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Feature Story: 6 free mental wellness supports for students
No full textFinals season is here and while it marks the end of another successful semester, it can also be a major source of stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues for students.
To help with this, we've put together a list of the free services and supports available at the U of R to help you with your mental wellness during exam season.
Be sure to also check out the Mental Wellness Hub, the one-stop digital resource for mental wellness supports.Staffn
Systematic implementation and evaluation of an app-based community platform for assessing pain in long-term care facilities
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 Clinical Psychology, University of Regina. x, 143 p.Pain is under-assessed and under-addressed among older adults living in long-term care (LTC) facilities. The Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate-II (PACSLAC-II) is a validated assessment tool for health professionals to assess pain in residents with dementia. A tablet app, based on the PACSLAC-II, has been shown to have clinical utility. This study involved the systematic implementation and evaluation of a new community platform that works in conjunction with an updated PACSLAC-II app. The community platform is comprised of (a) a quality indicator (QI) feature, which allows health care professionals to view and share their unit QI scores (e.g., frequency of resident assessments) with other units; and (b) a resource community portal (CP) feature aimed at facilitating user interaction and continuing education. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate whether pain Qis (e.g., frequency and timeliness of pain management interventions) improved with the use of the app (and each feature) compared to the LTC unit’s regular pain assessment practices; (2) evaluate the impact of the use of the PACSLAC-II app and each of the new features on health care professionals’ self-reported stress and burnout levels, and; (3) obtain the perspectives of health care professionals on the app and its specific features through semi-structured interviews. Based on the job-demand resource model, it was anticipated that LTC units assigned to use the app and both features would see the most gains in QI scores, reduced staff stress, and staff satisfaction with the app. This would be followed by units that were assigned to the app with only one feature, and lastly by units that had access to the basic app with no additional features. For the purposes of hypothesis testing, a minimum of 25% improvement in QI scores was considered to reflect meaningful change. This study employed a mixed methods multiple-baseline design across several LTC facilities. Eleven LTC facilities participated in this study and were randomly assigned to one of five conditions (App only, App + QI, App + CP, App + QI + CP, App + CP + QI). Complementing the unit data, 34 health care professionals completed self-report questionnaires and 32 participated in semi-structured interviews. QI data revealed improvements in QI scores compared to baseline regardless of experimental condition. Contrary to hypotheses, however, regression analyses showed that demographic data and utilization of the associated websites did not predict stress and burnout scores. Thematic analysis of staff interviews showed that a majority of participants expressed a preference for using the app as opposed to a paper version of the PACSLAC-II due to reasons such as the app’s ability to provide useful information (i.e., resident pain graphs), increased data security, as well as its user-friendly interface and increased convenience. The overall increase in QI scores observed in the implementation period suggests that the utilization of the PACSLAC-II may be effective and feasible in improving pain assessment practices in LTC facilities. At the same time, QI gains were not maintained during a follow up period, likely related to unusually high competing demands on staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the results of this study strongly support benefits of using the app version of the PACSLAC-II, although use of the extra features were not shown to confer additional advantages to frontline staff. As pointed out by some participants, the QI feature might prove more useful for facility administrators monitoring overall facility performance than to frontline nursing staff.Studentye
Statistical-Based Hydrological Simulation and Inference
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 Environmental Systems Engineering, University of Regina. xix, 326p.Hydrological models have been used as essential tools for water resources planning and understanding the mechanisms in the water cycle. The rapid advance in information science and computational power in recent decades has encouraged hydrologists to solve water problems through data-driven approaches. To date, various statistical methods have been developed for hydrological simulation and inference (i.e., explain reasonings behind model response). However, many challenges arise from enormous uncertainties and complexities in the hydrological systems that greatly limit the usefulness of statistical models in terms of simulation accuracy and inference. Thus, there is a global need for advanced statistical models for robust hydrological simulation and inference.In this dissertation research, a set of statistical-based hydrological simulation and inference methods has been developed. They have improved upon the existing simulation efforts and helped gain reliable inferences. These methods include (1) a stepwise clustered regression tree ensemble (SCRTE) model that addresses the spatial autocorrelation of daily streamflow; (2) a Wilks feature importance (WFI) method that provides reliable