Katie Zwerger

The Negotiation of Safety and Risk: Implications for Adult Social Care Services for People with Dementia and Their Carers Living in the Community

Supervisors: Dr. Denise Tanner and Professor Jon Glasby 

 

Katie ZwergerIn September of 2020 Katie began her PhD after being awarded the NIHR School for Social Care Research Studentship at the University of Birmingham.

Katie’s project is an investigation into the ways people with dementia, their carers and care workers understand and negotiate safety and risk in the context of social participation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Katie is particularly interested in examining the similarities and differences in negotiating safety and risk within the caring relationship. The project will utilise qualitative methods of virtual semi-structured interviews and autophotography. In addition, the project will adapt the process consent method to be conducted virtually and in the community setting.

Importantly, this research responds to calls for qualitative understandings of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on people with dementia living in the community. With much emphasis on the impact of COVID-19 on care homes across England, this project stands contribute to adult social care policy for those living in the community in response to the pandemic.

Biography

Katie’s passion for working with people with dementia stems from personal experience as a teenager. Later, during her undergraduate degree, Katie realised that there was no support system for students impacted by dementia, nor an active student volunteer presence in the local area. As a result, Katie founded a chapter of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) on Binghamton University’s campus. During her four years with the AFA, Katie worked in the voluntary sector in various support positions with people with dementia.

In 2018 Katie moved to the UK to pursue an MA in Social Research at the University of Sheffield. She then followed her interest in public health and dementia on an international stage by completing a Masters of Public Health in International Development at the University of Sheffield.  Katie is now in her first year of her doctoral studies at the University of Birmingham and looks forward to the next three years of her studies.

Qualifications

  • BA Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton (2018)
  • MA Social Research, University of Sheffield (2019)
  • MPH International Development, University of Sheffield (2020)

Research interests

  • Dementia Care Studies
  • Critical Gerontology
  • Health and Social Care policy
  • Relationship-centred care
  • Community-based care
  • Qualitative and visual research methods

Contact Details

Email: KEZ022@student.bham.ac.uk

Twitter: @katiezwerger