This text is part of the special Nursing Profession notebook
Not all nurses are at the bedside. Others contribute to advancing health in a different way. This is the case of Lisa Merry, associate professor at the University of Montreal and regular researcher at the SHERPA University Institute. The woman who dreamed of being a midwife as a teenager finally put on a researcher’s coat to advance women’s health around the world. This year she won the Florence Prize in the International Practice category.
“I have a somewhat unusual path,” says Lisa Merry, who completed a master’s degree in nursing “Direct Entry” at McGill University, a program accessible without having prior nursing training. , before obtaining a doctorate in nursing science. “I immediately started working in research without going to the hospital,” explains the woman who has been passionate about women’s maternal health since she was 16.
Named in 2018 by the Woman in Global Health organization among the French-speaking women leaders in global health, she conducts her research beyond the borders of Quebec.
The context of immigrant women
Right out of university, Lisa Merry turned her attention to women’s health, working with researcher Anita Gagnon, now director of nursing at McGill University. “She studied a lot of women’s health during pregnancy, childbirth and the period afterward, particularly immigrant women. It was at that moment that I became interested in these women and their health experience: their well-being and their access to care, particularly during early childhood,” explains the nurse.
His research currently focuses on the transnational ties that immigrant families maintain with their country of origin. “It is generally underestimated how much this support can help them overcome their difficulties and take care of their children and themselves during their pregnancy. We are studying its impact on the well-being of families,” explains Lisa Merry, who hopes to give more visibility to what they experience. “We talk a lot about integration: finding a job, learning the language, etc. But if we want to support these families, in particular refugees and asylum seekers, we must take into account their sometimes very difficult global context, with some of their children remaining in their country of origin,” emphasizes. she said.
Training beyond borders
For more than ten years, Lisa Merry has also contributed to the advancement of nurses in low- and middle-income countries. She is participating in the ProNurse Bangladesh project (2020-2025) funded by Global Affairs Canada, to set up a program to train nursing teachers and a continuing education system for nurses. “Bangladesh is suffering from a serious shortage of nurses,” says the researcher, who will visit the country for a third time in October. “By working with Cowater International and the Directorate General of Nursing in Bangladesh, we have developed the framework and structure of the teacher training program, which will make it possible to welcome a first cohort in January 2024,” she rejoices. .
The researcher also collaborates with Claudia Thomas Riché, co-founder of the Nursing Education Collaborative for Haiti (CIEH-NECH), which aims to strengthen nursing education in Haiti. “Many initiatives are being put in place to strengthen the clinical and research skills of nurses,” indicates Lisa Merry, who has led various workshops on this second component (how to collect data or obtain consent from participants, for example ).
Lisa Merry and Claudia Thomas Riché also study the perception of the nursing profession among health professionals in Haiti, including doctors (most often men) and nurses (a very feminine profession). “They are often treated as assistants to doctors instead of being valued for their contributions. They are therefore undervalued and underused,” notes Lisa Merry, who hopes that this study will contribute to optimizing the role of Haitian nurses.
Far from emergencies, Lisa Merry’s job is carried out over the long term, with the hope that her contributions will improve the future of immigrant families in particular. “We unfortunately hear a lot of negative things about their situation,” she laments. But some newcomers who participated in my research managed to overcome unimaginable challenges and many people helped them. These are positive results in the short term which also give me hope in the long term. »
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