Deborah Ummel

Deborah Ummel
Université de Sherbrooke | UdeS · department of psychoeducation

Doctor of Psychology

About

81
Publications
5,338
Reads
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233
Citations
Introduction
Professor at the Université de Sherbrooke, I am involved in the teaching of qualitative research methods. I use various qualitative research approaches to study individuals at the end-of-life and their loved ones in order to better understand their experiences and needs, suggest meaningful way of support and change how contemporary occidental societies perceive end-of-life, death and bereavement.
Additional affiliations
July 2017 - March 2021
Université de Sherbrooke
Position
  • Professor (Assistant)
Education
September 2016 - May 2017
Université du Québec à Montréal
Field of study
  • Stage postdoctoral au CRISE : Demande d'aide médicale à mourir - Étude qualitative de trajectoires pour une meilleure compréhension des enjeux cliniques et éthiques
September 2008 - June 2016
Université de Montréal
Field of study
  • Psychologie clinique : recherche et intervention
September 2006 - May 2008
University of Lausanne
Field of study
  • Psychologie de la santé

Publications

Publications (81)
Article
Full-text available
Confidentiality is one of the cornerstones of research involving human participants. Researchers are the frontline gatekeepers of their participants’ right to confidentiality, and situations can arise that challenge this responsibility. This is the case when individuals who have shared a common experience (i.e., dyads) are interviewed separately, b...
Article
Full-text available
Living kidney donation is considered common practice across most Westernized countries. While extensive research has documented the experience of living donors, few studies have addressed the perspective of recipients, and even fewer have examined the experience of donor and recipient as an interactive dyad. In this study, our aim was to examine th...
Article
Full-text available
Professionals who choose to work in the field of aging are often confronted with the complexities of loss and bereavement. Some perils of working with loss include the risk of stressful circumstances that can evoke feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, and meaninglessness. It is incumbent to attend to these perils lest professionals risk job sat...
Article
Full-text available
With the notable growth in the qualitative investigation of living kidney donation, there is value in aggregating results from this body of research to learn from accumulated experience. The present paper aims to draw a complete portrait of living donors' and recipients' experience of donation by metasummarizing published studies. We found that don...
Article
Full-text available
This presentation describes a novel educational program associated with a Palliative Care Post-Graduate Medical Fellowship embedded within a university teaching hospital. The educational objectives of this program will be presented, as will the pedagogical methods and initial trainee responses to this program. Grounded in both an action-reflection...
Article
Background A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a crucial moment in an individual’s existence and represents a major life change that often results in psychological distress, diminish of perceived quality of life, and loss of independence. It is important to better understand the emotional experience of people with dementia to intervene accor...
Article
Full-text available
Background Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is currently an incurable and fatal disease, which often comes with a high symptom burden at the end-of-life stage. Little is known about nurses’ experiences in this context. Objective To explore the experience of nurses caring for people with ALS at end-of-life. Design A qualitative multiple-case st...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic entailed significant changes in accompaniment, end-of-life, and bereavement experiences. In some countries, public health measures prevented or restricted family caregivers from visiting their dying loved ones in residences, long-term care institutions, and hospitals. As a result, family members were faced with cr...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Some studies suggest that individuals having lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic report higher levels of grief reactions than people bereaved from natural causes. Little is known about the lived and subjective experience of individuals who lost a loved one under confinement measures. Aim: This research aims to provide a phenom...
Article
Full-text available
L’accès à l’aide médicale à mourir respecte-t-il l’autonomie des personnes en situation de handicap? Nous postulons que la notion d’autonomie, entendue dans son sens procédural, et son application étroite dans le domaine des soins de santé, notamment à travers la pratique du consentement libre et éclairé, doivent être repensées pour prendre en comp...
