Art of Good Care

Current Projects:

Nursing Home Arts Study

Summary:

This interdisciplinary team-based arts-informed study of Nova Scotia (NS) nursing home staff mental health and dementia care literacy has the overall goal of operationalizing ‘good’ literacy in relation to quality care, from social and relational perspectives. This goal will be achieved by: 1) Synthesizing realities and trends in mental health and dementia care education and training for front line staff within nursing homes in Nova Scotia; 2) Contextualizing understanding of nursing home mental health and dementia care literacy in NS, by examining administrator and front-line staff perceptions and experiences from a disability studies perspective; 3) Operationalizing ‘good’ mental health and dementia care literacy from a social and relational perspective, using a participatory arts-informed approach; 4) Mobilizing knowledge about mental health and dementia care literacy by documenting, exhibiting and disseminating study results within long-term care, university, not-for-profit and community sectors. 

Students and Trainees:

Dr. Emily Reid-Musson, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Shala Knocton, Research Coordinator

Dr. Janna Klostermann, Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Stephanie Mason, Postdoctoral Fellow

Kelly O'Neil, PhD Candidate, Educational Studies

Marco Redden, MA Family Studies and Gerontology

Denise Snyder, BA Forensic Psychology

Publications:

• Klostermann, J. & Aubrecht, K. (October 23, 2021). Questions of care: Developing interview guides for long-term residential care research. Canadian Association on Gerontology. Online.
• Aubrecht, K. & Klostermann, J. (October 8, 2021). Beautiful questions: The everyday art of remaking long-term care. International Conference on Disability Arts and Education. Online.
• O’Neil, K., Redden, M., & Aubrecht, K. (November 5, 2020). Supporting relationships, providing presence: Arts-informed approaches to LTC staff dementia care literacy. GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting Online: Turning 75: Why Age Matters. Online. 
• Aubrecht, K. (November 5, 2020). Work of art, art of work: Artistic literacy and quality in long-term dementia care. GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting Online: Turning 75: Why Age Matters. Online. 
• Aubrecht, K., Snyder, D., O’Neil, K., Blinn, L., Keefe, J., Kelly, C., Moody, E., Dupuis, S., Chivers, S., Wilson, K., Gilbert, M., Hickey, E., Brennan, E., O’Keefe, K. (October, 26, 2019). From competencies to conditions: Characteristics of ‘good’ long-term care staff mental health and dementia care literacy. Oral presentation at the Canadian Association of Gerontology Conference, Moncton, New Brunswick.  
• Snyder, D., & Aubrecht, K. (March 16, 2019). From knowing to doing well: visualizing good long-term care (LTC) staff mental health and dementia literacy. Poster presentation at Crossroads Interdisciplinary Health Research Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia.