UNews - Parkland Institute

U of L researchers aim to improve health and wellness of rural daycare workers

trevor.kenney — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:41:22 +0000

Parents everywhere can relate to the feeling of relief when their young children are finally tucked into bed. The physical and mental demands of caring for, protecting and entertaining toddlers can be exhausting – and that’s for just a few hours after work.

Drs. Jon Doan and Olu Awosoga are looking to put together an education and exercise package tailored to meet the unique workplace demands of daycare workers.

The wearying fatigue of caring for your child is one thing – now extrapolate that to 10 or more children, over the course of a five-day workweek and under the demands of their individual parents. Such is the challenge facing daycare workers who undoubtedly love their jobs, but face demands that consistently undermine their own health and wellness.

“This is an industry that cries out, and rightly so, about retention problems, burnout of their workers and problems with quality delivery because of worker fatigue,” says ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge kinesiology professor Dr. Jon Doan (PhD '07) “So they need some help.”

Doan and research partner Dr. Olu Awosoga of the Faculty of Health Sciences have been awarded one of two annual Parkland Institute grants to study the situation and hopefully provide help through the delivery of an evidence-based education and work-related exercise program. They have also received funding from the Government of Alberta, Occupational Health and Safety Futures Research Funding Program (2014 competition), to develop an ergonomic intervention for childcare workers.

The idea spawned from Awosoga’s personal connection to the daycare industry. His wife Esther is the director of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Daycare and he sees, first-hand, the staffing issues she faces when employee health and wellness is compromised.

“I understand what she goes through. Apart from her administrative work, she would have to be in class if workers call in sick. I would ask her to explain her work and what the problem was,” says Awosoga. “She explained to me how everybody is interested in the quality of work they give to the kids but nobody is interested in the workers themselves. I thought it’d be a great topic to research.”

Awosoga’s background is in analyzing data and applied statistics. He sought out Doan because of his expertise in factors such as ergonomics and physical movement. They also chose to focus their studies on rural daycare providers because of both their limited supply in some areas, and their limited access to wellness opportunities that may be available to workers in urban centres.

“Just looking at it in practical terms, if daycares close because their workers are off on disability leave, then it impacts the parents and it impacts the quality of education for the kids – it’s a real trickle-down effect,” says Doan. “In a rural setting, this is even more acute. You may be looking at single operator day homes and only a small selection of them. If one or more closes for an extended period of time, there are a lot of people who are disadvantaged as a result.”

With input from a project advisory board that included daycare workers and administrators, Doan and Awosoga set out to first evaluate the current health and wellness attitudes of rural daycare workers.

“Olu has really great skills when it comes to big data set analysis,” says Doan. “In the pilot study, we delivered questionnaires to a large number of workers. Olu has the statistical tools and understanding to sift through the data and to pull these answers together and say here are the themes and commonalities that are emerging from this data.”

From there, the group will work to put together an education and exercise package tailored to meet the unique workplace demands of daycare workers.

“As a new investigator, learning from an experienced investigator such as Jon, I bring in how to apply statistics and the quantitative approach,” says Awosoga. “Fortunately for me I am learning a lot about the qualitative aspect as well because I have the opportunity to work with many qualitative researchers.”

The project could have significant public policy implications. Through their work, Doan and Awosoga have discovered a dearth of literature and policy related to the health and safety of daycare workers both in Alberta and across the country.

“From a policy perspective, this is an opportunity to establish something that can be applicable to all those small workplaces that can’t feasibly have their own occupational health and safety awareness programs,” says Doan. “People recognize the importance of this but just don’t know how to support it and we hope to be able to provide that.”

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Learn more about community-connect research like this at the 2015 Community ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Research Exchange.

Doctoral student using Parkland Institute award for study to uncover links between prenatal stress and aging

trevor.kenney — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:35:32 +0000

The effects of prenatal stress can be seen across generations and Mirela Ambeskovic is studying those effects across a lifespan.

