UWindsor nursing dean Dr. Debbie Sheppard-LeMoine co-edited a new eBook sharing frontline nurses’ global reflections on how COVID-19 reshaped family roles in patient care.
By Sara Elliott
A new eBook co-edited by UWindsor’s nursing dean and a recent grad shares global frontline stories that reveal how COVID-19 transformed family roles in patient care.
The collection, COVID-19: A Global Shift in Family Nursing Practice, features personal reflections from 20 nurses across nine countries, illustrating how the pandemic forced a rethinking of family involvement in clinical settings.
“This raises the significance of why families are important in nurses’ day-to-day practice in every area, and why we can’t forget them,” says Debbie Sheppard-LeMoine, dean of nursing at the University of Windsor.
Dr. Sheppard-LeMoine led the three-year research project and co-edited the book alongside Dr. Maria Do Ceu Barbieri-Figueiredo from the University of Huelva in Spain and Dr. Marilyn Swan from Minnesota State University, Mankato.
The project was initiated by the International Family Nursing Association’s practice committee to document how nurses adapted their family nursing practices during the pandemic.
Contributors shared stories from Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Portugal, Spain and the United States. Each narrative was published in both the author’s original language and English.
“Diverse areas of clinical practice were included in the stories,” says Sheppard-LeMoine.
“ICU nurses, for example, describe their toughest days as those involving families—how to communicate, how to support them, and how to share difficult messages.”
The eBook was launched in June at the International Family Nursing Conference in Australia, under the theme Promoting Family Strengths in Challenging Times. Sheppard-LeMoine says the stories offer concrete examples of how nurses adapted their practice to maintain family-centred care.
“We hear a lot about the patient-nurse relationship, but there’s a whole other group of people connected to that patient that we can’t forget,” she says.
Joining the editorial team was Jessie Ye (BScN '25), a UWindsor nursing graduate and former Outstanding Scholar.
Ye contributed to the research as an undergraduate and says the experience shaped her academic path.
“This project highlights nurses’ resiliency and adaptability in the face of unprecedented challenges—insights that can inform future practice,” says Ye.
“It also emphasizes the critical influence of families in shaping the patient healthcare experience and the nurse’s role in fostering that connection.”
Ye says many of the stories describe the emotional toll of patients being isolated from loved ones, with nurses often becoming the sole source of comfort.
“This deepened my appreciation for the role families play in healing and reinforced my commitment to compassionate and family-centred care.”
Sheppard-LeMoine says the next phase of the project will expand collaboration with global universities affiliated with IFNA, continuing to strengthen international nursing scholarship.