Evaluative Research

Recherche interventionnelle sur la santé mentale des intervenant.e.s communautaires

Team

Lara Gautier (Université de Montréal) et Naïma Bentayeb (IU SHERPA)

Co-chercheures : Mélanie C. Gagnon (CERDA et IU-SHERPA) et Annie Jaimes (Université York et IU SHERPA)

Parters

Jean-Sebastien Patrice, Multicaf; Alessandra Devulsky, CDC de Côte-des-Neiges; William Delisle, Club-Ami; Hugues LaForce, Centre d’intervention de crise TRACOM

Funding

Réseau Québécois COVID-Pandémie (RQCP), Fondation Écho et Fondation du Grand Montréal : 2021

Context

Community-based organisations (CBOs) play a central role in the fight against the pandemic. Complementary to health sector organisations, community workers offer prevention, awareness and support services on a daily basis often with limited resources and precarious working conditions. The context of the pandemic has changed the ways in which CBOs work, and they must respond to even greater and more diverse needs, particularly because the population itself has been weakened by the current context. While studies and research have documented the impact of such an environment on the psychological distress of health care workers, there are few studies on the impact on community workers.

Objectives

This intervention research aims to analyze the experiences of community workers in the Côte-des-Neiges and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhoods during the pandemic. Specifically, we will document the impact of the pandemic on their well-being as well as the resources available to them or the resilience strategies they have developed. The research team will also analyse the initiatives of organisations that have developed ad hoc psychological support interventions offered to community workers on a voluntary basis. They will propose recommendations to improve and complement them.