variable rankings for supporting hydrological inference and simulation (through a stepwise clustered ensemble (SCE) model); (3) a baseflow-filtered stepwise clustered ensemble (BFSCE)model that helps gain insights towards sub-hydrological processes (i.e., baseflow, overland flow and interflow) in irrigated watersheds; (4) a joint probabilistic rainfall-runoff (JPRR) model that addresses the high-to-peak flow simulations and projections under climate change. The major contributions of this research are summarized as follows: (1) the proposed SCRTE model can effectively address the temporal autocorrelation of daily streamflow (i.e., a hydrologic effect that was inadequately reflected through conventional statistical models); (2) outstanding simulation performance has been achieved through the proposed SCRTE model compared with many well-known and advanced statistical models; (3) The proposed stepwise clustered ensemble (SCE) model has significantly improved the streamflow simulation performance of stepwise cluster analysis (SCA) by 66.1% based on a large dataset (i.e., 673 basins); (4) The knowledge learned from WFI can be transferred to other statistical models to improve their simulation performance, indicating the “universal fitting” characteristic of WFI inference; (5) a process-based baseflow subtraction (from streamflow) has allowed statistical models to identify the critical information reflecting the overland flow and interflow process and thus help trace the origin of streamflow; (6) the hydrological inference from WFI has shown to be valid for both the entire streamflow process and its sub-processes (e.g., baseflow and overland flow); (7) the proposed JPRR model can be coupled with any existing statistical hydrological models to address high-to-extreme flow simulations and projections; (8) the hydrological projections from the JPRR model provide more reliable future flood risk assessment than conventional statistical models, enabling hydrologic infrastructural design under climate change. Findings and achievements from this research can help water-related decision-making, such as local flood risk management and irrigation schedule optimization.Studentye
Suicidal Ideation, Planning, and Attempts among Canadian Coast Guards and Conservation & Protection Officers
No full textThe current study provides estimates of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts among Canadian Coast Guard personnel and Canadian Conservation and Protection Officers. Participants (n = 385; 59% men) completed a self-report survey that collected past-year and lifetime estimates of suicidal ideation, planning, attempts, sociodemographic information, and symptoms related to mental health disorders. Within the sample, participants reported lifetime suicidal ideation (25.7%), planning (10.9%), and attempts (5.5%). Participants reported past-year suicidal ideation (7.5%), planning (2.1%), and the percentage of attempts was too marginal to report due to ethical considerations. Canadian Coast Guard personnel and Conservation and Protection Officers reported higher percentages of past-year and lifetime suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts than the Canadian general population, but the percentages reported are comparable to other Canadian PSP sectors. No statistically significant results were observed for the sociodemographic covariates within the past-year, whereas, statistically significant results were observed for the lifetime sociodemographic covariates of age, province of residence, and previous work experience. There were statistically significant associations between past-year suicidal ideation and positive screens for major depressive disorder (MDD) and general anxiety disorder (GAD); as well, past-year suicidal planning was associated with social anxiety disorder (SAD). There were also statistically significant associations between lifetime suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts and positive screens for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), MDD, and SAD. Lifetime suicidal ideation and planning were associated with panic disorder (PD). The current estimates provide valuable information for clinicians and stakeholders involved in prevention programs, treatment, or future research.This research was funded by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.Facultyye
Magic is might?: Uncovering abjection in Shakespeare's The Tempest and J.K Rowling's Harry Potter series
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 English, University of Regina. viii, 141 p.This thesis begins with an analysis of the two focal point statues in the Ministry of Magic from the Harry Potter series: The Fountain of Magical Brethren and the Magic is Might statue. This analysis prompts the questions that this thesis will answer: how does magic create might if it is contingent on never completing the acts that represent that might? Furthermore, how is this system created and how is this system upheld if it is not able to fully get rid of the challenges to its order?
In answering these questions, this thesis will not only look at the canonical works of the Harry Potter series but will also look backwards to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The Tempest is one of the foundational texts for the representation of the wizard figure in the British literary canon, and it is a tradition Harry Potter, one of the most iconic representations of this wizard figure in recent years, inherits and works with. By placing these texts into conversation, we are able to see how Rowling has embraced and built upon the traditions that Shakespeare helped create through Prospero. Therefore, this thesis will also fill a gap in the scholarship of analysis of magical literature as to this date there have been no sustained accounts that place these two texts into conversation.