Ambeskovic (BA '12, MSc '14), a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge doctoral student studying under neuroscientist Dr. Gerlinde Metz, became interested in studying the effects of prenatal stress because of the influence it had on her and her family when they lived in Bosnia. Ambeskovic’s grandmother experienced prenatal stress in the aftermath of the Second World War, when shelter and food were scarce, as did her mother a generation later.

Mirela Ambeskovic is seeking to determine how prenatal stress programs the brain and behaviour across generations.

“I was a prenatally stressed baby, too. When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad went into the army. So she was home alone and had to deal with lots,” says Ambeskovic. “In a way, I feel like it maybe benefited me, building the same kind of resilience I see in the subjects we test.”

She came to Canada in 1998 after her family, including her mother and two siblings, was displaced in the Bosnian war that lasted from 1992 to 1995. She attended Winston Churchill High School and started studying biology and psychology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge a year after graduating. Two years later, she made the switch to neuroscience and got some experience working in the laboratory under Dr. Deborah Saucier, a former U of L professor of neuroscience. After she took a class on stress with Dr. Metz, she knew she’d found the field she wanted to explore further. Ambeskovic asked if Metz would take her on as a master’s student and a few days later she was in the lab.

“Everything fell into place. I stuck with it and now I’m doing my PhD. I love coming to work every day,” says Ambeskovic.

Her own stress level recently received a little reprieve when she was awarded a $5,000 scholarship through the Parkland Institute. With the financial pressure alleviated, she’ll be able to focus solely on her research.

“The main goal of my research is to determine how prenatal stress programs the brain and behaviour across generations,” she says. “I am interested in possible prenatal stress and aging interactions. I assess for cognitive and motor functions, depression and anxiety levels and brain plasticity in rats from young adulthood to middle-aged and aged.”

She studies rats over an 18-month period, equivalent to a human lifespan of 60 to 70 years. Every six months she evaluates brain and behavioural changes in the animals. Ambeskovic looks specifically at the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that integrates learning, memory and emotion and helps in decision-making. She also compares the effects of prenatal stress on males and females to see if any sex differences exist and whether the rats’ lifespans and susceptibility to diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, kidney failure and heart failure, are affected.

In addition to a control group of non-stressed rats, Ambeskovic studies a group of rats where only the great-grandmother was prenatally stressed and not subsequent generations, and another group where all four generations experienced prenatal stress. While her research isn’t yet completed, she’s already found some results that point to the effects of prenatal stress.

“Prenatally stressed animals have a shorter lifespan and are more prone to diseases earlier in life than non-stressed individuals,” she says. “Prenatally stressed animals age faster with earlier onset of motor and cognitive deficits. Interestingly, the males are more affected than females. Females deal much better with prenatal stress than males do. Their behaviour is not as affected, nor is their brain. It actually appears that the prenatally stressed females build resilience to stress and show enhanced cognitive and motor functions.”

Not all prenatal stress is bad. Some stress is good as it prepares individuals for the environment they are born into. For instance, an animal pre-programmed to survive in a stressful environment will cope better and go on to reproduce, ensuring survival of the species, and this may have evolutionary purposes.

“It catches up to them as they get older. The organism kind of gets run down,” says Ambeskovic. “Maybe that’s why we see the difference between males and females. Males are OK when they are younger to the stage that reproduction can happen. As they get older, their bodies run down and they start giving up faster. They age faster than the females. But why females are so resilient all the time I’m not quite sure.”

In a separate study, Ambeskovic looked at the effects of prenatal stress on the emotional or mental states in young and middle-aged male rats. She found increased levels of depression and anxiety, enhanced hyperactivity and stress hormone levels in middle-aged rats. She called this cluster of behaviours exhibited by her male rats a ‘middle-age crisis’ as it resonated with similar behaviours in humans.

Ambeskovic is also looking at the epigenetic effects of prenatal stress. Certain genes, or parts of genes, may be turned on or off, depending on the environment and the rat’s experiences. For example, putting animals in an enriched environment has been shown to reverse some of the effects of prenatal stress.

