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When COVID-19 devastated older-adult organizations (long-term care homes and retirement homes), most public attention was directed toward the older-adult residents rather than their service providers. This was especially true in the case of personal support workers, some of whom are over the age of 55, putting them in two separate categories in the COVID-19 settings: (1) a vulnerable and marginalized group who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19; and (2) essential healthcare workers. Since the current disaster-driven research, practice, and policy have primarily focused on generalized assumptions that older-adults are a vulnerable, passive, and dependent group rather than recognizing their diversity, expertise, assets, and experiences, this study aimed to identify their contributions from the perspective of older-adult personal support worker (OAPSW). This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews, inviting 15 OAPSWs from the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. This study uncovered the OAPSWs' contribution at three levels: individual (enhancing physical health, mental health, and overall well-being), work (improving working environment and service and supporting co-workers), and family (protecting their nuclear and extended families). The outcomes inform the older-adult research, practice, policy, public discourse, and education by enhancing the appreciation of older-adults' diverse strengths and promoting their engagement and contributions in disaster settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document introduces a special issue of the International Journal of Disaster Risk Science that focuses on promoting the engagement of older adults in disaster settings. It acknowledges the challenges posed by increasing extreme events and an aging population, as well as the disproportionate impact of disasters on older adults. The special issue includes articles that explore older adults' contributions to the entire disaster cycle, including insights from various disasters such as COVID-19. It also features research from Canada, which can be a valuable reference for international efforts. The document concludes by highlighting the methodological advancements in engaging older adults in disaster-related efforts. The authors express gratitude to the organizations that funded the research. [Extracted from the article]

The fast unfolding of the global COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the homeless sector by triggering tremendous challenges for individuals experiencing homelessness (IEHs) and related service agencies. This quick-response research project qualitatively collected time-sensitive data from the IEHs and service stakeholders (SSs) experiences, challenges, efforts, and suggestions during the first wave of COVID-19 in the two most populated municipalities in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, namely, Halifax Regional Municipality and Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Through analyzing and synthesizing the standpoints from both IEHs and SSs, this technical note presents recommendations, addressing the practical challenges that IEHs have been confronting during COVID-19 and systemic issues in which homelessness is rooted. These recommendations will assist community-based agencies in improving their emergency response capacity, better serving IEHs in COVID-19 in particular, and supporting other vulnerable and marginalized populations in future extreme events in general. COVID-19 has created major challenges for people experiencing homelessness as well as for service organisations working to help. This research project interviewed people experiencing homelessness as well as service providers in the Halifax and Cape Breton Regional Municipalities of Nova Scotia, Canada. They were asked about their experiences during COVID-19, as well as challenges encountered, how they responded, and suggestions for changes needed. This article presents recommendations for changes needed to address both the challenges that people experiencing homelessness faced during COVID-19, as well as other problems of homelessness that have existed for years. These recommendations will assist service organizations to improve the ways they respond to emergencies in order to better serve people experiencing homelessness–not only during COVID-19 but also during other challenging events in the future. The recommendations include: all services working with people experiencing homeless need to work together and advocate for shelter/affordable housing, need to include the voices of people experiencing homelessness in decision-making processes, federal government needs to work with provinces when providing emergency funding supports, and need to ensure that essential information is fully accessible to all vulnerable and marginalized communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 prompted an abundance of independent and collaborative quick response disaster research (QRDR) initiatives globally. The 2020 federal COVID-19-driven granting opportunities initiated the first official QRDR effort in Canadian history, engaging social scientists to rapidly address the pandemic-related societal influences. This study aims to portray the landscape of this nascent social science QRDR workforce through the first round of federal COVID-19-specific grant recipients. A case study approach was employed to analyze 337 social science projects with 1119 associated researchers, examining the demographic structure of these COVID-19-driven social science researchers and their research