Mount Saint Vincent University Research Articles

Protocol for the COVID-19 Wellbeing and Stress Study: a longitudinal study of parent distress, biological stress and child biopsychosocial development during the pandemic and beyond

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a unique impact on the mental health and well-being of pregnant individuals and parents of young children. However, the impact of COVID-19-related stress during pregnancy...

An Examination of the Extent to which the Mount Saint Vincent University Business and Tourism Learning Passport Programme Influences Undergraduate Students’ Learning Experiences using the Jones (2018) Conceptual Model

An Examination of the Extent to which the Mount Saint Vincent University Business and Tourism Learning Passport Programme Influences Undergraduate Students’ Learning Experiences using the Jones (2018) Conceptual Model

A Veteran’s Journey - Reflecting on the Impacts of Complex Peace Operations Involving Children: A Call for Reflection, Reaction and Proactive Responses

Editors’ Note: Publishing commentaries reflects our commitment to methodological pluralism and the importance of experiential knowledge. This commentary captures a conversation between Colonel (ret’d) Roberto Gil of the Uruguayan Army and Presidency Advisor to the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres (IAPTC), and Dr. Catherine Baillie Abidi, a professor in Child & Youth Study at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The commentary touches on many complex issues in peace and security and is intended to spark reflection and discussion.

O.O.4.1 - Stories Side-by-Side: A comparative narrative analysis of stories about end-of-life care: Presenter(s): Tracy Moniz, Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada

O.O.4.1 - Stories Side-by-Side: A comparative narrative analysis of stories about end-of-life care: Presenter(s): Tracy Moniz, Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada

About the Cover: The Breakfast and Beyond Program: A Trainee's Experience

About the author: Rachel is a Registered Dietitian (RD) and a student in the Master of Science in Applied Human Nutrition (MScAHN) program at Mount Saint Vincent University. Her graduate thesis is a mixed-form questionnaire exploring Canadian RDs’ experiences, perceptions, and knowledge of weight-related evidence in practice, framed by the Nutrition Care Process. Outside of her studies, Rachel loves to cook, try new foods, spend time with her dog, and visit her family in New Brunswick.

Conditions for Success: Indigenous Youth Reflections on Their Experiences with Canadian Education Systems

This paper brings forward the reflections of 30 Indigenous youth from across Canada and their first voice perspectives with Canadian education systems. A central component of the project was to obtain youths’ understandings of education in Canada and to seek their recommendations on ways to improve education for Indigenous youth. Accessing Indigenous youths’ experiences is important as their capacities to have successful and equitable educational experiences are strongly hindered by colonial settler policy and systemic institutional racism. Indigenous scholars have appealed for changes to education systems with a focus on challenging colonial relations of power and the multiple oppressions Indigenous youth experience when educated under Eurocentric practices. Our methodological framework is located within a relational paradigm as a mechanism to ignite dialogue and prioritize Indigenous voices in education. Our building of relations began with a sharing circle held at our Mount Saint Vincent University’s Wigwaum. Our Indigenous colleague and co-author, Jonathon MeDrano, explains how sharing circles provide equitable opportunities for people to share their ideas and respective worldviews. We then facilitated reflective journaling workshops with the youth. The young people’s reflections in this paper identify the compelling need to address systemic racism, stereotypes, and to challenge normative and colonizing structures that generate discrimination. Moreover, the young people soundly indicated that education systems in Canada require much larger integrations of Indigenous ways of knowing and being in all aspects of delivery (i.e. language, culture, Indigenous teachings), including more Indigenous counsellors to support their mental well-being.

