The 27th Annual Conference of the Japanese Association for Research in Family Nursing (JARFN) was a virtual conference held from September 1-28, 2020.
Despite initial planning by conference organizers to host the conference at a venue in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, they hurriedly decided to shift to an online virtual platform at the end of April 2020 following the COVID-19 outbreak. This was a new experience for the planning committee members, requiring a trial and error approach. They gathered information from JARFN members who had previous experience with virtual conferences and solicited opinions about the new format JARFN was exploring.
The main theme of the conference was “Mirai wo Hiraku (Open the future),” with a desire to open the future to diverse families; the conference was also connected to the theme of the previous conference, “Kokoro wo Tsunagu (Connecting hearts).” A special lecture was offered by Dr. Takeshi Tamura, titled “Family narrative as a health care professional and a concerned party: Attachment and gender.” Two symposiums were held: “Connecting the 26th, 27th, and 28thacademic conferences” and “Kazoku wo Hiraku, Kazoku ga Hiraku (Open the families and the family opens). A lecture open to the public was offered by Prof. Miho Matsunaga and focused on “The Story of Family Loss and Rebirth as Seen in Heidi.” In addition, 14 exchange meetings were organized by each standing committee of JARFN, and there were 30 oral and 40 poster presentations as well. Oral and poster presentations were organized by distributing slide videos in advance and subsequently conducting an online Q&A (via Zoom) or by chatting on the homepage so that presenters could exchange ideas with the participants.
A total of 573 people (306 members, 198 non-members, and 69 students) participated in the conference. We thank all the participants and academic societies for their warm support and cooperation at this annual conference.
For more information, contact IFNA member Dr. Midori Asano, Chairperson of the 27th Annual Conference of JARFN.