Presentation
Full-text available
Cette étude s'est intéressée aux vécus des endeuillé.es québécois.es ayant perdu un être cher par aide médicale à mourir (AMM) ou par mort naturelle accompagnée de soins palliatifs (MNSP). Elle se base sur l'expérience de 60 individus (25 AMM et 35 MNSP) ayant rempli des questionnaires en ligne et dont 16 ont pris part également à des entrevues ind...
Article
The objective of this study was to understand the factors associated with “passing through suffering” in terminal illness. We interviewed 19 adults diagnosed with terminal disease in palliative stage. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four axes of understanding were generated. In the first, participants discussed the will to “feel a...
Article
Full-text available
Les soignants en oncologie et en soins palliatifs gagnent à considérer les effets de l’euthanasie sur leur pratique. Choisir les circonstances de sa mort est dans l’ère du temps, ce qui influence les trajectoires de soins. Ainsi, il devient pertinent de s’intéresser à l’impact du décès anticipé (euthanasique ou naturel) à la fois sur l’accompagneme...
Presentation
Full-text available
Communication orale, 89ème congrès de l’ACFAS (Association canadienne-française pour l’avancement des sciences), Québec, Canada.
Article
Full-text available
The integration of assisted dying into end-of-life care is raising reflections on bereavement. Patients and families may be faced with a choice between this option and natural death assisted by palliative care; a choice that may affect grief. Therefore, this study describes and compares grief experiences of individuals who have lost a loved one by...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives Suffering is intimately linked to the experience of illness, and its relief is a mandate of medicine. Advances in knowledge around terminal illness have enabled better management of the somatic dimension. Nevertheless, there is what can be called “non-somatic” suffering which in some cases may take precedence. Inspired by Paul Ricoeur's...
Article
Full-text available
Despite public health measures and collective efforts, millions of individuals have unfortunately died from COVID-19 complications worldwide, leaving several million family members at risk of developing bereavement complications. In the Canadian province of Quebec, where substantial deaths were associated with COVID-19, we established an online sup...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted thousands of individuals’ experience of caregiving and grief. This qualitative study aimed to gain in-dept understanding of family caregivers’ lived experiences of caregiving and bereavement in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada. The study also aimed at providing new insight about car...
Article
Full-text available
To complement existing literature and better capture the diversity of factors influencing grief, a more interpersonal understanding is required. Thus, we used the relational land-scape's concept and empirical investigation to clarify the roles of individuals surrounding the bereaved. Sixteen interviews with bereaved individuals by euthanasia or nat...
Presentation
Full-text available
Communication orale présentée à la journée du Centre de recherche et d’intervention sur le suicide, enjeux éthiques et pratiques de fin de vie (CRISE), Montréal (UQAM), Canada.
Article
https ://crise.ca/nouvelles /jaccompagne-covid19-comprendre-et-soutenir-les-personnes-endeuillees-en-contexte-de-pandemie/
Presentation
Contexte : En 2019, au Québec, environ 82 100 adultes sont décédés, laissant parfois des enfants et adolescentes ou adolescents endeuillés. Le processus de deuil, lorsqu’il est mal résolu, peut engendrer des conséquences sérieuses sur le développement des adolescentes ou adolescents, sur les plans physique, psychologique, comportemental et émotif....
Poster
Full-text available
Disponible à l'adresse : www.jaccompagne.ca
Article
Bulletin de l'Association québécoise des soins palliatifs : https://www.aqsp.org/wpcontent/uploads/2021/03/9460_Bulletin_V29_No1_epr02.pdf
Article
Les pays occidentaux qui disposent de législations permettant aux personnes en fin de vie de mettre fin à leurs jours par mort assistée, soit par le biais de l’euthanasie, du suicide assisté ou de l’aide médicale à mourir, sont de plus en en nombreux. Or, le choix du type de décès a également un impact sur les proches aidants. Qu’en est-il alors de...
Conference Paper
Background/aims: Over the last decades, the right to die has been discussed and legalized in some countries (e.g., Benelux, USA). Since 2015, medical aid in dying (active euthanasia) has been legalized in Quebec, Canada. The fact to know the exact moment of the death has an impact both on the end-of-life trajectory of the individual requesting an a...
Conference Paper
