MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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Integrated Health Centres and the Concierge Healthcare System
No full textThe healthcare system has managed to remain very similar for many years, and has been known to be extremely fragmented. Integrated Health Centres (IHC) was created to improve the fragmented system and bring a change to the healthcare system. As HIC grew, Yue needed to consider how to expand his business, and decide which strategic opportunities he should include on his quest to improve the healthcare market. Integrated Health Centres featured a variety of patient solutions, which encompassed Family Doctors, Medical Specialists and Surgeons, Pharmacists and a variety of Allied Health Professionals including Nurses, Physiotherapists, Massage, Dietitians, and Psychologists, among others. While Yue understood the impact he his business had on improving the healthcare system as a whole, he had only had medical centres in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta. This meant that only a small proportion had access to these services, and he needed to act quickly to decide which markets to enter, and which services he should bring. Yue already had interest in potential locations such as Vancouver or Toronto in Canada, but was also understanding the potential needs of foreign markets, such as China. In order to continue to be a first mover in the healthcare industry, Yue needed to decide the future development of Integrated Health Centres. This case study aims to teach students how businesses grow their operations, both on a national and global scale.
Discipline: Supply Chain Management
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Etayankara Muralidhara
Single Session Induction of Incremental Mindset to Reduce Procrastination in First-Year University Students
No full textProcrastination is a prevalent condition defined by self-regulation difficulties, particularly postponing the start and competition of important tasks (Aftab et al. 2017). Everyone procrastinates from time to time, but procrastination is especially prevalent in post-secondary education. My research will investigate the influence of incremental (growth) mindsets on procrastination. An incremental mindset is a mindset characterized by believing that your personal attributes, such as work ethic and impulse control, can be changed (Howell, 2016), and. previous research by Howell and Buro (2009) found a negative correlation between procrastination and an incremental mindset. In our study, we propose to use a single session incremental mindset induction procedure, or a sham induction procedure, with introductory Psychology students in the Fall 2018 term. After the induction procedure, we will periodically assess student mindset, the submission times for various online assignments relative to their due date to assess procrastination, and student grade outcomes. We will then analyze how student mindset relates to the likelihood of procrastinating on these academic tasks and correlate assignment submission times with student grade outcomes. We predict that students who have undergone the incremental mindset induction procedure will be more likely to adopt an incremental mindset, have lower levels of procrastination, and have higher grades on submitted work than those who received the sham induction procedure. The results of this study could help first year university students by giving them a mindset induction that helps them combat their procrastination that is cost effective, long-lasting, and quick to administer.
Discipline: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric Legg
Language and Attitudes Towards Suicide
No full textThere is significant concern amongst caregivers, mental health advocates, and survivors of suicide attempts about the use of the phrase committed suicide. Sommer-Rotenberg (1998) identified that the phrase connotes criminality, dishonor, and immorality, and that its ongoing use contributes to stigma surrounding suicide. The current study examines whether exposure to the phrase “committed suicide” causes more negative attitudes toward suicide relative to exposure to the phrase “died by suicide”. Two hundred and thirty participants were randomly assigned to fill out one of two versions of a suicide stigma questionnaire: one that (in its original, published form) employs the phrase “committed suicide” or one that replaces that phrase with the alternative “died by suicide”. Our hypothesis was that those answering the questionnaire containing the phrase “committed suicide” would indicate less compassionate attitudes towards suicide compared to those answering the questionnaire containing the phrase “died by suicide.” While the difference between groups was not significant (p < .067), it was in the predicted direction and showed a small effect size (d = 0.246). These findings suggest that the use of more empathic language could reduce stigma surrounding suicide; this, in turn, could increase help-seeking behaviours in those who are at risk for suicide.
Discipline: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andrew Howell
 
Modelling Variations in Solar Irradiance: Atmospheric Thickness and the Eclipse of 2017
No full textThe Sun is the main source of energy for Earth, and governs most atmospheric, biological, and environmental processes. Solar irradiance is the total amount of radiation reaching Earth\u27s surface, in watts per square metre, from the sun. The amount of radiation reaching Earth\u27s surface can be measured with a pyranometer and is governed by the solar constant, atmospheric thickness, atmospheric composition, and beam dilution. In this project we have modeled the solar irradiance expected from a plane-parallel atmosphere in order to determine the sensitivity of the PYR-BTA Vernier Pyranometer to variations in atmospheric transparency from atmospheric haze with the intent to quantify atmospheric pollution levels in urban areas. We used the solar irradiance data captured from MacEwan University to model the partial solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.
