UNews - Jennifer Copeland

Antarctica leaves impactful, lasting impression on Copeland

trevor.kenney — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 18:14:51 +0000

Dr. Jennifer Copeland did her homework, and then some, before embarking on her 19-night tour of Antarctica as part of the Homeward Bound global leadership initiative for women with a background in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM). And yet no amount of preparation could rival the experience of interacting with the beauty and remoteness that is the world’s fifth-largest and least-populated continent.

Visitors to Antarctica must maintain a five-metre buffer between themselves and the wildlife.

“It’s every bit as astonishing and awe-inspiring as everyone says it is yet it’s also hard to describe,” says Copeland, who set sail from Argentina in early November. “It’s stunningly beautiful and so remote and pristine. It’s very interesting to be in such an untouched place, and while I know we were touching it, it just has this feeling of complete isolation.”

That sense of isolation is achieved thanks to an international collaboration and treaty that sees Antarctica as an unowned land, open to science and discovery and closely and collectively monitored by protocols that visiting parties agree to follow. It was the perfect stage for a program focused on leadership and sustainability.

“The international collaboration was an incredibly impactful experience,” says Copeland, who was part of 108 women and non-binary people representing 29 countries aboard the Island Sky for Antarctica. “The protocols we follow are voluntary, arguably, so to see up close that we can actually collaborate, get along and make this work was really inspiring and a little bit hopeful that if we can do this, surely we can get together to figure some other things out too. That’s probably a bit idealistic but it can be done.”

Sustainability is a very broad topic and for the women on board, it meant different things given their differing backgrounds. While Copeland’s work as a kinesiologist had her approaching sustainability from a human health perspective, there were shipmates whose backgrounds included engineering, environmental science, government and non-governmental organizations, among others.

“While this was not about climate change specifically, it was a very central topic because it’s so evident down there how rapidly the changes are happening,” says Copeland, whose tour operators pointed out areas of moss growth on shore where once there was just snow and ice, or recounted recent rainfalls recorded for the first time in the continent’s history. “More than anything, many of our conversations focused on a different model of leadership that is more collaborative, more transformative and based on values and a legacy. It was sort of an idealistic view of what leadership could look like and what leadership probably needs to look like if we are going to save the world.”

She says her fellow health researchers spoke at length about the loss of biodiversity in the world and how leadership can spur individual behavioural changes on a mass scale.

“Me walking to work every day is not going to solve the problem, even though that’s something I do,” she says. “If we’re able to get people to spend more time outside, people will notice more about their environment and care more. Sustainability is big and broad and hard to wrap your head around sometimes, but you can distill it down into your daily actions and how you interact with the planet. So, how can we get people to notice — and to care?”

Dr. Jennifer Copeland on a landing at Orne Harbor.

In the coming months, Copeland will share her experiences in several forums and is open to addressing school classrooms or whomever has interest. She promises spectacular photography, stories about the many seals, whales and six varieties of penguins she saw, and a message about the future of our planet that is at times scary, but also hopeful that there are enough caring and committed people throughout the world eager to lead a culture of change.

“Education and research, broadly, are the answers to a lot of these problems,” she says. “Taking the things I’ve learned and using them in a way that teaches people about this complex environment and how we can individually contribute to change is one of my goals from this experience.”

Dr. Digvir Jayas begins term with well attended Welcome Walk

trevor.kenney — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 21:38:55 +0000

Billed as a 30-minute tour of campus, Dr. Digvir Jayas’s Welcome Walk stretched past 45 minutes as the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s new president and vice-chancellor engaged with multiple members of the ULethbridge community as he made his way around the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s sprawling property.

(From left) Dr. Jennifer Copeland, associate dean, Faculty of Arts & Science, Maleeka Thomas, president of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union, Dr. Digvir Jayas, president and vice-chancellor, and Jaxon Reiter, president of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Graduate Students' Association, lead the way during Tuesday's Welcome Walk.

More of a walk-and-talk, Jayas was quick to stop and chat with the various people who continued to join in on the event as it progressed through the scenic route — even earning a cheer from an exuberant Destination Exploration summer camp group. Staff, faculty, student representatives, local politicians and southern Alberta community members all participated to celebrate the first official workday for Jayas.

“I certainly am excited to be here,” says Jayas. “I think this went very well.”

Maleeka Thomas, president of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students’ Union, says the walk served as an excellent opportunity to hear from Jayas about his institutional priorities, of which students are top of mind.