To answer the questions posed by the statues, this thesis will examine how the powerful and privileged magic users of the two texts – Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Prospero – attempt to use magic as a tool of social control and political legitimacy. I argue that they use magic against others, as seen through Dumbledore’s quest for the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort’s Horcruxes, and Prospero’s isolation into his magical studies. Their uses of magic represent not means to create what they deem to be a pure society, but a response to the filth or contaminant each magician believes to be a corruption of their selfhood.
This thesis employs the theory of abjection to uncover how a social structure is able to function when its existence is built on the inability to remove the threat to the order. The abject is defined as what we have cast out from ourselves in order to define the boundaries and understandings of ourselves. However, the abject is not erased when it is cast out. Instead, it exists in a perpetual state of paradox where it is both seen and unseen as well as known and unknown. This thesis will recognize two streams of abjection: personal abjection based on the work of Julia Kristeva (The Powers of Horror 1980) and social abjection based on the work of Imogen Tyler (Revolting Subjects: Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain 2013). Even though they are separate theories, both operate together.
In my first chapter I explore The Tempest, with particular attention to how power is formed and how it becomes legitimated. In this chapter I utilize Paul Brown’s “‘This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine’: The Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism” as well as an exploration into the roots of postcolonial Tempest criticism to show how a nuanced reading of the structure of power in The Tempest includes an account of abjection. In the second chapter, I turn to the Harry Potter series and focus on the creation of the personal abjects of Dumbledore and Voldemort as both these magicians are examples of powerful and privileged individuals who, like Prospero, attempt to use their power to have the others “recognize themselves as subjects of [their] discourse” (Brown 281). The final chapter of my thesis brings together the Harry Potter series and The Tempest in order to expand the discussion of abjection to include Tyler’s work on social abjection to show the impact that the process of being made abject has on society at large.Studentye
Rainbows and roadblocks: a counselling journey at Ehrlo Counselling Services
No full textA Practicum Report Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Social Work, University of Regina. 84 p.This practicum report reflects and summarizes my learning experiences as a student counsellor during a twelve-week field practicum placement at Ehrlo Counselling Services (ECS). This report outlines my learning goals and outcomes, as well as the challenges and successes I experienced throughout my practicum. It provides a literature review focused on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and trauma-informed practice (TIP). This report briefly highlights lessons I learnt, and skills I gained from practicing motivational interviewing under clinical supervision, which enhanced my social work skills. Additionally, this report will discuss my insights, learning opportunities, ethical considerations, self-care, and de-colonization in counselling.Studentye
Longitudinal study of Canadian correctional workers' wellbeing, organizations, roles and knowledge (CCWORK): Baseline demographics and prevalence of mental health disorders
No full textBackground: Researchers and practitioners have begun to recognize and empirically examine the mental health challenges facing public safety personnel (PSP). Empirical results from longitudinal data collection among PSP remains extremely scant, particularly for institutional correctional workers. We designed the current study to assess the mental health of Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) correctional officer recruits (CORs) across time to help clarify potential challenges to or protective factors for mental health across correctional officer (CO) careers.This study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Grant Nos. 411 385 (31 January 2019), 411 387 (31 January 2019), 422 567 (27 May 2019), and 440 140 (31 March 2020). The research was also supported by the Correctional Services of Canada and the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN).Facultyye
Measurement and Prediction of pKa of Linear and Cyclic Amines Using Group-Additivity and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Models
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 Applied Science in Industrial Systems Engineering, University of Regina. viii, 72 p.This research is focused on the estimation of dissociation constants (pKa) of eight amines, namely: 3-(Diethylamino) propylamine, 1,3-Diaminopentane, 3-Butoxypropylamine, 2-(Methylamino) ethanol, Bis (2-methoxyethyl) amine, α-Methylbenzylamine, 2-Aminoheptane, 3-Amino-1-phenylbutane in the temperature range of 293.15K to 323.15K using the potentiometric titration method. The van’t Hoff equation was used to estimate the standard state enthalpy change (ΔH0) and standard state entropy (Δ0).
