The global COVID-19 public health crisis has exacerbated pre-existing fractures and weaknesses in health systems around the world (Sundararaman et al., 2021). Media reports of health and social service workers stretched to their breaking point abound (e.g., Jacobs, 2021). The organizational problems associated with an overextended healthcare workforce include increased employee turnover (Adriaenssens, et al., 2017), intention to leave (Haizlip, et al., 2020), and operational delays (Montgomery, et al, 2019). For patients, an overextended workforce negatively impacts the quality and accessibility of care (Montgomery, et al., 2019). Employees and teams suffer from stress, compassion fatigue, moral distress, burnout, and decreased job satisfaction and work engagement (Adriaenssens et al., 2017; Aiken et al., 2014; Maiden et al., 2011; Pavlish et al., 2016; Pfaff et al., 2017), as well as employment precarity for certain groups of workers, such as home health aides (Côté et al., 2021).
Moving forward, it is imperative to strengthen and humanize healthcare organizations and systems for health and human care workers. Indeed, the goal of the fourth element of the Quadruple Aim (Bodenheimer & Sinsky, 2014) is to improve the work life of clinicians and staff (Davis & Batcheller, 2020). Improving worker resilience is frequently suggested as a solution (e.g., Matheson, et al., 2016). However, the issue of resilience cannot be sustainably tackled at the individual level, nor is it ethical to place responsibility for stress and burnout on the shoulders of employees who may already feel isolated (Aburn et al., 2020).
This preconference aims to stimulate dialogue about how communication scholars can contribute to strengthening the resilience of our healthcare workforces. We suggest rethinking resilience as a collective quality that must be supported at the team, organizational, and systemic levels of healthcare organizing (Barasa et al., 2018; Ishak & Williams, 2018). We know that communication is key to collective resilience (Aburn et al., 2020), but it is essential to embrace the relationally sustaining dimensions of communicative practices in organizational contexts (e.g., Apker et al., 2006; Nutt & Keville, 2016; Steinbinder & Sisneros, 2020; Vogel & Flint, 2021). We believe that for communication scholars’ work to have an impact, we must engage with key deciders and policy makers.
Objectives
The preconference has three objectives:
- Facilitating dialogue about strengthening the collective resilience of healthcare workforces
- Building networks among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners
- Brainstorming promising practices for policy development and engaged research
Preconference format
This full-day preconference assumes that knowledge is developed through experience, small and large group discussion, and ongoing professional reflection. Therefore, it includes keynote presentations by Patrice Buzzanell and Leena Mikkola and workshops that explore the issues of resilience, workforce sustainability, and structural challenges. Interactive activities and dialogue sessions will explore the following questions:
- How can healthcare organizations authentically support resilience as a collective affair?
- How can communication scholars encourage policy makers to build and maintain sustainable workforces?
Lunch will be included.
Who should participate
The preconference will be particularly relevant for members of the organizational and health communication divisions but interested participants from all ICA divisions and other professional or policy stakeholders are invited to attend this pre-conference. The preconference will also be of interest for individuals engaged in improving employee wellbeing in health and social service organizations as well as those who examine the meaning and experience of resilience and work in other organizational contexts (e.g., Dempsey et al., 2022; Zoller et al., 2020). Those seeking opportunities to network and brainstorm how to operationalize collective resilience are also welcome to attend (Buzzanell, 2010, 2018).
Students are also welcome: The applied and engaged focus also provides an important complement to the rigorous theoretical training that is prevalent in organizational communication research (Barge et al., 2008; Shockley-Zalabak et al., 2017).
How to participate
While paper submissions are not required for participation, participants should expect to be fully engaged in the activities and discussions, taking on the role of co-facilitators. (We will provide a letter to accepted participants attesting to their active participation as co-facilitators during this preconference.)
Pre-conference contributors do need to email Stephanie Fox (stephanie.fox@umontreal.ca) a personal statement (around 300 words) no later than March 1st, 2023. The statement should identify:
- Where you come from and where you research, work, and engage.
- Your research or work interests.
- Why your experience is a good fit for the preconference, for instance, your key questions about wellbeing and resilience, your relevant experience in participating, imagining, or navigating initiatives and collaborations, or challenges that you’ve faced.
Cost: $60 CAD
Acceptance decisions will be communicated to applicants by March 15, 2023.
Payment and registration must be completed by March 31, 2023