Background/aims: Over the last decades, the right to die has been discussed and legalized in some countries (e.g., Benelux, USA). Since 2015, medical aid in dying (active euthanasia) has been legalized in Quebec, Canada. The fact to know the exact moment of the death has an impact both on the end-of-life trajectory of the individual requesting an a...
Conference Paper
Background: Many authors suggest that the implementation of public health restrictions to control the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to a dramatic increase in complications and further incidences of complicated grief and persistent complex bereavement disorder. However, to this date, we have not found any empirical studies that have documented the actu...
Article
Psychologie Québec, 37(2), 29-30. Les mesures de confinement imposées afin d’enrayer la propagation de la COVID‑19 ont bouleversé de manière dramatique l’accompagnement des personnes en fin de vie ainsi que le processus de deuil de leurs proches. Récemment, des journalistes du Devoir ont suggéré que, depuis le début de la pandémie, la proportion d...
Article
Les mesures de confinement qui prévalent dans plus d’une centaine de pays touchés par la pandémie de COVID-19 ont bouleversé de manière tragique l’accompagnement des personnes en fin de vie et le processus de deuil de leurs proches aidants. Dans cet article, nous recensons les écrits sur le deuil et analysons les conséquences potentielles du contex...
Article
Objectives: Prevalence rates of death by euthanasia (EUT) and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have increased among older adults, and public debates on these practices are still taking place. In this context, it seemed important to conduct a systematic review of the predictors (demographic, physical health, psychological, social, quality of life, r...
Article
Objectives: Prevalence rates of death by euthanasia (EUT) and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have increased among older adults, and public debates on these practices are still taking place. In this context, it seemed important to conduct a systematic review of the predictors (demographic, physical health, psychological, social, quality of life, r...
Article
Full-text available
L’aide médicale à mourir (AMM), soit l’administration par un médecin de médicaments pour entraîner le décès, et ce, à la suite d'une demande de la personne apte en fin de vie, suscite de nombreux débats au Québec, tout particulièrement chez les acteurs du milieu des soins palliatifs (SP). Plusieurs argumentent que l’AMM est distincte des SP. Certai...
Article
Full-text available
L’apport du bénévolat à l’approche palliative est essentiel et non négligeable. Cela dit, suite à des discussions avec des bénévoles, nous avons constaté que bien que la majorité des acteurs du milieu reconnaissent leur contribution aux soins palliatifs, leur place dans l’équipe soignante peut paraître difficile à cerner. Les objectifs de la présen...
Presentation
L’apport du bénévole à une offre de soins palliatifs de grande qualité est reconnu par la très vaste majorité des équipes soignantes. Cet apport est par ailleurs de plus en plus essentiel dans nos sociétés occidentales vieillissantes où l’accès aux soins palliatifs est complexe. Plus encore, le bénévolat incarne l’esprit de communauté bienveillante...
Article
La présence et l’écoute du bénévole en soins palliatifs ont des impacts positifs documentés sur les patients en fin de vie, les familles endeuillées et les équipes traitantes, et ce, depuis les tous débuts de la médecine palliative. Le bénévole incarne notamment l’esprit communautaire si important pour les proches au moment où la vie d’un être cher...
Conference Paper
Qualitative research involving participants sharing a common experience is increasingly emergent and diverse (e.g., dyads made up of husbands and wives, same-sex partners, patients and caregivers, mentors and apprentices, or small groups like families, classrooms, or divisions in a workplace). Indeed, because qualitative researchers are sensitive i...
Poster
Au Québec, le cancer est responsable de 35 % des décès chez les hommes et 31 % des décès chez les femmes (ISQ, 2016). Près de 24 % des adultes atteints de cancer sont parents d’enfants mineurs (Rauch, Muriel et Cassem, 2002). Ces enfants sont plus à risque d’éprouver des difficultés émotionnelles, familiales et sociales (Semple et McCaughan, 2012),...
Chapter
Avec l’augmentation de l’espérance de vie, qui atteignait 85 ans pour les femmes et 78,7 ans pour les hommes en France (Institut national et de la statistique et des études économiques [INSEE], 2013), la population occidentale est de plus en plus âgée. Cette augmentation est due en partie aux développements de nouveaux traitements dans le champ méd...
Poster
Background : Even when successful, organ transplantation may leave the isolated transplant patient struggling through an identity crisis and coping with a challenging new way of life. Inspired by a recent “body mapping” artistic project for HIV patients, the authors set up a pilot body mapping workshop for transplant patients, as the benefits of gr...

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