Recent honours psychology graduate Emilie Gaudet has spent a number of years conducting undergraduate research at Mount Allison — first as a third-year student in the summer and then for her honours psychology thesis on job satisfaction in nursing homes. She is now spending the summer after graduation completing a qualitative research project on campus for the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, entitled “When Children have Lyme Disease: Parent and Family Experiences.”

“A lot of the research is looking at finding a cure and treatment,” says Gaudet. “While that is obviously really important, it is also important to see how those families who are seeking treatment are affected in areas such as social bonds and personal relations.”

She is currently in the early stages of the research and is collecting letters written by parents whose children have Lyme disease. Gaudet is working with a national Lyme Disease Support Group to obtain the letters. She hopes to have between 20-30 letters to complete the research project. At the end of the summer, she will present the findings to the support group and also hopes to have the work published in a scholarly journal.

In 2017, Mount Allison Biology Professor Dr. Vett Lloyd launched the Lyme Research Network on campus, which is made up of 14 Mount Allison researchers from disciplines across campus including English, geography and environment, psychology, chemistry, and biology.

Psychology Professor Dr. Odette Gould, who specializes in gerontology and is a part of the Lyme Research Network, says this area of research is integral to the Lyme disease narrative.

“Much of the research on Lyme disease focuses on the biology of the ticks and the medical tests being used,” says Gould. “However, it is also important for the research to reflect the experiences of the people who live with Lyme disease and their challenges and successes in coping with the illness. I think that projects like the one being carried out by Emilie gives people living with Lyme disease a voice and provides important information for health care providers and others who make decisions about the treatment and prevention of Lyme disease.”

When Gaudet came to Mount Allison, she was looking to pursue studies in English. She took some psychology classes and fell in love with the discipline.

“There’s just so much to learn in psychology and there is something for everyone,” she says.

In her third year, she was working part-time at a retirement home in Dieppe and decided to take an adult and aging course with Dr. Gould. This piqued her interest in the area of gerontology and in completing an honours thesis.

“I realized that I really like research and that’s what I want to pursue,” she says.

Gaudet is headed to Lakehead University in the fall to take a Master’s in Health Sciences with a specialization in gerontology.