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Perceptions and experiences of leisure-time physical activity among older adults following a heart attack
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Kinesiology and Health Studies, University of Regina. xi, 124 p.Leisure has been found to improve later-life well-being and to help people in coping with life
changes (Dupuis & Alzheimer, 2008; Michèle et al., 2019). Leisure activities, including leisuretime
physical activity, may significantly affect healthy aging and improve health-related quality
of life among older persons. However, there is a lack of literature revealing the determining
factors of participation in leisure-time physical activity among older adults following a heart
attack. The aim of this research was to explore the perceptions and experiences of leisure-time
physical activity among older people who have had a heart attack. To obtain participants’
perspectives, a parallel mixed-methods design was used. Data were collected from 10
participants using a survey (Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity questionnaire) to measure
leisure-time physical activity, followed by a face-to-face interview. A qualitative descriptive
technique was used to guide the qualitative data collection and analysis. SPSS version 25.0 was
used to analyze the demographics and the RAPA questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used to
analyze the qualitative data. Four main themes, making lifestyle changes after a heart attack,
engagement in leisure-time physical activity, perceptions about leisure-time physical activity
after a heart attack, and constraints were generated to describe participants’ perceptions and
experiences of leisure-time physical activity. Leisure-time physical activity participation after a
heart attack was influenced by several motivators which led to engagement in leisure activities.
Participants experienced several constraints in engaging in leisure-time physical activity,
however, they described different ways of negotiating those constraints.Studentye
Emerging health technologies: Ethical considerations in nursing practice and care [PowerPoint slides]
No full textPowerPoint SlidesFunding Source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Government of Canada’s Future Skills program.Facultyn
Fostering food security through local culture: Insights from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology, University of Regina. xi, 137 p.Food insecurity has become a wicked problem and a global challenge, raising the concerns of farmers, consumers, and world leaders. Against the common opinion that food insecurity exists only in developing nations, research has shown that food insecurity is also experienced in developed countries like Canada and has been documented for over four decades. Findings from an online provincial survey with urban and rural respondents (n=168) have shown that Saskatchewan people have significant concerns about food insecurity. Hence, this thesis builds on the survey results and collects valuable insights through semi-structured interviews with 14 Val Marie and Muskeg Lake participants, including producers, vendors, consumers, and those involved in community governance. Underpinned by an interpretivist methodology, I aimed to record stories about the participants’ food concerns, challenges, food-related opportunities in their community, and their beliefs on the activities that can build the resilience of the local food system. The findings showed that participants – who represented both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives – have concerns with food affordability, accessibility, loss of local knowledge, and altered ecosystems. Amongst other challenges, the unavailability of multiple grocery stores and some government policies have emerged. Drawing from the research participants’ responses on trends that can build resilience, I recommend, among others, that the government creates an enabling environment for the local food system to blossom alongside the neoliberal food system, bearing in mind the principles of food sovereignty.Studentye
Incidental emotion and juror decision making in an insanity case
No full textA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, University of Regina. v, 35 p.Previous research has shown that persistent negative perceptions of the insanity defense may result in juror bias in cases where a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) would be legally appropriate. These negative perceptions may be compounded by racial bias when the defendant is Black. This study examines the impact of manipulated incidental anger and defendant race on juror verdict outcomes. U.S. jury eligible participants (N = 162) completed an incidental anger manipulation task (Peter-Hagene & Bottoms, 2017) and the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988). They then read a fictional trial transcript in which a man meeting the diagnostic criteria for paranoid schizophrenia is charged with second degree murder. Participants then provided dichotomous verdicts of not guilty or NGRI, along with a confidence rating and a short rationale. We conducted a hierarchical logistic regression which revealed that incidental anger and defendant race were not significant predictors of verdict outcome. However, an exploratory mediation analysis revealed that incidental anger significantly predicted sadness, and that sadness yielded a decreased likelihood of a guilty verdict. The result of the exploratory analysis supports previous research which suggests that feelings of sadness result in more effortful and elaborate cognitive processing and therefore fewer guilty verdicts, which could explain the non-significant results of our initial hypothesis.Studentn
Dispositional and demographic predictors of acceptability and credibility perceptions of mindfulness-based interventions
