Mary Jean Hande, Assistant Professor
B.A. (University of Saskatchewan), M.A. (York University), Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Otonabee College 230, mjhande@trentu.ca
Classes I teach at Trent:
- SOCI 3631H – Sociology of Medicine
- SOCI 3111H - Classical Sociological Theory
- SOCI 4420H – Aging and the Life Course
- SOCI 4430H – Key Concepts in Sociological Analysis
My research interests include:
- Care policy, work, and politics
- Aging, disability, and mad studies
- Im/migrant and precarious work
- Critical consciousness/social movement learning
- Community-engaged research and learning
- Critical theory and qualitative methods
My current or recent projects include:
Towards Just Care: Building and Mobilizing a Grassroots Coalition for Just Home Care ($199,606)
While most people in Canada want to age outside of institutions, our existing home care systems cannot provide good jobs and meet the needs of Canada’s aging population. Phase 2 of the Towards Just Care mobilizes existing networks to co-create knowledge, tools, and coalitions towards more socially just home care systems in Canada. We aim to
1. Amplify migrant justice perspectives on home care and build resources for migrant communities
2. Map Ontario’s private pay home care system to further understand injustice in our existing home care systems
3. Document and analyze existing “just care” initiatives across Canada.
Together, the project will co-create novel and critically necessary spaces for working across historically discrete communities to collectively envision and build more just care for all
Essential voices in long term care research: Critical reflections on meaningful engagement, voice, and representation
Based on my postdoctoral research with the Seniors Adding Life to Years (SALTY) project at the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging at Mount Saint Vincent University, I am leading a UBC Press book project with Janice Keefe that unpacks the value and potential of meaningfully engaging people with lived experience (essential voices) in long term care research processes. The manuscript is co-authored with members of SALTY’s Advisory Group, which included people representing long term care residents, direct care workers, long term care volunteers, family caregivers, and people with dementia. As co-authors, these essential voices reflect on themes of finding voice, challenging notions of expertise, and assessing impact in health research. Through their reflections, we identify the strengths and challenges of engaging essential voices in research and offer conceptual guidance and practical tips for prioritizing lived experience in health research.
Five publications that exemplify my work:
Hande, M. J., et al. (2025). Caregivers’ experiences of nursing home restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S071498082400045X
Hande, M.J., Linton, … and the Towards Just Care team. (2024). Just Care Dreams: A toolkit for building more just care systems. Towards Just Care. Disability Justice Network of Ontario. https://towardsjustcare.com/home-care-toolkit/
Nicholson, L., Hande, M.J. & Migrante Manitoba. (2023). Justice for Im/Migrant Home Care Workers in Manitoba. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Manitoba. https://policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/justice-immigrant-ho…
Hande, M.J., Keefe, J. & Taylor, D. (2021). Long term residential care policy guidance for staff to support resident quality of life. The Gerontologist: Special Issue on Workforce Issues in Long Term Care, 61(4): 540-551. http://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaa176
Hande, M.J. (2019). Disability consciousness on the frontlines of urban struggle. Antipode 51(2): 558-578. doi: 10.1111/anti.12499
What achievements and/or contributions in research are you most proud of?
My proudest academic accomplishment is the research I have conducted with Migrante Mantioba, as Principal Investigator of an Insight Development Grant. This participatory research on im/migrant home care workers’ experiences of working during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tangible impact on supporting im/migrant home care workers in Manitoba during the pandemic and it addresses a dearth of literature on immigrant home care workers in Canada. Within this work and moving forward, I am proud to be mobilizing both disability and migrant justice frameworks in efforts to transform continuing care during the pandemic and I now have a network of community, national and international research partners who want to take this research to the next level in terms of applying intersectional, transformative approaches to demanding caregiving justice for older people and im/migrants in Canada.