Pre-Conference Event

Managers in Long-term Care: Exploring Ways to Support their Wellbeing 

Thursday October 15, 2026
9:00am – 12:00pm

Registration Fee: $30
This session is offered in English only.

Register Now!

Presenters

Session Description

Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Workshop Format

  • Janice Keefe, Department of Aging and Family Science, Mount Saint Vincent University

  • Carole Estabrooks, Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta

  • Kazeem Adefemi, Memorial University of Newfoundland

  • Heather Dicks, Mount Saint Vincent University

  • More presenters to be announced

This workshop will focus on the quality of work life and wellbeing of long-term care (LTC) managers and what interventions or initiatives might better support them. The workshop will begin by sharing research about managers working in Atlantic Canada’s LTC homes from the Atlantic Research Collaboration on Long-term Care (ARC LTC). Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on these findings and how they align with their own experiences. Dialogue will center on better understanding supports, interventions, or initiatives that could benefit managers, LTC homes, and the broader sector including a panel discussion highlighting current approaches being used in the sector. Participants will engage in small group discussions to assess the relevance and feasibility of these approaches for supporting managers within their own contexts.

This workshop draws on work from ARC LTC – a group of researchers and sector collaborators studying the LTC sector. As part of the ARC LTC program, researchers surveyed 2,305 staff – including care aides, nurses, allied health professionals, and managers – working across 53 LTC homes in the four Atlantic provinces. Staff were asked questions about their work environment, their quality of work life, and their mental health and wellbeing. This represents the first large-scale collection of workforce wellbeing data across the LTC sector in all four Atlantic provinces, filling an important gap and offering new insights. Using this data can help to identify and prioritize where to focus quality improvement efforts and resources.

This workshop is supported by funding from Mount Saint Vincent University SSHRC SIG Exchange Grant.

  1. Learn and reflect on research findings about the quality of work life and wellbeing of LTC managers stemming from the ARC LTC program of research.

  2. Share current and potential practices to support the quality of work life and wellbeing for LTC managers.

  3. Identify best practices, barriers, and enablers for interventions and supports.

By the end of the workshop, participants will:

  1. Describe key research on the wellbeing of managers and the factors that influence their intention to leave.

  2. Discern how to effectively support manager wellbeing and assess the feasibility and relevance within participants’ own roles and organizational context.

  3. Build your network with others working in and interested in the long-term care sector.

The workshop will be a combination of didactic instruction, through a presentation and panel of speakers, as well as group reflection and discussion.