No full textA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology, University of Regina. 82 p.Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) are efficacious for symptoms of various psychological disorders. Despite their efficacy, many individuals do not consider utilizing MBIs, nor appropriately engage with them. Several barriers to engagement exist; however, attitudinal factors play a particularly large role. Treatment acceptability are perceptions of the appropriateness and non-intrusiveness of a treatment, while treatment credibility are perceptions of the logicalness and believability of a treatment for a given concern. These perceptions are consistently associated with treatment utilization and outcomes. To date, little research has explored relationships between individual-difference factors and perceptions of MBIs. The present study examined correlations between dispositional and demographic factors with acceptability and credibility ratings of MBIs. 332 participants (Cis women n = 149; 44.9%) were recruited online through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants completed demographics questions and measures of the five factor personality traits, dispositional mindfulness, rumination, psychological distress, and beliefs about mental illness. Subsequently, participants read an expert-vetted description of MBIs and completed treatment acceptability and credibility measures. Acceptability perceptions were correlated with personality facets of openness (r = .27) and agreeableness (r = .34), dispositional mindfulness (r = .28), income (r = .23), mindfulness practice (r = .25), rumination (r = -.27), psychological distress (r = -.28), and unfavorable mental illness beliefs (r = -.19). Credibility perceptions were associated with agreeableness (r = .19), education level (r = .16), mindfulness practice (r = .16) and yoga practice (r = .32). These results suggest MBI perceptions are associated with several malleable factors and pave the way for research on tailored promotional materials surrounding MBIs.Studentn
Dependence and trust in the health care system
No full textA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology, University of Regina. 49 p.Individuals rely on institutions (e.g., health care systems) for a range of important needs. However, when institutions fail to provide services in a safe and supportive manner, they can cause harm to individuals who depend on them for protection, resources, and other needs. This concept is known as institutional betrayal (Smith & Freyd, 2014), which refers to wrongdoings perpetrated by an institution on whom an individual is dependent on. While dependence is theorized to affect the person-institution dynamic, it has not been examined empirically. Currently, it is not known how dependence impacts the tendency to trust in the health care system. The current study examined the relationships between an individual's level of dependence and trust in the health care system when institutional betrayal and adverse medical events occur. University of Regina students (n = 201) completed a survey that assessed adverse medical events, institutional betrayal, institutional dependence, and trust in the health care system and physicians. Dependence and adverse medical events were significantly correlated with lower trust in the health care system. Institutional betrayal and adverse medical events were significantly correlated with lower trust in physicians. The relationship between dependence and trust in physicians was moderated by the severity of institutional betrayal. This study highlights the unique elements of relationships that individuals have with the institutions they rely on.Studentn
Partial wave analysis of Neutral b1 Meson at GlueX
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, University of Regina. xxvi, 248 p.A long-standing goal of hadron physics has been to understand how the quark
and gluon degrees of freedom that are present in the fundamental QCD Lagrangian
manifest themselves in the spectrum of hadrons. The GlueX experiment at JLab
contributes to the global spectroscopy program through studies of the mesons produced
using a beam of 8-9 GeV linearly polarized photons. This experiment focuses
on the exploration of the light-quark domain, potentially accessing hybrid mesons
with exotic JPC quantum numbers in photoproduction reactions.
Recent Lattice QCD calculations predict that the lightest exotic π1(1600) decays
primarily to a b1 system and can be experimentally accessed through the dominant
decay b1 → ωπ0. In this dissertation, direct production of the b1 meson γp → b1p
where the axial-vector meson b1(1235) decays to ωπ0, is studied in detail. Results
of Partial Wave Analysis (PWA) on the photoproduction of the b1(1235) meson
system are shown, with emphasis on the extraction of D-wave to S-wave ratio (termed
dsratio), which is a characteristic property of this meson and this coupling has
been predicted by Lattice QCD calculations. The dsratio does not depend on the
production mechanism nor on features such as the momentum transfer (|t|) or the
polarization of the photon beam. PWA in the mass range between 1.0 − 2.0 GeV
was carried out in bins of 80 MeV, and three momentum transfer, |−t|, ranges. The
analysis procedure was validated using Monte Carlo simulated data to be free of any
potential biases.
Fits describe the five characteristic angles in the two-plane b1 → ωπ0 → π+π−π0π0
decay. An advanced model selection strategy used the metrics of Likelihood Ratio
Test and information criteria Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Information
Criterion, and demonstrated that the [JP ](ϵ) state of [1+](+) is the most dominant wave
which concludes that the photoproduction of b1 is found to proceed through unnatural
parity π0 exchange. Additionally, the [1−](+) wave without resonant structure was
found to be the second strongest wave. This is consistent with results in the literature
from a complimentary experiment that was run more than two decades ago, with the
current work exceeding the statistical precision by at least an order of magnitude and
systematic uncertainty being competitive with previous measurements. Evidence of
the need for higher waves in the higher mass region was found and is in agreement with
past results. Contributions from individual m projections for the photoproduction of
ωπ0 corresponding to the [1+] as a function of |t| are extracted and presented for the
first time in this dissertation.
The dsratio was extracted under the condition of a fixed D − S phase (termed
dphase) and was shown to be constant as a function of variables. This was expected,
although with a lower value than theoretical calculations for the highest |t| bin, which
will be investigated in future by others. A thorough set of systematic variations were
performed to evaluate the systematic uncertainties. The study concluded that the
largest error comes from the choice of the waveset used to describe the data. Future
studies should include the variation of dphase.
