervention study is led by my post doctoral research fellow, Dr. Lisa Hoplock, to study impact of my adapted empathy-related video-feedback intervention for delivery via telehealth to rural and northern nursing students.

Heart Health Whispering: An empathy-related video-feedback intervention for nurse practitioners and cardiovascular health-risk behaviours of family caregivers.

College of Nursing Endowment Fund Research Grant in Professional Foundatons.

2017-04-09

This two-arm intervention study is designed to conduct pilot evaluation of an empathy-related video-feedback intervention to bolster the empathic understanding of nurse practitioners on caregivers' health-risk behaviours for cardiovascular diseasea.

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Articles

A study of the impact of an educational intervention on nurse attitudes and behaviours toward mobile device use in hospital settings.

Journal of The Canadian Health Libraries Association

2017-04-09

A before and after educational intervention study on nurse mobile device use at the bedside.

Examining associations of functional deficits and mood states with empathic responses of stroke family caregivers.

Journal of Neuroscience Nursing

2017-04-09

A study of the relationships between caregiver mood states, stroke effects, and caregiver empathy.

Immigrant Filipinos as caregivers for Filipino loved ones with chronic illness in Canada.

Philippine Journal of Nursing

2017-04-09

A qualitatiave study of Filipinno family caregiver perceptions of caring for older adults in one prairie City.

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