EVEnt report:

Keynote Presentation by:
Dr. Susan Cadell (Waterloo, Ontario).

Keynote information:
  • “Palliative Care for Children and their Families”. 
  • Dr. Cadell is a Professor and the Director of the School of Social Work at Renison University College, University of Waterloo. For many years Susan has been doing research on positive aspects of dealing with various health issues. Her focus on posttraumatic growth in parent caregivers providing pediatric palliative care is a crucial component to understanding the full caregiving journey. 
  • Dr. Susan Cadell is part of PedPalASCNet, an interdisciplinary, pan-Canadian, multi-year CIHR funded team focused on the experiences of caregiving parents of children with life-limiting illnesses.   
Event objectives
Describe the role of multidisciplinary research in pediatric palliative care.
Describe the parental role in caring for their child with a life-limiting illness.
Identify positive changes that parent caregivers can experience while caring for children with serious conditions. 

Topics explored
  • Factors that allow parents/caregivers to survive and grow while caring for a child with a life-limiting illness.
  • The impacts of participating in research on parent caregivers caring for children with lime-limiting illnesses. 
  • Conceptualizing and measuring posttraumatic growth in terms of appreciation of life, new possibilities, personal strength, relating to others and spiritual change. The important realization that positive emotions can occur during stressful times but their negative feelings are not eliminated.
  • The implications for health care professionals involved in pediatric palliative care. 

Working Session:
  • Led by Dr. Diana Coholic, the working session provided an overview on how vulnerable children (children involved with child welfare or the mental health systems) could improve their resilience and self-concept by way of arts-based mindfulness methods. 
  • Dr. Coholic guided participants through several arts-based mindfulness methods intended to promote self-discovery thus, building on one’s personal strengths.    
Participants:
  • Community Organizations/ Partners: Social Planning Council of Sudbury, Pediatric Centre of Excellence Health Sciences North, Larch Street Kids Child Care Centre Inc, Alexander Kids, and Anishinabek Nation, Union of Ontario Indians.
  • Other Researchers and Graduate Students from Laurentian University: School of Nursing, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Social Work, Rural and Northern Health. 
  • Co-hosts: Continuing Education and Professional Development, Northern Ontario School of Medicine.



Funded by: 
CIHR Planning Grants - Priority Announcement: Integrated health services, Developmental Origins of health (reference #132308).
Go back to List of the Working Session Summaries Page