People
Catching Life's Curveballs Before They Knock You Down
Family relations prof studies issues connected to families, poverty and social programs
BY REBECCA KENDALL
Sometimes all it takes to empower a person is having someone to talk to — someone who understands and is supportive. This is especially true when coping with stressful issues, says Prof. Michèle Preyde, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, who has been studying health and intervention effectiveness for the past decade.
During this time, Preyde has devoted her research to examining the social and psychological functioning of some of our most vulnerable populations, including parents of preterm infants in intensive-care units, adults coping with cancer and children living with mental health issues. Her work has been published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and in Social Work in Health Care.
Originally from Leamington, Ont., she completed a BSW at the University of Windsor, an MSW at Wayne State University and a PhD at the University of Toronto.
It was during her studies at Windsor that she became interested in exploring issues connected to families, poverty and social programs.
“At that time, the government was starting to cut funding to social welfare, and we were beginning to see the impact that had,” she says. “Without some of those supports, people were unable to care for their children and were dropping them off at Children's Aid Societies and other agencies.”
These cuts left many community-based groups unable to offer the same range of services, she adds. “Many families were affected in multiple layers.”
Understanding the impact this was having on families — and children in particular — Preyde became a respite foster parent with the Windsor-Essex Children's Aid Society. In this role, she provided backup support to foster families.
Her commitment to community service has also followed her to Guelph, where she's a member of the board of directors of Family and Children's Services of Guelph and Wellington County.
“This organization does important work that helps what some may call the most vulnerable group of people when you look at it from a social perspective,” she says. “The staff are sensitive and thoughtful in terms of their approach to child welfare, and I'm honoured to be a part of it because, without trying to sound cliché, it truly does take a village to raise a child. When you look at the way our child-welfare system works and its weaknesses, it breaks your heart, especially when you're looking at it from the child's perspective.”
It was through Preyde's work with Family and Children's Services that she became involved with the North-South Partnership for Children, an initiative that connects individuals and organizations in southern Ontario with First Nation communities in northern Ontario.
“The problems there are so vast and complex,” she says. “Even the changing environment is having an impact on their traditional ways of life, including hunting, fishing and resources.”
Not surprisingly, this level of caring also finds its way into Preyde's research. Her lens is now focused on the psychosocial impact that illness, whether physical or mental, has on vulnerable populations.
Nearly all the existing literature on the impact of illness stems strictly from a medical perspective, but there are social and psychological elements to these situations that must also be examined, she says.
“We know that when people have a disease or illness, it can be stressful and can tax their abilities to cope. It may also be taxing on their support systems.”
Much of her research involves exploring the experiences of people on both sides of the coin, with the goal of developing psychosocial interventions. In addition, she's reviewing and assessing the success of existing interventions.
One study took her into the neonatal intensive-care units at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital and Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. There, she examined the effectiveness of a voluntary peer-to-peer pairing program for mothers who had a preterm newborn. These mothers were paired with experienced and trained mothers whose first language, culture, religion and cultural background were the same as their own. The goal was to provide individual peer support that would ease the stress and confusion felt by the new mothers.
“It's a supportive role that has to do with listening, validating and sharing a common experience,” says Preyde.
This type of pairing was shown to lower the new mothers' levels of stress, anxiety and depression, she says. It also boosted their confidence in their parenting and helped them better understand their child's condition.
“The program was found to be quite effective in helping parents cope with the stressfulness of the situation. Formal social work clinicians were always available, but some of the theory behind the intervention suggests that if you haven't had that particular experience, it's hard to validate someone else's emotions.”
Preyde is also interested in finding ways to reduce the psychosocial stresses of people affected by cancer, whether personally or because someone close to them has been diagnosed with the disease. She's conducting a systemic review of current psychosocial interventions available to adults who have been diagnosed with cancer and are now undergoing treatment.
“It's not clear what the best way to help people cope during this time is. When someone is diagnosed with cancer, a whole host of questions and issues come to the forefront.”
The initial diagnosis is traumatic for people and brings up concerns related to their health and the future welfare of their children, which can influence interactions with family and friends, she says.
“Medications can be expensive, people may be unable to work because of the disease or their treatment, and there are psychological and personal challenges that may be experienced, including challenges to their identity, self-esteem, interpersonal connections and family relationships. Even things like trying to understand medical terminology can be stressful for people. There are so many maybes and percentages and possibilities, and it's frustrating to not know what to expect.”
These factors can also have implications for the friends and family who are worried about them, says Preyde.
“We don't always know the best way to support other people, what to say and what will make them feel comfortable.”
Another vein of research is Preyde's childhood mental health projects, which include a longitudinal study of the lives of children and their families after they've been discharged from children's mental health residential care or intensive home-based service programs.
“It's difficult to provide care to people in a systematic way,” she says. “People sometimes fall through the cracks. In mental health care, we're a bit behind in providing services for families. With the research, we've been able to identify kids at an earlier age. Years ago, we didn't know if it was the terrible twos or something we should be worried about. Now we're able to make those distinctions a little better. We're beginning to develop better mental health care and better understanding of how it should be developed for parents and the school system.”
Preyde says the most satisfying part of her work is the hope that people in stressful situations will benefit from psychosocial intervention.
“My hope is for improvements in the quality of life for people with illness and the quality of work life for people delivering psychosocial intervention. I hope this body of research will lead to better help for people as they adjust or manage or cope with whatever curveball life has thrown them.”