pKa values were predicted using the Perrin−Dempsey−Serjeant (PDS) functional additivity model, the modified PDS and the Qian, Sun, Sun, and Gao (QSSG) model. The obtained root mean square (RMS) errors for the three models were 0.41, 0.25 and 0.17, respectively.
pKa values of amines that have significant importance in the process of CO2 capture were predicted using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model, with the help of a back-propagation algorithm. Ten variable parameters were used as input data in this estimation, which were further broadly divided into 3 subcategories, namely: 1) The properties that are used to identify the compound are considered as the inputs such as the molecular weight, numbers of H atoms, N atoms, C atoms and O atoms; 2) The properties that were used to correlate the pKa values were the temperature, density, viscosity, refractive index, and sound velocity. Finally, the experimentally determined pKa values were considered as the output. The density, viscosity, refractive index and sound velocity of the eight amines under study were experimentally determined in this work. The detailed experimental procedure was also reported. The developed architecture consisted of 10 inputs, 40 neurons in the first hidden layer and 39 neurons in the second hidden layer, and a single output parameter leading to a model with 10-40-39-1 parameters. This model was found to be very efficient in predicting the pKa of amines not
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included in the training database. The regression coefficient was 0.90755 and the mean squared errors for training, validation and testing were MSEtrain = 0.0069, MSEvalidation = 0.037 and MSEtest = 0.0597, respectively.
To reduce the complexity of the model, another architecture with a structure of 8-40-39-1 was developed. Density and viscosity values remained as inputs, which led to a slightly lower regression coefficient of 0.89225 and higher mean squared errors MSEtrain = 0.00881, MSEvalidation = 0.02945 and MSEtest = 0.0789. With just two parameter representing the physical and tramport properties of the amines, the complexity of the system was greatly reduced, but it was still able to predict accurately the pKa values of amines .Studentye
"A Grip and a Dream": Voices of Older Carribean Immigrant Women in Saskatchewan, Canada
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 Gerontology, University of Regina. vii, 102 p.This hermeneutic phenomenological study integrates transnational feminism to describe
the lived experiences of older Caribbean immigrant women living in Saskatchewan, who
immigrated to Canada in early adulthood in the 1960s to1980s. A purposive and snowball
recruitment method was used to select ten female participants that were interviewed. The
participants' ages range from 65 to 83 years. To assess the impact of social relationships on aging
and quality of life this study used in-depth, individual, and semi-structured interviews for data
collection. The data collected were audio-taped followed by the transcription and data analysis.
Field notes and reflexivity were documented to assist with the data analysis which followed
hermeneutic phenomenology and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).
The objective of this study is to provide a clearer understanding and further knowledge of
older immigrant women perceptions of social relationships and its impact on aging, and their
quality of life. Social relationships play an integral role throughout the lifespan of these women.
Their perceptions about social relationships, aging, and quality of life emerged in four primary
themes: (1) perceived social relationships; (2) transnational migration; (3) perceived racial
discrimination and (4) aging and quality of life across the lifespan.
The study’s findings indicate that forming strong social relationships contributed to good
quality of life among older Caribbean immigrant women as they aged in Canada. Also, it was
further revealed that social relationships and social networks formed with family, fellow
Caribbean natives, and friends within their community provided emotional support throughout
their lifespan which helped to ward off social isolation and loneliness. Additionally, those with
good health perceive their quality of life as they age as being good while others with poor health
perceive their quality of life as poor.
Presumably, this study illustrates key aspects of social relationships, and quality of life of
older Caribbean immigrant women who have aged in Canada. Moreover, this research will
contribute to gerontological literature, inform policy, and the development of interventions that
are culturally sensitive to foster social relationships among immigrant women living and aging in
Canada. Future research should examine Caribbean immigrant men and women living in the
different provinces to better understand both genders’ experience of how they formed social
relationships and specifically how these relationships impact their quality of life.
Keywords: Social relationship, Aging, Quality of life, Caribbean immigrants, Transnational
migration, Transnational feminismStudentye