“It was pretty amazing to get to experience this and to see the new president come in and prioritize student leadership and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ as always being at the forefront of his thoughts,” says Thomas. “It was great to talk about how we can work together to ensure we are seeing the betterment of our student population.”

Jaxon Reiter, president of the Graduate Students' Association, also took part in the walk.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to meet Dr. Jayas and hear about his excitement for this new role and his commitment to bettering the student experience," says Reiter. "I look forward to working with him to advance graduate student supports."

Jayas says that continuing to build relationships both within the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and externally with the broader community is key in maintaining the upward trajectory of ULethbridge. He says his priority now is to continue to make connections and utilize an engaged community to establish the path forward for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

Tuesday’s Welcome Walk, enthusiastically attended by all corners of campus and the broader southern Alberta community, was an outstanding first step.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge study examining movement and activity levels in older adults seeking participants

trevor.kenney — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 21:53:08 +0000

While multiple research studies have shown how important it is to avoid long bouts of sitting and incorporate movement into your every day, older adults — like many others — often fail to achieve these goals. A new study from Dr. Paige Pope at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge aims to develop strategies to get older adults moving more.

Pope, a health promotion researcher in the Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education, is now recruiting participants for her Move More, Sit Less study. Designed for adults 65 years or older, the study looks to provide participants with a greater awareness of their sitting patterns and help them establish realistic strategies to decrease or break up their sitting time.

Research has shown older adults (aged 65 and older) spend more time sitting than other age groups.

“Sitting is something we all do. Many people spend the majority of their day sitting, without realizing the total amount of time they spend doing it,” says Pope.

Research has shown older adults (aged 65 and older) spend more time sitting than other age groups, averaging 9.4 to 9.9 hours sitting during their daily waking hours.

“This is concerning because greater sitting time is linked with numerous health concerns that are more prevalent among older adults. These include functional limitations, reduced mobility, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and all-cause mortality,” says Pope, citing a recent study by fellow ULethbridge kinesiologist Dr. Jennifer Copeland.

Move More, Sit Less will take place over a 13- or 21-week timeframe and help participants gain a stronger understanding of how to change their habits and incorporate more movement throughout their day. It also seeks to give researchers a deeper look into how older adults’ sitting time and sitting patterns are related to important aging factors such as fear of falling, quality of life and feelings of vitality.

Pope has already run one group through the study, which uses brief informative messages to reinforce movement goals and records participants’ activity through an activity tracking device. The feedback from the first group has been positive.

“As a senior, and having mobility issues, sometimes moving is hard to do. Because of this, when I look at the motivational messages in the envelopes, and the notes that I leave for myself, I can stimulate myself and others in the building where I live to move and have fun,” says one participant.

Another notes how tracking sitting and moving patterns makes you much more aware of how often you are inactive.

Pope is looking for participants who can stand independently or with an aid, read English fluently, and can commit to a 13- or 21-week timeframe. Eligible participants will receive informative messages with tips and strategies to get them up and moving more; wear an activity tracking device; and receive a detailed summary of their activity patterns at the end of the study. Participants are also eligible to receive $40 in $10 increments throughout the study.

For more information, contact the Psychology for Active Living and Sports Lab at PALS@uleth.ca, or by calling 403-332-4435.

This research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

U of L researcher examining ways to increase daily movement among older adults in assisted-living residences

caroline.zentner — Thu, 07 May 2020 15:37:44 +0000

Some people might look forward to the time when they don’t have to shop, cook and clean house, but it turns out those activities actually support healthy aging.

“When you take those kinds of activities away, people have no reason to get up and move,” says Dr. Jennifer Copeland, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge kinesiology professor. “A lot of the ways most of us get some daily movement around the house, even now during the COVID-19 pandemic, is because we have to cook supper, do the dishes, get groceries and do basic domestic chores.”

Even simple activities like preparing a meal help increase daily movement among older adults.

Copeland conducts research into healthy aging and, thanks to a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grant worth $91,000, she and a team of researchers will turn their attention to finding ways older adults in assisted living can increase their daily movement.

A small pilot study completed at assisted-living residences in Lethbridge showed benefits in residents’ balance, leg strength and gait speed six weeks after researchers introduced the program. The program consisted of simple interventions, including an education session for residents and staff about the benefits of sitting less and ways to add more movement into daily activities. Standing tables were placed in lounges to encourage residents to stand while having coffee and signs encouraging movement were placed at strategic locations. For example, one sign was placed by the television to remind people to stand up and stretch during commercial breaks. An on-site ambassador encouraged residents to stand up and go for a walk. The researchers used inclinometers, small wearable devices, to measure time spent standing, walking and sitting before and after the program.

