Alisa Grigorovich, PhD

Assistant Professor, Recreation and Leisure Studies

Alisa Grigorovich, PhD

Office: STH 348
905 688 5550 x5387
agrigorovich@brocku.ca

Web

Alisa Grigorovich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies. Her research focuses on older adults and their formal and informal caregivers, with particular attention to stigma and inequity across diverse care settings. 

She is currently engaged in research across three interconnected areas:

1) Intelligent technologies to improve quality of care and quality of life for older adults;

2) Dementia care;

3) Arts-based and digital knowledge translation for social inclusion and practice change. 

Research Interests

  • Intelligent technologies in care settings 
  • Sexual expression in rural and urban long-term dementia care settings 
  • Community based research with older adults and caregivers 
  • Arts-based approaches 
  • Sexual and gender diversity in care services for older adults 

 

Publications

Selected Journal Articles  

  1. Kontos, P., Radnofsky, M., Fehr, P., Belleville, M. R., Bottenberg, F., Fridley, M., Massad, S., Grigorovich, A., … Whitehouse, P. (2021). Separate and unequal: A time to reimagine dementia. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 80 (4), 1395-1399. https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad210057   
  2. Grigorovich, A., Kontos, P., Jenkins, A., Kirkland, S. (2021). Moving towards the promise of participatory engagement of older adults in gerotechnology. The Gerontologist. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab026    
  3. Grigorovich, A., Kulandaivelu, Y., Newman, K., Iaboni, A., Khan, S., Iaboni, A., McMurray, J. (2021). Factors affecting the implementation, use, and adoption of Real-Time Location System Technology for persons living with cognitive disabilities in long-term care homes: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(1). https://www.jmir.org/2021/1/e22831/   
  4. Kontos, P., Grigorovich, A., Kosurko, A., Bar, R. J., Herron, R. V., Menec, V., & Skinner, M. (2021). Dancing with dementia: Exploring the embodied dimensions of creativity and social engagement. The Gerontologist, 61(5), 714-723. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaa129   
  5. Sandberg, L., Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, H., & Grigorovich, A. (2020). Regulating, fostering and preserving: The production of normate sexualities through cognitive ableism and cognitive othering. Culture, Health and Sexuality. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1787519   
  6. Grigorovich, A., & Kontos, P.  (2020). Towards responsible implementation of monitoring technologies in institutional care. The Gerontologist, 60(7), 1194–1201. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnz190  
  7.  Kosurko, A., Herron, R., Skinner, M., Bar, R., Kontos, P., Grigorovich, A., & Menec, V. (2020). Opportunities and challenges of digital delivery of Sharing Dance Seniors for social inclusion. Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations, 22(2), 23-37. https://doi.org/10.21018/rjcpr.2020.2.298    
  8. Grigorovich, A. (2020). Governing ‘risky’ sexualities: Representations of dementia and sexuality in the news media. Disability Studies Quarterly, 40(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v40i3.6877    
  9. Kontos, P., Grigorovich, A., & Colobong, R. (2020). Towards a critical understanding of creativity and dementia: New directions for practice change. The International Practice Development Journal, 10, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.19043/ipdj.10Suppl.003    
  10. Wada, M., Grigorovich, A., Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., & Kontos, P. (2020). An exploration of experiences of transdisciplinary research in aging and technology. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 21(1), 1-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-21.1.3332   
  11. Kontos, P., Grigorovich, A., Dupuis, S., Jonas-Simpson, C., Mitchell, G., & Gray, J. (2020). Raising the curtain on stigma associated with dementia: Fostering a new cultural imaginary for a more inclusive society. Critical Public Health, 30(1), 91-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2018.1508822  
  12.  Grigorovich, A., & Kontos, P. (2020). Problematizing sexual harassment in long-term residential care: The need for a more ethical prevention strategy. Canadian Journal on Aging, 39(1), 117-127. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980819000199)   
  13. Grigorovich, A., & Kontos, P. (2019) A critical realist exploration of the vulnerability of staff to sexual harassment in residential long-term care. Social Science & Medicine, 238, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112356  
  14.  Grigorovich, A., Kontos, P., & Kontos, A. P. (2019). The “violent resident”: A critical exploration of the ethics of resident-to-resident aggression. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 16(2), 173-183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-019-09898-1 
  15.  Grigorovich, A., Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., & Kontos, P. (2019). Defining and evaluating transdisciplinary research: Implications for aging and technology. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 14(6), 533-542. https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2018.1496361  
  16.  Kontos, P., Grigorovich, A., Colobong, R., Miller, K.L., Nesrallah, G., Binns, M.A., Alibhai, S.M.H., Parsons, T., Jassal, S.V., Thomas, A., & Naglie, G. (2018). Fit for Dialysis: A qualitative exploration of the impact of a research-based film for the promotion of exercise in hemodialysis. BMC Nephrology, 19, 1-11. doi: 10.1186/s12882-018-0984-4.  
  17.  Kontos, P., & Grigorovich, A. (2018). Integrating citizenship, embodiment, and relationality: Towards a reconceptualization of dance and dementia in long-term care. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 46(3), 717-723.
  18.  Grigorovich, A., & Kontos, P. (2018). Advancing an ethic of embodied relational sexuality to guide decision-making in dementia care. The Gerontologist, 58(2), 219-225.   
  19. Kontos, P., & Grigorovich, A. (2018). Rethinking musicality in dementia as embodied and relational. Journal of Aging Studies, Special Issue (Aging, Body and Society: Key Themes, Critical Perspectives), 45, 39-48. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2018.01.006. Principal Author 

