Laurier expert alert: National Seniors Day

Sept. 28, 2021
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – Oct. 1 is National Seniors Day. Wilfrid Laurier University has experts available to speak about topics related to aging, including health and wellness, seniors in the workforce, changing identities and the role of music in improving quality of life for older people.

Cheryl-Anne Cait, associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work, is an expert on community-based approaches to hospice and palliative care, specifically volunteer recruitment, rural issues and diversity, as well as death, dying and bereavement. Through her research, she studies grief as an evolving process and its impacts on personal identity. Contact: ccait@wlu.ca

Dawn Guthrie is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the Department of Health Sciences. Her research focuses on the needs and abilities of older adults with disabilities, palliative care, adults with sensory impairments and caregivers. Her research has been used to assist health professionals, decision-makers and caregivers better meet the needs of older adults and to evaluate the quality of care being provided. Contact: dguthrie@wlu.ca

Josephine McMurray, associate professor in the Business Technology Management and Health Studies programs, is an expert on healthcare technology for an aging workforce and innovation in the healthcare system. She has been studying compassionate, safe and effective ways to isolate people with dementia to prevent the spread of COVID-19. She has recently studied ways to build a supportive and sustainable work ecosystem for aging workforces; the use of location-tracking technology in long-term care; impact of COVID-19 in long term care; and electronic health information systems and how their adoption impacts at-risk populations. Contact: jmcmurray@wlu.ca or 519.242.7477 (mobile)

Nicola Newton, associate professor in Laurier’s Department of Psychology, is an expert on adult development and aging, marriage and health among older couples, and how gender, social roles, health and well-being are associated with personality development, particularly in later life. She is currently studying personal identity revision in older adults as they transition through retirement and deal with on-going age-related change (physical, psychological and social). She’s also collaborating on research examining stress, relationship quality and health among older couples.

Dana Sawchuk is a professor in the Department of Sociology. Her research is focused in the areas of aging, social movement mobilization, and religion (and, often, on the relationships between them). She is currently conducting research on how older women read and use magazines in everyday life and also on how older adults use public libraries to access magazines. Another research project explores older adults and job loss, investigating how these unemployed workers use religious coping techniques and how neoliberal cultural assumptions influence their job loss narratives. Contact: dsawchuk@wlu.ca

Lee Willingham is a professor in the Faculty of Music, the director of the Laurier Centre for Music in the Community and the coordinator of the Master of Arts in Community Music program. His research has focused on the impacts of music on wellbeing and social connection. Through The Circle of Music intergenerational choir, he has studied the impacts of singing in a choir on people living with dementia, their caregivers and volunteers. Recent projects include an interdisciplinary research project exploring the ways in which music and creative technologies can encourage learning and creativity and improve quality of life for older people. Contact: lwillingham@wlu.ca

Yujie (Jessie) Zhan, associate professor in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, is an expert on work stress and well-being, emotion and emotional regulation at work, and older workers and retirement. She is currently studying the psychology of the retirement process to better understand older employees’ adjustment to post-retirement life, as well as the impact of age on employee coping with work-related changes. Contact: yzhan@wlu.ca