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Our Shared Goal
Raising awareness about common stereotypes and misconceptions of aging care work.
Revitalizing the aged care workforce to retain these essential and experienced caregivers.
Investigating and analyzing workforce retention to contribute to knowledge, guide informed-decision making, and lead practical applications to promote psychologically safe and healthy work environments for nurses and health teams.
Improve resident/client/patient experience and outcomes by enhancing technology solutions and training to optimize work processes and high-quality delivery of care.
Who are we?
We are a diverse team of researchers, clinicians, health and family/care partners, and students who share a common passion for the care of older adults.
To mobilize knowledge that will assist individuals, organizations and governments in creating staffing stability where mental health and well-being is embedded into the organizational culture and systems to foster safe and inclusive work environments that ensure support is available to older adults when it is needed.
Our Team
Jen Calver, RPN, PhD (candidate)
Jen Calver is Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) with a CNA certification in gerontological R/LPN nursing. She holds a Masters of Health Sciences Degree from Ontario Tech University.
After working several years in direct care and nursing roles, Jen is a passionate advocate for the health workforce and care of older adults. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in Health Sciences concentrated on Public, Population and Community health. She also manages and provides oversight to the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN) research department to increase research evidence related to RPNs in Ontario, and support RPNs to build research capacity and capability.
She has presented at several regional, provincial, national, and international conferences. Her growing program of research focuses on health services, nursing, recruitment and retention, and the care of older adults. Her research has appeared in outlets such as Journal of Advance Nursing, Journal of Safety Research, Canadian Gerontological Nursing Association Perspectives Journal.
Dr. Winnie Sun, RN, PhD
Dr. Winnie Sun, RN, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Ontario Tech University, Faculty of Health Science and Co-Research Director of the Advancement for Dementia Care (ADCC) at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.
As a nurse with clinical expertise in gerontology, Dr. Sun develops a strong expertise in educating nursing students about the care of older adults, with emphasis on individuals with cognitive impairment in community health, home healthcare and long-term care settings.
As a research scientist in gerontology, Dr. Sun possesses a research agenda with a strong focus on the development, utilization and advancement of technology-enabled dementia care, while supporting older adults with the goal of aging in place.
Dr. Sun possesses a strong publication record in refereed journals and book chapters in community health, mental health, gerontechnology, geriatric and dementia care, as well as an active and diversified track record of conducting interdisciplinary research in gerontology, including Tri-Council, national and provincial funding (ie. Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR); Social Science and Humanity Research Council (SSHRC); Centre for Brain Health Innovation (CABHI); AGE-WELL, Ontario Trillium Foundation).
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Building Workforce Capacity for Health and Well-Being is an information source to help readers stay up to date on the latest research, innovations, and resources to sustain a healthy workforce prepared to meet the needs of older adults across health settings.
Research Group & Collaborators (Current and Past)
Our research group and collaborators include an interdisciplinary teams inclusive of researchers, students, clinicians, leaders, and public members, to identify and address workplace factors to promote retention of nurses and healthcare workers who provide a wide array of services intended to help the aging population live as comfortably and independently as possible.
Supervisory Committee (PHD)
Dr. Elizabeth Peter (University of Toronto), Dr. Adam Dubrowski (Ontario Tech), Scott Mitchell (Knowledge Broker)
Jen’s doctoral work on psychological health and safety workforce retention in LTC is supervised by Dr. Winnie Sun, and complemented by the expertise and insights by committee members in areas of nursing ethics, implementation science and multi-sensory learning in nursing and healthcare teaching and workplace environments, and workplace mental health.
Better Together Research Hub & Collaborators
Dr. Rosanra Yoon, University of Toronto
Co-A’s: Ian Silva, Jen Calver, Janet Chee, Shanoja Naik, Norma Tomlin, Ivy Bourgeault, Sherry Espin, Susan Bookey-Bassett, Julia Roitenberg, Attila Kovacs, Winnie Sun
Interdisciplinary team of research collaborators and clinicians focused on rehabilitation, care partnerships, and building capacity within long-term care and community care.
Dr. Rosanra Yoon
University of Toronto
Co-A’s: Ian Silva, Jen Calver, Janet Chee, Shanoja Naik, Norma Tomlin, Ivy Bourgeault, Sherry Espin, Susan Bookey-Bassett, Julia Roitenberg, Attila Kovacs, Winnie Sun
CIHR Team Grant: Strengthening the Health Workforce for System Transformation Competition (2024-2027). Study “Building psychological safety in long-term care: strengthening equity & trauma-informed organizational capacity to support workforce mental health & well-being”.
Attila Kovacs
RPN and BScN Graduate
Attila is a dedicated nurse and has contributed to research in areas of dementia care, palliative care education, and mental health resilience in healthcare teams. His research interests include improving care in long-term care settings.
Oghenefegor Uwejeya
RPN/RN
Oghenefegor holds dual licenses as a Registered Practical Nurse and a Registered Nurse in Ontario. She has practical nursing experience caring for older adults across various health settings and has contributed to research exploring workforce retention factors in long-term care and emotional care models.
Rosalyn Reid
BA (Hons) Marketing, DipM (CIM)
Rosalyn is an independent collaborator and public partner with an interest to support research that advances mental health and well-being at work for healthcare workers. She is a daughter of a nurse, sister to a physician, and a family caregiver. Rosalyn plays a vital role in the study design, advisory groups, transcriptions and knowledge dissemination helps to strengthen the relevance and impact of the research and research outcomes.