“In our multi-generationally stressed animals, a lot of genes seem to be either up or down regulated and these seem to be involved in aging and immune functions, along with diabetes and depression. We need to look further into specific genes and micro-RNAs (small sequences of specific DNA) that might be changing,” she says of future studies.

Parkland Institute and U of L partner to support diverse research projects

robert.cooney — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 20:12:39 +0000

Two ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge humanities and social sciences researchers studying vastly different projects will receive support for their work from the Parkland Institute, a not-for profit organization based at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta that supports the study of economic, social, cultural and political issues facing Albertans and Canadians.

Pictured from left to right, Dr. Trevor Harrison, Ann Holden and Dr. Suzanne Lenon

Dr. Suzanne Lenon (Women and Gender Studies), whose research interests are in the area of law, gender and sexuality, will receive $5,000 to further her research on the complex relationships between gender equality and the recognition of valid foreign polygamous marriages.

Ann Åsfrid Holden, graduate studies Master of Arts candidate in History, takes her research into the Subarctic and Arctic to compare legal policies that affect first Nations and Inuit people in Northern Quebec, and those of the Sami people of her home country of Norway. Both groups were affected by large-scale hydroelectric power developments that changed their land and lifestyles, and the legality of the expropriation of indigenous land for these developments was questionable. She will also receive $5,000 to further her studies.

“Parkland is excited to be able to support the diverse research represented by Dr. Suzanne Lenon and Ann Holden,” said Dr. Trevor Harrison, a U of L sociology researcher and Director of the Parkland Institute.

“Parkland’s emphasis has been, and remains, on research that is academically sound, that is important to the broad public and that dares to push the boundaries of our understanding. Both of these research projects fit that bill.”

Harrison added that though they are very different, both projects deal with legal issues and social policy.

“Dr. Lenon’s work will contribute to the body of knowledge that deals with immigration, polygamy, and gender equality, and how those concepts are intertwined, in an often confusing way, from a policy perspective. Ann Holden’s work will explore and explain how the respective legal systems of Norway and Canada have framed the implementation of hydroelectric projects on indigenous land. Though they are far apart geographically, there are some striking similarities that both parties could gain from knowing more about.”

SUZANNE LENON

In Lenon’s case, she is using the recent (2011) Polygamy Reference case in British Columbia as a springboard for discussion, which upholds the prohibition of polygamy in Canada as constitutionally sound. “As in the United States, polygamy is illegal in Canada, but people often immigrate to Canada from a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East where polygamous relationships are, in fact, legal,” Lenon said.

Lenon said that one of the reasons for the continued criminalization polygamous marriages in Canada (and in the West) is that of gender equality.

“The second spouse cannot be legally acknowledged, and has very few, if any, rights if the relationship breaks down. The same challenges apply to people in Canadian polygamous relationships in communities such as Bountiful, BC, where the law applies to the individual who is considered to be legally married, but not to other polygamous spouses. While this law is upheld in the name of gender equality, in these cases the law prevents women from being legally supported if there are problems, and this, ironically, has created gender inequality.”

There is, she says, vigorous debate as to whether continued criminalization of polygamous marriage is a viable public policy strategy to address the complex issues arising from it.

ANN HOLDEN

Holden’s work involves a topic that is just as complex, involves a number of inequality elements, and has affected people -- but in a different way.

The development of hyropower projects in both Norway and Canada a few decades ago and 1980scaused more grief for the politicians than they would have expected, because the negative reactions to it was so strong. Both the James Bay Cree, a fishing, hunting, and trapping community in eastern James Bay in Canada, and the reindeer-farming Sami people in Finnmark, Northern Norway argued that they had rights that stemmed from their immemorial usage of the land.

“Historically, land ownership, in the Western meaning of the word, was a foreign concept for both the Sami and the James Bay Cree,” Holden said. “The Norwegian and British legal systems suited a farming culture, and private ownership over land was the most common form of a legal connection to land, although not the only form of legal rights to land. When the Scandinavian legal traditions met the Sami traditions and the James Bay Cree met the English and later French traditions, the needs of both communities were written into the laws - but not equally.”