Black History in Atlantic Canada: A Bibliography

Black History in Atlantic Canada: A Bibliography Suzanne Morton (bio) and Donald Wright (bio) By definition, a bibliography is a work in progress and this bibliography is no exception. Casting a wide net, it also reflects the arbitrary borders between history and its sister disciplines and the equally arbitrary distinction between published and unpublished. We know that there will be important items missing, we thank our generous colleagues who pointed us to entries that we had missed, and we acknowledge that our bibliography builds on previously published bibliographies. On that note, see George Elliott Clarke, Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002) and Flora Blizzard Francis, A Black Canadian Bibliography (Ottawa: Pan-African Publications, 2000). Yet what follows testifies to the remarkable volume of work that has been done on Black history in Atlantic Canada. And we very much hope that it fosters more research. There is research to be done on cases of 18th-century domestic enslaved labour in Newfoundland and the use of West Indian enslaved labour in the banks’ fishery. We also need to know a great deal more about the 19th century throughout the entire region. Finally, we hope that oral historians will record the memories and lives of Black people in the region who struggled to find a measure of political and economic equality across the second half of the 20th century because if this bibliography records Black history, it also reveals Black presence. Books Abucar, Mohamed. Struggle for Development: The Black Communities of North and East Preston and Cherry Brook, Nova Scotia, 1784–1987. Dartmouth, NS: McCurdy Printing, 1988. African Canadian Caucus. Justice Reform and the Black Community of Nova Scotia: The Case of Donald Marshall, Jr. Halifax: African-Canadian Caucus of Nova Scotia, 1992. Africville Genealogical Society. The Spirit of Africville. With contributions by Donald Clairmont, Stephen Kimber, Bridgal Pachai, and Charles Saunders. Halifax: Formac Press, 1992. Africville Genealogy Society, Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, and National Film Board of Canada (Atlantic Centre). Africville: A Spirit That Lives On. Halifax: Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, 1989. Bauld, Florence L. Bear River: Untapped Roots, Moving Upwards. Halifax: Russell K. Grosse, 1997. Beaton Institute of Cape Breton Studies. Inventory of Ethnic Resources in Nova Scotia: Blacks. Sydney, NS: Beaton Institute of Cape Breton Studies, 1984. Bernard, Wanda Thomas. Fighting for Change: Black Social Workers in Nova Scotia. East Lawrencetown, NS: Pottersfield Press, 2006. Best, Carrie. That Lonesome Road: The Autobiography of Carrie M. Best. New Glasgow, NS: Clarion Publishing, 1977. Bishop, Henry, and Frank Stanley Boyd. A Black Community Album Before 1930: Exhibited at the Art Gallery, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, 8 April-8 May 1983 with the Exhibition “The Past in Focus.” Halifax and Dartmouth: Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery and Black Cultural Centre, 1983. Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia. Juba’lee: A Celebration of Black Culture in Nova Scotia. Over 300 Years of History. Halifax: Society for Protection and Preservation of Black Culture in Nova Scotia, 2000. ———. Nova Scotia Black Professional Boxers: Past and Present. Dartmouth, NS: Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, 1989. ———. Three Nova Scotia Black Churches: African Orthodox [by] Joyce Ruck, African Methodist Episcopal [by] Edward Matwawana, Disney Chapel/Rose of Sharon Assembly [by] Carolyn Smith (A Collection of Historical Essays). Cherry Brook, NS: Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, 1990. Browne, Joan. South-Western Nova Scotia Black Communities. Halifax: Dalhousie University Institute of Public Affairs, 1978. Burrows, E.H. Captain Owen of the African Survey: The Hydrographic Surveys of Admiral W.F.W. Owen on the Coast of Africa and the Great Lakes of Canada, His Fight Against the African Slave Trade, His Life in Campobello Island, New Brunswick, 1774–1857. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkerna, 1979. Campbell, Mavis Christine. Back to Africa: George Ross and the Maroons from Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone. Trenton, NS: Africa World Press, 1993. ———. Nova Scotia and the Fighting Maroons: A Documentary History. Studies in Third World Societies, Publication No. 41. Williamsburg, VA: College of William and Mary Department of Anthropology, 1990. Caplan, Ron, ed. Pearleen Oliver: Canada’s Black Crusader for Civil Rights. Wreck Cove, NS: Breton...

Editorial

This special issue of Paideusis contains refereed papers from the Conference on Open-mindedness and the Virtues in Education held in honour of William Hare at Mount Saint Vincent University, October 2-4, 2008, on the occasion of Dr. Hare’s retirement from full-time teaching.

In the Spotlight-Established Researcher.

