Michelle Lobchuk
Associate Professor | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Nursing, University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, CANADA
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 (4)
Elder Care
Health Care - Providers
Research
Health and Wellness
Areas of Expertise (9)
Empathy
Family Caregiving
Caregiving
Perceptual understanding
Video-feedback
Stigmatized conditions
Symptom management
Quantitative Methods
Qualitative Methods
Accomplishments (6)
Research Manitoba Research Chair in Caregiver Communication (professional)
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 (professional)
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 (professional)
2017-04-09
This award is in recognition of my contributions toward oncology nursing research.
Winnipeg RH Foundation Award (professional)
2017-04-09
This institutional award is in recogntion of my outstanding contributions to scholarship and research in the health science category.
Canadian Association of Nursing Research Outstanding New Investigator Award (professional)
2017-04-09
This national award is in recognition of my contributions toward nursing knowledge as a new, independent researcher.
National Cancer Institute of Canada, Canadian Cancer Society Research Scientist Award (professional)
2017-04-09
This personnel award is in support of developing my research program as a budding nurse scientist in the area of oncology nursing.
Education (4)
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
University of Manitoba, Faculty of Nursing: PhD, Interdisciplinary Studies 2001
Affiliations (1)
- Associate Professor, University of Manitoba, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Nursing
Links (1)
Languages (1)
- English
Media Appearances (6)
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.
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".
Caring for the Caregiver
University of Manitoba ResearchLIFE Summer 2016, Volume 2 print
2017-06-13
This article describes the grand opening of the CAreLab at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg. This Lab supports communication research designed to enhance students' and clinicians' empathic communication skills with patients, families, and other professional caregivers.
New lab merges health care and communication
Metro News Canstar Community News online
2016-04-24
Newspaper article describing the grand opening of the CAreLab at Grace Hospital and communication research being done.
Lung cancer stigma interferes with care
CBC News Health online
2012-04-12
I was an invited guest to speak on my study with 304 pairs of patients with lung cancer and their family caregivers on stigma associated with the disease. This engagement was part of the report card release on cancer in Canada, Cancer Advocacy Coalition.
Event Appearances (1)
Keynote: Keeping family caregivers healthy keeps patients healthy
Centre on Aging Spring Research Symposium University of Manitoba Bannatyne Campus, Brodie Centre
Research Grants (10)
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.
Heart Health Whispering: An empathy-related video-feedback intervention on nursing student understanding of family caregiver at-risk health behaviours.
Research Manitoba Chair funds
2017-04-09
This two-arm intervention is designed to pilot test the impact of my empathy-related video-feedback intervention on the empathic accuracy of undergraduate nursing students on caregivers' health-risk behaviours for cardiovascular disease.
Comparison of nurse attitudes toward family care by nurses in hospital and home care program.
Grace Foundation and Winnipeg West Integrative Health & Social Services Program operating grant
2017-04-09
This quantitative and qualitative study was conducted to uncover hospital and home visiting nurse attitudes toward family care.
Informal caregivers and service needs in the WRHA Home Care Program.
The Manitoba Patient Access Network Steering Committee Call for Proposals
2017-04-09
This study is comprised of several components designed to discern family caregivers' use of the home care program's respite care program. The impetus is awareness that despite growing caregiver distress, there is limited use of the respite care program.
Intervention for family caregivers who are employed in the Canadian Workforce
Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging/ CIHR
2017-04-09
The purpose of this mult-site study is to determine the scalability and adaptation of the Reitman Centre CARERS Program consisting of a psychotherapeutic group intervention to bolster the coping and problem-solving skills of caregivers dealing with dementia care in rural Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
Nurse attitudes toward mobile device use in multi-site hospital settings
Grace Hospital Patient Care Research Award
2017-04-09
This study is designed to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention on nurse use of mobile device use at the bedside.
Examining the relationship between family caregivers' emotional states and ability to empathize with individuals dealing with multiple sclerosis
Riverview Health Centre
2017-04-09
This correlational study was designed to examine the relationships among caregiver mood states, effects of multiple sclerosis, and caregiver empathic helping behaviours.
Caregiver Communication Think Tank
CIHR
2017-04-09
This meetings and dissemination grant provided funds for Dr. Lobchuk to bring together a Think Tank (2-days) caregiver researchers, graduate students, governmental and non-governmental, and lay caregivers together to discuss communication issues experienced by family caregivers at the system-, health care professional-, and patient-levels of patient care.
Articles (8)
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 Association2017-04-09
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 Nursing2017-04-09
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 Nursing2017-04-09
A qualitatiave study of Filipinno family caregiver perceptions of caring for older adults in one prairie City.
Development of a novel empathy-related video-feedback intervention to improve empathic accuracy of nursing students: A pilot study.
Nurse Education Today2017-04-09
A pre-post pilot study of an empathy-based video-feedback intervention and its effects on student nurse empathic understanding of family caregivers' at-risk health behaviours.
Examining the Relationship Between Family Caregivers’ Emotional States and Ability to Empathize with Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Pilot Study.
International Journal of MS Care2017-04-09
This study is a replication of my graduate student's (Ms. Chen Jin) thesis project that examined the relationship among caregiver mood, disease affects, adn caregiver empathic relations with individuals dealing with multiple sclerosis.
A comparison of affected individual and support person responses on the impact of urinary incontinence quality of life.
Urology Nursing2017-04-09
This is a study that captured the qualitative experiences of family caregivers and individuals affected by urinary incontinence in the home care setting.
A qualitative analysis of ‘naturalistic’ conversations in a peer-led online support community for lung cancer.
Cancer Nursing2017-04-09
This is a qualitative study of responses of patients dealing with lung cancer and their family caregivers in an on-line community bulletin board.
Impact of patient smoking behavior on empathic helping by family caregivers in lung cancer.
Oncology Nursing Forum2017-04-09
This is a large study with 604 patients dealing with lung cancer and their family caregivers on the impact of caregiver's thoughts and feelings toward patient smoking on caregivers' empathic helping behaviours.
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