projects' characteristics. Accordingly, the findings are presented through the following two streams: (1) From a researcher perspective, this case study describes researcher typology, geographic location, primary discipline, and educational background, highlighting the diverse characteristics of social sciences researchers, and uneven research development across Canada. (2) From a research project perspective, this case study identifies and synthesizes research project subjects, themes, collaborations, and Canadian distinctions, emphasizing the need for galvanizing cooperation and focusing on uniquely Canadian contexts. The case study illustrates challenges associated with data curation that pose barriers to developing a nuanced understanding of the Canadian social science community COVID-19 research landscape. Consequently, the case study develops three recommendations to improve QRDR development in Canada: promoting information transparency, dissemination, and updates; improving hazards and disaster research workforce evaluation; and enhancing multi-stakeholder cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to develop community-contextualised pedagogical innovations to embed disaster components into core social work curriculum through a research methods course. Professional social work education continues to lack a community-contextualised curriculum and professional training that reflects the complexities of extreme events associated with community and human service. This absence jeopardises the advancement of social work engagement in better providing humanitarian support for individuals, families and communities affected by extreme events. Through an undergraduate social work research methods course, this case study qualitatively analysed the instructor's teaching experience, self-reflection and in-class observation. The study presents three major community-contextualised pedagogical innovations of integrating disaster components into the research methods course: public media critique, amidst-disaster community-based participation and observation and practice situation discussion. These pedagogical efforts support the students' exploration and development of various research paradigms and strengthen their ability to connect research with practice, thus addressing the community-driven, short-term necessities and long-term development requirements. This contextualising process, which forms a community-based living laboratory, inspires instructors to integrate community-driven characteristics into their pedagogical instruments. The process illustrates a potential pedagogical framework for research methods courses, in particular, and for social work curriculum, in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 emergency response of 'staying the blazes home' in Nova Scotia, Canada, frontline social workers worked tirelessly 'out of the home' to secure safe dwellings for those on the street, living in shelters, and/or precariously housed. When the province moves to the reopening and recovery stage, social work strategies will focus on reducing homeless people's vulnerabilities, aiming to offer safe and dignified living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Compounding pre-existing diverse vulnerabilities, pet owners living with (dis)abilities are expected to confront more challenges than their peers without (dis)abilities. However, there is a paucity of literature investigating COVID-19-specific impacts on access to veterinary medical and behavioral services from the lens of persons with (dis)abilities (PWDs). Through semi-structured in-depth interviews, this study highlights PWDs' difficulties, three-fold: (1) COVID-19 has worsened PWDs' already precarious financial capacity to pay for veterinary services, (2) existing assistance and support programs do not effectively address PWDs' unique requirements to support their companion animals' health needs, and (3) public health protocols triggered public transportation challenges for PWDs who must now also adapt to complicated curbside services. Building PWD-driven social assistance and support programs would help reduce these challenges and promote health and well-being for both PWDs and their companion animals. The research aims to explore COVID-19 health and safety protocol impacts on companion animal guardians living with (dis)abilities relating to veterinary medical and behavioral service access. The COVID-19 global public health crisis has impacted almost all international communities; however, vulnerable and marginalized groups have been disproportionately affected. Within the human–companion animal domain, COVID-19-driven societal impacts (e.g., social, health, and economic) not only boomed with new companion animal guardians, but also negatively influenced guardians' access to veterinary services. Although studies have examined guardian-related COVID-19-specific challenges, there is a paucity of concentration on vulnerable populations, such as persons with disabilities (PWDs). Responding to this research deficit, this study recruited twelve companion animal guardians to participate in semi-structured in-depth interviews, and eight (67%) of the twelve participants self-identified as PWDs. From a PWD perspective, this research reveals three pandemic-triggered primary barriers, preventing PWDs from pursuing veterinary services: (1) service affordability, (2) assistance program feasibility, and (3) veterinary service accessibility. This article argues that PWD-driven approaches could improve existing assistance and support programs to address PWDs' unique requirements, promoting a healthy human–animal bond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]