Tamara Franz-Odendaal holds the NSERC Chair Women in Science and Engineering (Atlantic Canada) and is a Fellow of the American Association of Anatomists Tamara is a Guest Co-Editor of this special issue on Cavefish Website: www.bonedevelopmentlab.ca With whom and where did you study? I completed my undergraduate, MSc and PhD degrees at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. For my MSc degree, I studied gene expression during eye development in chicken embryos under the supervision of Dr. Susan Kidson. My PhD thesis explored paleopathologies and paleodiets of 5 million-year-old fossil herbivores from a South African locality called Langebaanweg. My PhD supervisors were paleontologist Dr. Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan and archaeologist Dr. Julia Lee-Thorpe. Notably, these three supervisors are top female scientists, two of whom had families when I was in their research groups. I completed a short-term DAAD scholarship to pursue a post-doc with Dr. Thomas Kaiser at the University of Greifswald (Germany) and then conducted a 3.5-year post-doc with Dr. Brian Hall (Dalhousie University, Canada), where I got my first true taste of the EvoDevo field. What got you interested in Biology? When did you know EvoDevo was for you? I have been interested in animals and the natural world from a young age. My MSc degree was in developmental biology and I branched out into paleontology for my PhD. Therefore, merging my fascination with embryos and fossils was a natural fit for my post-doc. To have the opportunity to do this with such a remarkable scientist as Dr. Hall was a wonderful experience. If you are amazed at animal diversity then EvoDevo may be for you too since how can you not wonder how that diversity arose both over evolutionary and over developmental time scales. What has been your biggest challenge in getting to your position? My biggest challenge to getting to my position was job searching while having a toddler, being a permanent resident of Canada, and having a degree from a university that was not well known in Canada. I received my first faculty position as an NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada) University Faculty Award recipient. This program provided me the mechanism for establishing my research program at Mount Saint Vincent University by giving me a reduced teaching load in my first three-years. As an active and productive researcher in Canada, I often have to justify why I chose a primarily undergraduate institution as my home. There are many benefits to teaching at a smaller university such as closer interactions with students and a sense of community. The first time I was exposed to research was during my undergraduate degree and it was an immensely rewarding experience. I view training undergraduates in research methods and analysis as incredibly important since these are the students that become our graduate students and future scientists. Or alternatively, they become our doctors, dentists, and veterinarians; professions that require an understanding of the scientific process. What advice do you have for junior EvoDevo researchers? My advice for graduate students and post-docs interested in EvoDevo is to thoroughly learn as many different techniques as possible, work on different organisms (this will become important if you need to teach EvoDevo or Developmental Biology), and pick your advisors based on how they treat their trainees and their productivity. It is okay (and the norm) to randomly email PI's to ask if they are taking on new students rather than waiting for a graduate position announcement. Do your homework though, and make sure you have read about their research and that you really want to work with them. We established PI's receive numerous applications from students for positions and are very adept at picking out the students who have done some homework about our research. Your first email to us should be to introduce yourself and tell us why your interests or past experiences align with our research group's interests. Always attach your CV or resumé.

Thiamine dose response in human milk with supplementation among lactating women in Cambodia: study protocol for a double-blind, four-parallel arm randomised controlled trial

IntroductionThiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency remains a concern in Cambodia where women with low thiamine intake produce thiamine-poor milk, putting their breastfed infants at risk of impaired cognitive development and potentially...

Reimagined Story

Commentary on the Bodies in Translation: Age and Creativity exhibit at Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in Halifax.

The Glycaemic Effect of Blueberry Beverage Prepared with Hydrothermodynamic Processing in Young Adults (FS14-02-19)

ObjectivesWild blueberries, due to their high level of anthocyanines, may provide multiple health benefits including improved blood glucose (BG) control, however the consumption of fresh berries is limited by their short seasonal availability. Hydrothermodynamic (HTD) processing of whole berries is used to produce pasteurized drinkable puréed products with the amount of anthothyanins comparable with fresh berries. The objective of this study was to investigate glycaemic properties of drinkable puréed wild blueberries produced with HTD processing in young healthy adults. MethodsIn a randomized controlled cross over, 25 healthy adults (12 females and 13 males) 23.3 ± 4.4 y with a BMI of 22.3 ± 2.2 kg/m2 attended two sessions on separate days. At each session, participants, after an overnight fast, were asked to consume one of two treatments equalized for their available carbohydrate content: (1) drinkable blueberry purée (150 g) and two slices (70 g) of white bread (196 kcal, 11.4 g sugar, 27.7 g starch, 5.3 g fiber, 6.8 g protein, and 0.2 g fat in the treatment), and (2) control: sweetened water (141.5 g water with 10 g of sucrose) and two slices (70 g) of white bread (187 kcal, 11.4 g sugar, 27.7 g starch, 1.8 g fiber, 6.3 g protein, and 0.2 g fat in the treatment). Blueberry drinkable purée was prepared from whole wild blueberries Vaccinium augustifolium using HTD processing at 95 °C for 2 min. Fresh purée was frozen at −20 °C and defrosted overnight before each session. The blood samples were collected before (fasting blood) and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min after the treatment. BG was analyzed using YSI 2300 STAT Plus Glucose & Lactate Analyzer. ResultsThere was no difference in baseline BG (P = 0.49). There was an effect of time (P < 0.05) but no effect of treatment on mean BG over 120 min (P = 0.6) or 60 min (P = 0.2), or on the incremental area under the curve (AUC) for BG over 120 min (P = 0.7) or over 60 min (P = 0.6). There was an effect of time (P < 0.0001) and treatment on mean BG (P = 0.01) and AUC for BG (P = 0.007) over 30 min. The BG was lower by 8.5% and 6.5% after the treatment with blueberry drinkable purée compared to the control at 15 and 30 min, respectively. ConclusionsBlueberry drinkable purée prepared using HTD processing and consumed with a high-carbohydrate food may provide benefits for blood glucose control over 30 min compared to the sugar-sweetened beverage of the same sugar content. Funding SourcesCanadian Food Innovators Cluster Program, PEI Berries LTD, Mount Saint Vincent University.

