Linda Duxbury, Pandemic, panic, and precarity: Interviews with international students stranded in Ottawa during COVID-19

Pandemic, panic, and precarity: Interviews with international students stranded in Ottawa during COVID-19

Principal Investigator: Linda Duxbury, Management
Funder: MITACS
Partner: Canadian Mental Health Association (Ontario)

The COVID-19 pandemic is an on-going health crisis which is having a dramatic impact on Canadians. Daily, the numbers are rising of people infected with, and killed by, the novel coronavirus. In response to the rapid global spread of this virus, provincial and federal governments have enacted a number of increasingly restrictive ‘physical distancing’ measures, including the closure of publicly funded schools in Ontario. Private companies and managers in government departments and agencies have been asked to implement telework for all employees at all non-essential work sites. This has resulted in unprecedented work/life situations for thousands of Canadians, particularly those who are faced with the challenge of working remotely while providing care and home-schooling to their children, and/or care to elderly parents who are particularly vulnerable to health complications from COVID-19. This longitudinal study will collect data from 60-80 Canadian employees in the full-nest stage of the lifecycle (i.e., those with childcare and perhaps also eldercare) living in Ontario. Through an intake survey, followed by weekly phone interviews, researchers will examine the challenges, stressors, and coping strategies of adults throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection will begin March 30th, 2020 and will continue throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. These data will allow us to examine how Canadian employees living in Ontario with childcare/eldercare are managing, what strategies they are adopting to cope, and where they are finding support. Results from this study will help governments and business better understand the social and human costs of pandemics and the strategies used to manage them in Canada.