“The goal was to make an intervention that’s really simple and wouldn’t require a staff member, a lot of resources and money,” says Copeland. “Really, it’s just about shifting habits.”

Based on the successful results of the pilot study, Copeland and researchers in Ontario and New Brunswick now want to test the intervention on a larger scale. In addition, Alberta’s Strategic Clinical Networks and the Brenda Strafford Foundation in Calgary, which focuses on seniors’ care, are partners in the research project.

“The effectiveness of the program will be determined by measuring residents’ actual sitting time before and after the program is implemented,” says Copeland. “We will also interview residents, their families and staff to see how people feel about the strategies and how to ensure they work well for everyone.”

Because of the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the research team won’t be able to start the research this spring as originally planned. Most funding agencies are providing an extension because of the situation, so preparatory work will be done this summer in the hopes they can implement the program and collect data in a year’s time.

“For now, we will complete the first phase and develop a tool kit,” Copeland says. “We can give those to staff to try out. Given the pandemic restrictions, it might be really beneficial for them to have some ideas on how to incorporate movement throughout the day, given they can’t have visitors or go on outings.”

Study finds two-thirds of Canadian children do not meet acceptable level of physical literacy

trevor.kenney — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 16:32:22 +0000

About two-thirds of Canadian children haven’t achieved an acceptable level of physical literacy, according to a large national research project in which the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge played a major role.

Dr. Jennifer Copeland and her colleagues say that more needs to be done to promote physical activity in children to ensure they establish healthy active living habits.

The Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group (HALO) at the CHEO Research Institute says much more needs to be done to promote physical activity in Canadian children to ensure they establish healthy active living habits and future positive health outcomes.

Dr. Jennifer Copeland, a researcher in the U of L’s Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education, led a group of graduate and undergraduate students who collected data from more than 1,300 local children aged eight to 12 as part of the 10,034-children national study. The findings point to the need for increased emphasis on enhancing physical activity programming for children on a number of fronts.

“We know how vitally important physical activity is to health and wellness, across the lifespan,” says Copeland. “Therefore, it is important we understand how to ensure children develop sufficient physical literacy, so that they can maintain – and enjoy – an active lifestyle as they grow up.”

Fourteen articles that looked at different aspects of physical literacy and the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL) were published today as a special supplement in the journal BMC Public Health. Physical literacy is more than just fitness or motor skills; it includes the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.

Using the CAPL, children were assessed in a number of different areas, including handgrip strength, daily screen time, plank time, body mass index, sit-and-reach, and daily steps taken, among others. The HALO Research Group has been developing and refining the CAPL for the past 10 years, and the results of this research provide the first comprehensive assessment of the physical literacy of Canadian children.

“Through this project, we provide comprehensive evidence that Canadian children aged eight to 12 years are falling short of standards for components of physical literacy,” says Dr. Mark Tremblay, senior scientist at the CHEO Research Institute and Director for HALO. “For example, boys and girls across Canada have aerobic fitness levels at the 30th percentile of global norms and only 20 per cent are meeting physical activity guidelines.”

“Obviously these results are concerning, but studies like this are important, as they tell us not only where we are, but where we need to go,” adds Copeland. “Now we have a good picture of the current physical literacy of Canadian youth, and we can all work together to find ways to increase physical activity and improve physical literacy.”

Findings from this project have led to further refinements of the CAPL and the release of a second edition, or CAPL-2.

“Ensuring that we have the right tools for educators, coaches and parents is an important way to increase physical literacy in Canada,” says Pat Longmuir, scientist with the CHEO Research Institute, HALO Research Group. “The CAPL-2 is a shorter, easier-to-administer series of tests that can be used to assess and monitor physical literacy in Canada. The materials are available in both English and French, free of charge at www.capl-eclp.ca.”

This research study was made possible in part with support from the RBC Learn to Play Project, an initiative funded by RBC and the Public Health Agency of Canada and delivered in partnership with ParticipACTION, with additional support from Mitacs. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was one of 11 institutions across the country that participated in the project.

PUBlic Professor Series spawns a spinoff

caroline.zentner — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 20:53:05 +0000

Although Faculty of Arts & Science professors could be labelled serious, scholarly types by day, the occasion of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s 50th anniversary has given them a reason to have a little fun while still imparting their knowledge.