Finally, service contributions were made towards the gain calibration of the Barrel
Calorimeter detector built by the Regina group. Additionally, for a period of eight
months, a pioneering study was carried out using Artificial Intelligence towards the
dimensional and positional optimization of a detector, for the Electron-Ion Collider
(EIC) facility under the proto-collaboration named ECCE. The results of this study
are summarized in this dissertation.Studentye
Institutional betrayal and trauma in child welfare workers in Western Canada
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology, University of Regina. x, 186 p.Child welfare workers report a high prevalence of mental health concerns, such as posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms, after directly or indirectly experiencing workplace traumatic events (Regehr et al., 2000, 2004). Factors within an organization, such as supportive administrators, supervisors, and coworkers (Boyas et al., 2012; Dagan et al., 2016) can impact reported mental health symptoms. Institutional betrayal research, as an extension of betrayal trauma theory, suggests that institutions play a role in impacting the development and severity of mental health symptoms in individuals who are dependent on them. Institutional betrayal, the actions or inactions of an institution when responding to a traumatic event, has been used to explain how organizational factors impact mental health symptoms in different settings (Smith et al., 2016; Smith & Freyd, 2013). To date, there has been no specific measurement of institutional betrayal linking child welfare organizations to the mental health and professional well-being of child welfare workers, after a workplace traumatic event occurs. The purpose of the current study was to explore this relationship in Canadian child welfare workers. Using a mixed-method approach was used, 70 child welfare workers in Saskatchewan and Alberta completed surveys about workplace traumatic events, mental health and professional well-being, and institutional betrayal and support. Thirteen child welfare workers in frontline and supervisory positions participated in semi-structured interviews to gather further information about mental health and professional well-being after workplace traumatic events. The survey data showed how institutional support was significantly related to professional well-being, such that workers who reported higher levels of institutional support also reported higher levels of professional well-being. ii
Experiences of workplace traumatic events were significantly related to institutional betrayal, such that workers who reported direct exposure to workplace traumatic events also reported higher levels of institutional betrayal. Additionally, child welfare workers reported experiences of traumatic events at a prevalence similar to first responder professions (Regehr, Chau, et al., 2002; Regehr, Goldberg, et al., 2002; Van Ameringen et al., 2008). Using thematic analysis, three major themes were identified in the interview data: traumatic and stressful workplace experiences, mental health and professional well-being, and organizational responses. The experiences child welfare workers reported through survey and interview data fit within an institutional betrayal lens. Workers reported feeling distrustful and/or let down by their organizations after workplace traumatic events occurred, which was identified as impacting their mental health and professional wellness. Implications and workplace considerations are discussed, such as organizations increasing worker awareness of mental health and professional well-being supports and providing long-term and ongoing supports. The current research is the first to show that the workplace traumatic events and mental health and professional well-being of child welfare workers can be understood through the theoretical orientation of institutional betrayal.Studentye
Mental Health of Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the Start of the Cadet Training Program
No full textObjective Serving Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have screened positive for one or more mental disorders based on self-reported symptoms with substantial prevalence (i.e., 50.2%). Mental health challenges for military and paramilitary populations have historically been attributed to insufficient recruit screening; however, cadet mental health when starting the Cadet Training Program (CTP) was unknown. Our objective was to estimate RCMP Cadet mental health when starting the CTP and test for sociodemographic differences. Method Cadets starting the CTP completed a survey assessing self-reported mental health symptoms (n = 772, 72.0% male) and a clinical interview (n = 736, 74.4% male) with a clinician or supervised trainee using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview to assess current and past mental health. Results The percentage of participants screening positive for one or more current mental disorders based on self-reported symptoms (15.0%) was higher than the diagnostic prevalence for the general population (10.1%); however, based on clinical interviews, participants were less likely to screen positive for any current mental disorder (6.3%) than the general population. Participants were also less likely to screen positive for any past mental disorder based on self-report (3.9%) and clinical interviews (12.5%) than the general population (33.1%). Females were more likely to score higher than males (all ps<.01; Cohen's ds .23 to .32) on several self-report mental disorder symptom measures. Conclusions The current results are the first to describe RCMP cadet mental health when starting the CTP. The data evidenced a lower prevalence of anxiety, depressive, and trauma-related mental disorders than the general population based on clinical interviews, contrasting notions that more rigorous mental health screening would reduce the high prevalence of mental disorders among serving RCMP. Instead, protecting RCMP mental health may require ongoing efforts to mitigate operational and organizational stressors.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The RCMP Study is supported by the RCMP, the Government of Canada, and the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. L. M. Lix is supported by a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality. T. O. Afifi is supported by a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience. Asmundson is supported by a University of Regina President's Research Chair. S. H. Stewart is supported by a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Addictions and Mental Health. The development, analyses, and distribution of the current article was supported by a generous grant from the Medavie Foundation.Facultyye
Moral evaluations of prosocial lying in children with conduct disorder
No full textA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, University of Regina. 31 p.Studentn