Holden said that her work will help Indigenous groups learn more about how the laws of land ownership -- and land management -- can apply to current issues where land is disputed, in particular in cases that involve oil, gas and mining exploration in the northern areas of several Canadian provinces and Territories, and also in northern Sweden, where similar activities are taking place.

“In Canada, resource extraction (i.e. mining) on indigenous land happens in several Provinces. In Sweden, civil disobedience that mirrors the actions the Norwegian Sami used in the 1970s and 1980s was used as a tool to put a mining project on traditional Sami reindeer herding ground on the political agenda. These events are taking place right now, and have significant parallels to the challenges I am looking at which took place decades ago. The historical context is important to understand current issues because changes to the law in both the cases I study were consistent with legal traditions in Canada and Norway.”

Ultimately for Harrison, funding projects that stimulate not only public conversation but social change -- and that allow researchers to explore topics of public interest -- is what makes him happy as a researcher and as a representative of the Parkland Institute.

“This is the second year that the Parkland Institute has partnered with the U of L to deliver the scholarships. I want to thank the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge for its tremendous support given to Parkland, in particular for making the awards possible.”

The project period is two years, and the researchers are expected to deliver a final report on their work to the Parkland Institute, which will make their findings public.

Contacts:

Dr. Suzanne Lenon, Women and Gender Studies (403) 380-1876
suzanne.lenon@uleth.ca
http://directory.uleth.ca/users/suzanne.lenon

Ann Åsfrid Holden, School of Graduate Studies Candidate (History)
ann.holden@uleth.ca

Dr. Trevor Harrison, Sociology / Director, Parkland Institute (403) 329-2552
trevor.harrison@uleth.ca
http://directory.uleth.ca/users/trevor.harrison
http://parklandinstitute.ca/home/

Parkland Institute grant supports research project

trevor.kenney — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 21:16:15 +0000

The Parkland Institute has granted funding for the first time under a new program established this year.

Both the Parkland Institute Faculty Research Grant and the Parkland Institute Graduate Research Award aim to provide seed funding for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge faculty and their research teams, including students, in areas of public policy. Dr. Claudia Malacrida (sociology) and international graduate student Alan Santinele Martino are the first recipients of the combined $10,000 award.

Both researchers will be exploring information and services about relationships, intimacy and sexuality for people with intellectual disabilities. Malacrida will be gathering data on the policy and programming options that guide individuals, family members and agencies in their decision-making.

International graduate student Alan Santinele Martino, left, with Drs. Claudia Malacrida and Trevor Harrison.

Martino will be interviewing agency workers about the challenges and resources they experience in supporting people with intellectual disabilities in terms of sexuality and relationships.

Parkland Institute Director Dr. Trevor Harrison (sociology) says the projects fit well within the institute's mandate to research topics of interest to a broad audience, and which examine disparity between groups or organizations.

"Studying the issues surrounding sexuality in the context of an intellectual or developmental disability is an under-researched area that we are pleased to support both at a faculty level and at a graduate student level," says Harrison. "Research is a long-term process that often suffers in the initial stages for lack of start-up funds, much like a small business. We are hopeful that, by making sure projects like these get started, they lead to other opportunities for our researchers and graduate students."

Martino says that advocating for the rights and social inclusion of individuals with disability has always been a personal commitment.

"I have an older brother with cerebral palsy, and I believe that this research is a chance to connect knowledge and practice in a way that we can improve the lives of individuals with disability, as well as their families."

"For me, it is not possible to talk about social inclusion without considering sexuality. We need to acknowledge the importance of recognizing individuals with disabilities as sexual beings within their communities and providing them with opportunities for a healthy sexual development."

Martino is originally from São Paulo, Brazil. He came to the U of L to work with Malacrida after completing his undergraduate degree at St. Lawrence ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in New York State. He plans to interview agencies, policymakers and community members to learn more about how sexuality is either integrated or not integrated into the process of working with people with developmental disabilities, and hopes to influence change at a policy level.