The PUBlic Professor Series: 5-Minute Edition, is designed to showcase the diversity of research interests within the Faculty in an entertaining format. Each of 10 professors will have five minutes and a maximum of 15 PowerPoint slides to do a presentation on their research. The slides will automatically advance every 20 seconds, requiring the speaker to keep pace.

“After five minutes is over, I’m cutting them off,” says Dr. Kevin McGeough (BA ’96), a U of L geography professor and moderator of the event. “That makes it fun because there’s a kind of panicked element to the presentation. It’s especially fun for professors because we’re not known for being concise in our comments. That lightning-fast approach makes it interesting for people to watch.”

The professors who have agreed to participate include Dr. Jay Gamble (English), Dr. René Barendregt (Geography), Dr. Sergio Pellis (Neuroscience), Dr. Ute Kothe (Biochemistry), Dr. Omar Rodriguez (Modern Languages), Dr. Jennifer Copeland (Kinesiology), Dr. Janay Nugent (History), Dr. Locke Spencer (Physics), Dr. Maura Hanrahan (Native American Studies) and Dr. Hillary Rodrigues (Religious Studies).

“One of the things we’re looking for is that these research presentations be of interest to the public and to people who aren’t specialists in the area of expertise,” says McGeough. “That matches the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s liberal education approach where we have all sorts of different disciplinary backgrounds and we all contribute to a larger conversation.”

McGeough has some experience with the format from a session he participated in at an event hosted by the U of L Faculty Association. He has a few tips for his colleagues who’ll be participating.

“Talk quickly, have a sense of what you want to say before you get up there and pick your slides well. If you lose track of where you are, good slides can cue you to get back on track or find a new track to go down,” says McGeough.

The PUBlic Professor Series: 5-Minute Edition is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. in B756 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall. McGeough says the event will be informal and people are welcome to drop in on the session even after it’s started.

“We especially hope that alumni will come and experience this event. This will be a fun way to spend the afternoon,” says McGeough, adding everyone is welcome to attend.

Copeland always on the move - for good reason

trevor.kenney — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 19:05:18 +0000

When Dr. Jennifer Copeland answers emails from her stand-up computer desk, it’s because she knows the data and is at the forefront of what science is saying – prolonged sitting is a legitimate health risk, and something we’re learning more about every day.

Copeland, an associate professor of kinesiology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, delivered a PUBlic Professor Series lecture Thursday night at Lethbridge City Hall, titled Sitting, Standing and Stepping: The Health Implications of our Daily Behaviour.

It’s a paradigm shift for her and the exercise world as researchers are now beginning to look more closely at how sedentary time affects our overall health.

Dr. Jennifer Copeland has competed in seven marathons and five ultra-marathons and has run as far as 100 kilometres in a race.

“Not that long ago, people started to question, whether it’s not the activity, but rather all the sitting the rest of our day,” says Copeland. “I’ve been involved in looking at the effects of sedentary time, sort of the opposite end of the movement continuum. What happens when you sit all the time?”

She explains that even the most active people are still very sedentary, with the average Canadian sitting about nine to 10 hours per day.

“You can train for a marathon and still spend 85 per cent of your time sitting,” she says.

This thinking has given birth to the catch phrase, ‘sitting is the new smoking’. Copeland agrees, in part, with the statement but says it is not entirely accurate.

“From a risk perspective, it might actually be true. An hour of sitting has been equated with smoking two cigarettes, and while it’s great such a statement resonates with people, I think it oversimplifies the physiology. Smoke is a carcinogen, and it’s easy for me to tell you what to do with smoking, ‘Don’t smoke, at all’, but I can’t tell you to never sit down.”

What it amounts to is a new way of looking at how we live our day-to-day lives, and it has inspired Copeland in her research activities.

Originally from Atlantic Canada – Amherst, Nova Scotia in particular – Copeland earned her undergraduate degree in biology at Mount Allison ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Always into exercising, she discovered that her interests were primarily directed at physiology and wrote her fourth-year paper on the effects of exercise on physiology. It spurred her to pursue a master’s at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of New Brunswick (UNB) that focused on exercise and sport science, and she later completed a PhD in exercise science at UNB.

“Once you study physiology you start to get curious as to what is happening to the body when you are exercising,” she says.

For the majority of her research life, that focus was directed towards studies on physical activity across the lifespan and healthy aging. Now, the research is from the other end of the spectrum.

“It’s called behaviour dynamics. We’ve moved away from looking at everything in isolation, such as how much physical activity do you do, how much sedentary time is in your day, and how much you sleep, because we know that they all interact,” she says. “It’s so easy for me to tell you to not smoke. It’s another thing to tell you how much you should move and how much you should sit, because we don’t know that yet, and that’s what makes it such interesting research.”