Transforming Catholic women's education in the sixties: Sister Catherine Wallace's feminist leadership at Mount Saint Vincent University

Sister Catherine Wallace (1917-91) was president of Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), Canada’s only degree-granting women’s post-secondary institution, from 1965 to 1974. Wallace’s appointment coincided with a transformative era not only in the North American post-secondary landscape, but also in the Roman Catholic Church and the women’s movement. Wallace was acutely aware that this combination of factors would require a transformation of MSVU itself for the institution to survive the next decade. Wallace ultimately strengthened MSVU’s identity and gave it a more outward-looking vision by embedding many of the goals of second-wave feminism, including the recommendations of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada (1970), in the University’s renewal. She also gave the university a more national profile through her work on the executive of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), including in 1973 as their first woman president.

Redesigning for Student Success: Cultivating Communities of Practice in a Higher Education Classroom

In this paper, I discuss the process of redesigning and teaching a mandatory, academic skill building course for students on academic probation at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) in Atlantic Canada. The rationale for redesigning the course was to offer an alternative, holistic instructional approach for instructors who were teaching a modular-based curriculum. The original course was designed to focus on improving students’ individual self-efficacy and motivation for academic success; however, the social and relational nature of learning was not articulated as an underpinning theory in the curriculum. In the new curriculum, I draw on both Etienne Wenger’s (1998) notions of communities of practice as sites for learning and Howe and Strauss’ (2000; 2007) work on generational analysis as theoretical frameworks. Furthermore, I incorporate Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder’s (2002) principles for cultivating communities of practice as a way of putting theory into practice. Initial data collection led to the main inquiry question: How could a curriculum, centered on building community in the classroom, help students to cultivate meaningful learning experiences that take learning beyond a “fake it ‘til you make it” mentality? This question guided the curricular design process and also my experiences teaching the course at MSVU during the Fall semester of 2012

EVALUATION OF A LEARNING PASSPORT PROGRAM ON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AT MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT Research has indicated that encouraging student engagement both inside the classroom and through extra curricular activities enhances learning at universities. In response to a desire to increase student engagement some Business and Tourism faculty at Mount Saint Vincent University developed a Learning Passport program with an emphasis on encouraging participation in educational extracurricular activities. Passport activities must enhance and/or complement classroom learning and examples of activities include attendance and participation in academic or professional conferences, volunteering, completing study skills workshops, engaging in Career Service activities and so forth. While the program was initially slow to gain traction with students it has grown to the point whereas approximately 40% of Business and Tourism students actively participate in the program. The Learning Passport program encourages participation by linking activities to academic and career outcomes, awarding students with some bonus points in some classes for participating and presenting students with certificates and/or prizes for their involvement. Keywords Student Engagement; Increase Student Engagement; Business Education; Learning Passport Program; Educational Extracurricular Activities; Program Evaluation