"The key objective of my research is to influence the policies and practices in the agency and government levels, identifying gaps and suggesting possible solutions."

See the video below for more on Martino's experience at the U of L.

This story first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the Legend. To see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Parkland Institute establishes new research awards

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:15:12 +0000

The Parkland Institute is sponsoring two new awards for faculty and graduate students at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. Worth $5,000 each, the awards reflect a desire by the Parkland Institute to broaden its research base and provide opportunities for faculty members and graduate studies candidates to work together. Contact Trevor Harrison (trevor.harrison@uleth.ca) for more information.

Parkland Institute Faculty Research Grant

The Parkland Institute Faculty Research Grant (PIFRG) aims to support small-scale research by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge faculty and their research teams, including students, in areas of public policy. We encourage research associates to build research teams, possibly interdisciplinary teams, which could include colleagues at the U of L or elsewhere.

Eligibility

The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Research Associate of Parkland Institute, though members of the research team may come from other institutions.

A member of Parkland Institute's Research Committee is eligible to apply but cannot participate in discussions related to evaluation of the proposals.

Parkland Institute Graduate Research Award

The Parkland Institute Graduate Research Award (PIGRA) aims to encourage research and advance training of graduate students from all faculties. The program facilitates research advancement by providing students with a suitable research training experience with a Parkland Institute Research Associate at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge dealing with public policy research.

Eligibility

At the time of application the student must:
• be a full-time graduate student
• have a cumulative GPA of 3.60 or higher
• plan to return to full-time graduate studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in the semester immediately following the award.

This story first appeared in the February 2012 edition of The Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Harrison assumes Parkland Institute's director's role

trevor.kenney — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:12:04 +0000

After years as a volunteer supporter, researcher, advocate and co-director at the Parkland Institute, Dr. Trevor Harrison (Sociology) has moved into the director's chair of the Edmonton-based, but province-wide, research organization.

The Parkland Institute studies economic, social, cultural and political issues facing Albertans and Canadians, using the perspective of political economy.

"The institute shares the results of its research widely and promotes discussion of those issues," Harrison says. "Within post-secondary institutions, Parkland Institute includes those who are involved in interdisciplinary and socially-engaged thinking."

With a diverse board and support from members, Harrison says the Parkland Institute is serving a niche purpose.

"One of things that makes the Parkland Institute unique is the connection with the community," Harrison says. "We spend a lot of time trying to get away from complex wording and jargon while preserving the intent of the research, and we try to communicate with the community at large."

Harrison says the Parkland Institute works with religious organizations, professionals, trade unionists, the arts community, non-profit organizations, environmentalists, feminists, social movement activists, private sector individuals and other interested individuals.

Harrison cites ongoing research into disparity – economic and social – as being typical of how the Parkland Institute's work has acted as a catalyst for social change. Alongside other research that outlined the challenges of royalty rights in the oil and gas industry, Harrison says the vastly different projects affected change and drew attention to issues common to all Albertans.

A broad base of members who pay a donation-based individual membership supports the organization, and number more than 700 – a figure Harrison hopes to increase.

"We don't want to be connected to any one particular group, and have found that individual members provide a good base of support. We view this as a two-way conversation, and many research topics have evolved from what our members tell us."

New to the U of L are two awards aimed at faculty and graduate studies candidates, which Harrison hopes will spawn even more research ideas.

To learn more about the Parkland Institute, visit its website at parklandinstitute.ca or e-mail Harrison directly at trevor.harrison@uleth.ca

This story first appeared in the February 2012 edition of The Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Parkland Institute

U of L researchers aim to improve health and wellness of rural daycare workers

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Doctoral student using Parkland Institute award for study to uncover links between prenatal stress and aging

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Parkland Institute and U of L partner to support diverse research projects

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Parkland Institute grant supports research project

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Parkland Institute establishes new research awards

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