 Book chapters 

  1. Grigorovich, A., & Kontos, P. (2021). A critical rethinking of sexuality and dementia: A Prolegomenon to future work in dementia studies and critical disability studies. In R. Shuttleworth and L. Mona (Eds.), Handbook of Sexuality and Disability (pp. 85-105). Routledge.  
  2.  Grigorovich, A., Kontos, P., Sixsmith, J., Fang, M.L., & Wada, M. (2021). An introduction to transdisciplinary working. In A. Sixsmith, A., J. Sixsmith, A. Mihailidis, and M. L. Fang (Eds.) Knowledge, innovation and impact: A guide for the engaged health researcher (pp. 25-32). Springer.  
  3.  Fang, M.L., Grigorovich, A., Wada, M., Kontos, P., & Sixsmith, J. (2021). Building partnerships and co-creating with diverse stakeholders. In A. Sixsmith, A., J. Sixsmith, A. Mihailidis, and M. L. Fang (Eds.) Knowledge, innovation and impact: A guide for the engaged health researcher (pp. 47-582). Springer. 
  4.  Wada, M., Grigorovich, A., Kontos, P., Fang, M.L., & Sixsmith, J. (2021). Addressing real-world problems through transdisciplinary working. In A. Sixsmith, A., J. Sixsmith, A. Mihailidis, and M. L. Fang (Eds.) Knowledge, innovation and impact: A guide for the engaged health researcher (pp. 69-78). Springer.  
  5.  Sixsmith, J., Fang, M.L., Grigorovich, A., Wada, M., & Kontos, P. (2021). Working together as a transdisciplinary team. In A. Sixsmith, A., J. Sixsmith, A. Mihailidis, and M. L. Fang (Eds.) Knowledge, innovation and impact: A guide for the engaged health researcher (pp. 121-130). Springer.  
  6.  Kosurko, A., Skinner, M., Herron, H., Bar, R., Grigorovich, A., Menec, V., & Kontos, P. (2021). Rural gerotechnology: Arts-based insights into rural ageing and the use of technology. In Skinner, M., Winterton, R., & Walsh, K. (Eds.), Rural Gerontology: Towards Critical Perspectives on Rural Ageing (pp.323-335). Routledge: London (ISBN 9780367894795).  
  7.  Grigorovich, A. (2020). Satisfaction not guaranteed: Broadening the discourse on quality improvement in the home care system. In E. Mykhalovskiy, J. Choiniere, H. Armstrong, and P. Armstrong (Eds.), Health matters: Evidence, critical social science, and health care in Canada (pp. 131-151). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  

Teaching

Graduate

Current Issues in Gerontology 

Mental Health and Aging 

 Undergraduate 

Foundations in Gerontology 

Professional affiliations and accreditation/certification

  • Affiliate Scientist, KITE-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network 
  • Academic Fellow, Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research, University of Toronto 
  • Member, Socio-Gerontechnology Network 
  • Member, Multi-species Perspectives on Dementia: International Research Network 
  • Member, Canadian Association on Gerontology 

 

Other

To bridge research with practice and improve access and equity in care I develop and evaluate arts-based and digital knowledge translation initiatives.  

Examples of this work include: 

  1. Dementia Isolation Toolkit http://www.dementiaisolationtoolkit.com     
  2. Out at Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOWsDsgP2Cw 
  3. Transdisciplinarity Game Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoB089qSs0I