Nursing research among 18 UCalgary projects supported by SSHRC Insight grants this year

The Public Face of Grief: Bereavement and Social Media

Dr. Nancy Moules (PhD) has received SSHRC funding for her study The Public Face of Grief: Bereavement and Social Media.

Moules and her team - which includes co-investigator UCalgary Nursing associate professor Catherine Laing as well as community collaborator and Kids Cancer Care CEO Christine McIver - will examine the use of social media as a way to express grief and the impact on the bereaved.

Parents whose children have died will be interviewed as well as those who respond to these public expressions and their motivation, intents, and experiences. 

"Understanding how social media might be changing the face of grief and our bereavement practices, particularly in these times of loss and the pandemic, is highly relevant and current," says Moules.

Two of her graduate students have also scored SSHRC grants. Master's student Kate Wong will be looking at the language of art for children who are dying and how they often express themselves through art. Doctoral student Katie Webber explores the complexity of professional relationships in paediatric oncology between nurses and families in the age of social media. 

• From left, Katie Webber, Dr. Nancy Moules and Kate Wong at the 2019 ARNET Scholar's Reception.

STILL LIFE: A Slice of Life

Dr. Lorraine Venturato (PhD)’s study "STILL LIFE: A Slice of Life,” will visually document the older adults living in 10 diverse communities in metro, rural and remote areas of Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

Her team, which includes fellow UCalgary Nursing faculty member Dr. Graham McCaffrey (PhD), will explore the link between ageing, wellbeing and identity, alongside concepts of home, place, and community and highlight that diversity (person and place) to enhance understanding of the lives of older adults across diverse settings.

“We really want to make visible the often invisible lives of older adults, particularly in rural and remote communities, and give voice to what matters most to them,” says Venturato.

Moules and Venturato's projects are among 18 successful UCalgary projects receiving SSHRC Insight grants this year. The SSHRC Insight program supports research excellence in the social sciences and humanities. The funding is geared to both established research as well as early-stage research projects. The maximum value of a SSHRC Insight grant is $500,000 over three to five years.

Read the full Utoday story here.