ALTERNATIVE CEREBRAL GLUCOSE UPTAKE METRICS DETECT EARLY METABOLIC CHANGES IN THE 5XFAD MOUSE MODEL OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Background: Changes in visual and auditory function have been reported in patients with clinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but the relationship of these measures to known biomarkers of AD neuropathology is unknown. Thus, the goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that sensory measures, including visual (contrast sensitivity) and auditory function (pure tone audiometry), are associated with neuroimaging biomarkers of AD, including amyloid deposition (measured with [11 C]PiB PET) and hippocampal volume. Methods: 31 participants, including 13 healthy age-matched controls (HC), 6 euthymic older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) but no neuropsychological deficits, and 12 patients with MCI, were included in the present analysis. All participants underwent a test of contrast sensitivity, measured using frequency doubling technology (FDT-2) as previously described [1], pure tone audiometry to test tonal hearing, and structural MRI. A subset of participants also underwent [11 C]PiB PET imaging (n1⁄412 [3 HC, 3 SCD, 6 MCI]). Structural MRI scans were processed using FreeSurfer version 5.1. [11 C]PiB PET scans were processed using standard techniques in SPM8. Mean PiB standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) was extracted from a global cortical grey matter region of interest. Contrast sensitivity (duration of FDT-2 exam) and tonal hearing at high frequency (mean tonal intensity at 8000Hz) were compared between diagnostic groups. The relationship of these sensory measures to global PiB uptake and hippocampal atrophy was evaluated using a linear regression model. Results: No significant difference between diagnostic groups was observed for either visual function or tonal hearing at 8000 Hz in this small sample (Fig. 1A & 1B). However, visual function (duration of FDT-2 exam) was significantly associated with amyloid deposition (p1⁄40.001, Fig. 1C). Tonal hearing and hippocampal volume were also significantly associated (p1⁄40.001, Fig. 1D). Conclusions: Visual and auditory changes in individuals at risk and during prodromal stages of AD are associated with neuroimaging biomarkers of AD pathology, including amyloid deposition and neurodegeneration. Non-invasive and inexpensive measures of visual and auditory sensory function warrant further investigation as potential biomarkers of early stage AD pathology. [1] Risacher et al. (2013) Neurobiol Aging. IC-P-098 ALTERNATIVE CEREBRAL GLUCOSE UPTAKE METRICS DETECT EARLY METABOLIC CHANGES IN THE 5XFAD MOUSE MODEL OFALZHEIMER’S DISEASE Drew R. DeBay, Ian R. Macdonald, G. Andrew Reid, Tim P. O’Leary, Courtney T. Jollymore, Meghan K. Cash, GeorgeMawko, Steve Burrell, Earl Martin, Chris V. Bowen, Richard E. Brown, Sultan Darvesh, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Contact e-mail: drdebay@dal.ca

The Relationship between Mental Health Components and Locus of Control in Youth

Using Ryff’s positive psychological theory as a conceptual framework, this research was focused on mental health or well-being to explore the degree to which mental health can be predicted by personality traits and demographic factors in Nova Scotian youth and young adults. This theory covered all critical features of well-being by taking benefits from different developmental, personality and clinical theories. Employing Ryff’s inclusive theory that covered six dimensions including purpose in life, self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth, the researcher studied the relationship between mental health components and the locus of control. Participants: One hundred and seventy-two students of Mount Saint Vincent University were randomly selected and participated in this study. Measures: All participants completed three measures, Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale, Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale and Demographic Questionnaire. Method: Quantitative methods such as bivariate correlation, ANOVA and hierarchical linear regression were used to explain the relationships between variables based on the research hypotheses. Results: The statistical analysis of data revealed that there was a positive and linear association between the internal locus of control and all six well-being components. Findings from the current research demonstrated that individuals who have an internal tendency in their locus of control are in higher levels of mental health in compression with individuals with external locus of control. Using hierarchical linear regression revealed that locus of control, gender, citizenship status, marital status can predict 41% of the variance in participants’ mental health.

Evaluating a Demystification Program for Adolescents with ADHD

Free AccessEvaluating a Demystification Program for Adolescents with ADHDPamela Blotnicky-Gallant, Erin Costain and Penny CorkumPamela Blotnicky-GallantSearch for more papers by this author, Erin CostainSearch for more papers by this author and Penny Corkum1 Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.2 Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax.3 Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University; Scientific Staff, IWK Health Centre; and is Director, Colchester-East Hants ADHD Clinic, CEHHA.Address correspondence to Dr. Corkum at Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Centre, P.O. Box 15000, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4R2. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:December 2013https://doi.org/10.1521/adhd.2013.21.8.1PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations About Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 21Issue 8Dec 2013 Information© 2013 The Guilford PressPDF download

Articulating Everyday Catastrophes: Reflections on the Research Literacies of Lorri Neilsen

Articulating Everyday Catastrophes: Reflections on the Research Literacies of Lorri Neilsen

The Loseable World: Resonance, Creativity, and Resilience

The Loseable World: Resonance, Creativity, and Resilience