Copeland is active, a long distance runner who has competed in seven marathons and five ultra-marathons and who has run as far as 100 kilometres in a race. Being in great physical condition though doesn’t preclude her from worrying about how much time she sits in her office when she’s not on the running trail – hence the stand-up desk.

“We have been trying to get people to be active for decades and physical activity levels have not really improved,” she says, citing studies that say only 15 per cent of Canadians get 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous activity.

“We're not making much headway in terms of getting people moving, so maybe we need to think about another strategy, such as trying to sit less. If you're not going to do any vigorous physical activity, what if you get more light activity throughout your day? Are you better off if you stand a bit more, or maybe walk around a bit more? Research is suggesting that you are.”

Get up and get moving has never seemed so relevant.

Cooper to kick off popular PUBlic Professor lecture series

trevor.kenney — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 20:22:43 +0000

Imagine defending yourself of a major crime where your fate is determined through a simple majority vote – by 1,500 or more local citizens. Such was the way of Athenian society, the world’s first democracy, and a major focus of Dr. Craig Cooper’s research portfolio.

Dr. Craig Cooper will present Catching the Crook in Classic Athens as the opening session for the now annual and extremely popular PUBlic Professor lecture series.

Cooper will present Catching the Crook in Classic Athens as the opening session for the now annual and extremely popular PUBlic Professor lecture series, Thursday, Sept. 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Lethbridge City Hall.

“Athenians espoused this idea of rule of law, that every citizen was equal before the law regardless of their social status,” says Cooper, the dean of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Faculty of Arts & Science. “There is a debate among scholars about whether Athenians, though they ideologically and rhetorically espoused the rule of law, actually upheld the notion or put it into practice.”

The PUBlic Professor initiative was introduced in 2014 as a thought-provoking series of pub-style talks that bring a range of experts and researchers from across the arts and sciences to the community for a spirited conversation.

“We are a publicly funded institution, so I think we have a responsibility to communicate with the public about what we do,” says Cooper of the PUBlic Professor series. “I think what we do is very important across the disciplines, whether it’s from the sciences or the humanities, and I think it’s important to share this with the general public.”

So popular were the talks last year, the size of the crowds necessitated a change in venue from the U of L’s Dr. Foster James Penny Building to City Hall.

Cooper, an expert in ancient Greece, ancient Greek biography and historiography, turned to study Athenian law when he was asked to fill in one semester to teach a course on Athenian Law and Society at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Winnipeg. It quickly became his favourite course to teach and a passionate area of research.

He says the workings of ancient Greek courts and the lessons learned from studying them still have relevance today.

“Looking at any society and its aspects are relevant because it helps us reflect on our own. Here was the first democracy and this is how it ran. They would not in any way consider what we do as democratic,” says Cooper. “What concerned humans 2,000 years ago and what may have led to litigation, in some ways, were the same concerns we have now, so there is that continuity of the human experience. For me, it’s also an intrinsically interesting topic.”

In total, seven talks make up the 2015/2016 PUBlic Professor series schedule. All the talks are free and open to the public, with free appetizers and bar service available. The full lineup is as follows:

September 24, 2015– Dr. Craig Cooper (Arts & Science) – Catching the Crook in Classical Athens
October 22, 2015– Dr. Olga Kovalchuk (Biological Sciences) – Epigenetics of Health and Disease
November 19, 2015– Dr. Craig Coburn (Remote Sensing) – Understanding the Complexities of Imaging the Earth: The Challenge of Image Calibration
November 26, 2015– Dr. Jennifer Copeland (Kinesiology) – Physical Activity Versus sedentary Time and How They Interact to Affect Health
January 21, 2016– Dr. Harold Jansen (Political Science) – The Impact of Digital Technology on Democratic Citizenship in Canada
February 25, 2016– Dr. Shawn Bubel (Archaeology) – Prehistoric Bison Hunters in Southern Alberta: Excavations at the Fincastle Site
March 17, 2016– Dr. Reg Bibby (Sociology) – Beyond the Gods & Back: The Return of Religion in Canada

*All presentations are from 7 to 9 p.m. at Lethbridge City Hall. Seating is limited – no RSVP required.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers engaging children as part of national physical literacy assessment

caroline.zentner — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:16:41 +0000

Two ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge kinesiology researchers will be assessing the physical literacy of 1,300 local children over the next two years as part of the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL).