Discipline: Physical Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Orla Aaquis
Resources and Services that Provide Parenting Options to Infertile Post-Cancer Individuals Who Live in Canada
No full textThis study investigated current services and resources available to Canadian cancer survivors who suffer from infertility due to their treatment. A sample of 20 cancer organizations and service providers that contained information and/or physical services that provided support for infertile survivors. The researcher then categorized the content found on infertility further to be either a form of counselling, medical procedure, research/study, and/or adoption. Counselling resources were the most dominant service to be found in this study, followed by medical procedures. These findings are significant, as counselling may offer services in coping with becoming infertile, but does not directly aid in the process of becoming a parent post-cancer.
Discipline: Sociology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Diane Symbalu
Red Brick: Market Research Proposal
No full textMarket research conducted for local developer, Red Brick to determine viability of their target market and develop marketing plan.
Discipline: Marketing
Faculty Mentor: Fernando Angulo-Rui
The Effects of Different Number of Warnings with Time-Out on Child Compliance to Parental Instructions
No full textPrevious research has shown that time-out procedures can have a positive influence on compliance. The effect of giving a warning prior to a time-out has also been investigated with results showing that in the short run compliance improves when warnings are given; however, in the long run, compliance is better when warnings are not given. The current study examined whether similar results are found if multiple warnings are given before a time-out. The participants were children with a history of noncompliance, and a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (n = 3). Parents implemented the procedure and received pre-training and post session feedback. We found that percentage compliance to initial instruction was highest in the no warning condition compared to the one warning and multiple warning conditions. We also found that overall compliance was higher than compliance to initial instruction in the two warning conditions. The results of this study will benefit parents as they gain an understanding of the factors that influence compliance, which they can then implement in home or community.
Discipline: Psychology (Honours)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Russ Powel
Integrated Conservation of Native Orchids
No full textPlant conservation initiatives are essential to mitigate damage currently degrading global plant biodiversity. This is especially true for members of the Orchidaceae, which are currently under tremendous pressure stemming from anthropogenic activities. Unfortunately, conservation of preexisting populations is often not enough to combat the decline and thus, integrative conservation methodologies that include ecological, genetic, and propagation efforts provides a more effective conservation strategy. This project focuses on the development of an integrated conservation methodology for use with Alberta’s native orchids by using Cypripedium passerinum populations in the Wagner Natural Area as a model. The project focuses on three main objectives: Ecological study of C. passerinum, population genetic assessment of sampled populations, and ex situ propagation and reintroduction of the species. Currently, ecological evaluation of fifty-six C. passerinum clumps has occurred with phenology, pollination, surrounding vegetation, and soil parameter data being collected. A promising methodology for assessing the genetic diversity amongst the sampled plants has been identified and seed pods have been collected for propagation efforts. Future work is required to complete the population genetic assessment and develop protocols for propagation and future reintroduction efforts for this species.
Discipline: Biological Sciences (Honours)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. David McFadye
Child and Youth Care Worldwide: A Student\u27s Experience
No full textPresenter and 2nd year Child and Youth Care student, Janelle Huhtala, will share her overall experience presenting and attending the 3rd Child and Youth Care (CYC) Conference in Ventura, California as a recipient of the USRI grant. Brief descriptions will be offered for workshops and plenaries attended, significant learnings, the experience of presenting at a worldwide conference, and how the welcoming environment of the CYC community was integral to learning. In addition, Janelle will share her personal “firsts” the USRI grant offered her such as flying on a plane, leaving Canada, and seeing/touching the ocean.
Discipline: Child and Youth Care
Faculty Mentor: Jenny McGrat
Consent 102: Integrating Knowledge with Experience
No full textThere have been growing efforts on college and university campuses to increase awareness about sexual violence. Often those initiatives focus on defining affirmative consent within the broader context of socio-cultural power dynamics. Cognitive psychology can add a complementary perspective through understanding biases that might affect perception of consent and the processes by which individuals reason about consent. Research in medical education has demonstrated that reliance on both explicit rules and as well as similar prior experiences produces the best diagnostic judgement (Eva, 2004). Like medical diagnosis, consent requires one to make decisions about individual experiences or cases that are multidimensional, contextually diverse and interpretive in nature. Consequently, practices designed for building expert diagnosticians may have value in teaching students about consent. Our program will include an analytical training component that focuses on the explicit dimensions of consent dimensions and cognitive biases likely to influence perceptions of consent, illustrated through case examples. Some students will also receive the training needed for non-analytic reasoning, which is embedded in considerable exposure to a range of test cases with feedback on their decisions. After training, all students will be asked to provide judgments of consent for a series of test cases. We expect the group that received both analytical and non-analytical training will be more accurate in their judgments of consent and will demonstrate more sophisticated rationales for their decisions.
Discipline: Psychology (Honours)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Aimee Skye