Drs. Jennifer Copeland and Luc Martin are co-investigators in the CAPL study for the Lethbridge area.

“We are one of seven universities across Canada that are participating in this nationwide study,” says Martin.

A total of 8,000 children across Canada will be assessed during the study. Physical literacy is defined as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, and knowledge and understanding that individuals develop in order to maintain physical activity at an appropriate level throughout their life.

The Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy requires basic equipment like soccer balls and Hula Hoops.

“The point of the study is to collect physical literacy data on eight- to 12-year-olds across Canada and then use that information to help us understand things like physical inactivity and childhood obesity, and to compare scores with other countries,” says Copeland. “It’s a new tool that we believe will be valuable for teachers, parents and educators, with the ultimate goal of making a more physically active nation.”

“Not only can we compare the Canadian physical literacy scores with other countries’ scores, but we can also compare within Canada,” says Martin. “It will be interesting to see if we have differences across provinces.”

The data may be included in the Active Healthy Kids Canada report card for 2015 and 2016 and may be used to guide curriculum, make policy changes, or develop intervention strategies.

The physical literacy assessment measures motivation, knowledge and understanding, and confidence through questionnaires. Physical competence is assessed through an obstacle course and by measuring height, weight, grip strength, flexibility, aerobic fitness and motor skills. The children are also given pedometers to wear for a week to measure their physical activity.

Copeland and Martin piloted the CAPL study with about 100 children who attended sport and recreation camps on campus this summer.

“All the kids who did it seemed to have a great time,” says Martin. “They had fun and they were interested. They did enjoy wearing the pedometers.”

The Holy Spirit Catholic and Lethbridge public school divisions have given approval for the researchers to approach schools about taking part in the study and Copeland and Martin plan to do so now that school is back in session. They are also looking at local children’s organizations and whether they would be interested in participating.

“We have everything,” says Martin. “We have the equipment, we have the staff. We just come in and do it all so people don’t have to worry about training someone.”

The assessment can be easily implemented because it uses basic equipment like Hula Hoops and soccer balls and a manual is available online.

Anyone interested in participating is invited to send an email to Capl@uleth.ca.

The CAPL study is being co-ordinated by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, with ParticipACTION as a leading partner and funding through the RBC Learn to Play project.

Study to examine how social and economic stressors affect Aboriginal health

trevor.kenney — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:03:05 +0000

In a first-of-its-kind study, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers are examining how the social and economic adversity faced by Aboriginal peoples may affect their biological health.

This new study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, will be co-lead by three researchers at the U of L, pulling together research strengths from health sciences, kinesiology and neuroscience.

"Aboriginal populations experience high levels of chronic stress as they are often marginalized both socially and economically in Canada. We know that over time, high unrelenting stress can have a profound influence on biological systems," says study Co-Lead, Dr. Cheryl Currie, who is a public health researcher at the U of L.

Stressful experiences are an inevitable part of life, but repeated and chronic exposure to uncontrollable stressors can disrupt the function of neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and immune systems. Markers of biological disruption can be identified well before the clinical markers of disease are detected.

"We tend to think about social and biological determinants of health separately. Connecting the two is a more comprehensive way to think about health- and may shed new light on why Aboriginal populations are disproportionately affected by chronic disease," says study Co-Lead, Dr. Jennifer Copeland, a U of L kinesiology researcher.

The study will also build on past research by Currie indicating that Aboriginal cultural practices promote resilience against alcohol and drug abuse within Aboriginal populations. In this new study, the team will examine the extent to which Aboriginal cultural practices may promote biologic resilience and improve health. Further, the study will examine the ways in which western approaches to wellness, such as regular physical activity, may also promote resiliency in these populations.

Dr. Gerlinde Metz, a neuroscientist at the U of L's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience and Co-Lead on the study says understanding the biological effects of adverse social conditions is an important step towards the development of interventions that can improve population health and wellness.

"Information gained from the study will be used to help identify new strategies that can reduce health disparities experienced by Aboriginal populations," says Metz.

The full research team includes Drs. Judith Kulig, Michelle Hogue, and Olu Awosoga from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, and Dr. David Olsen from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta. Working together with the Aboriginal community in southern Alberta, this cross-disciplinary team will examine how a range of factors - including adverse childhood experiences, poverty, unemployment, single parenthood, living in overcrowded housing and racial discrimination - impact the stress response and biological functioning among Aboriginal adults living in the Lethbridge area.

The U of L study will commence October 2013 with results expected in 2016-17.

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