Featured Faculty & Staff Research

"Brave spaces in nursing ethics education: Courage through pedagogy." Journal of Nursing Ethics, 0(0). 2023. 

Natalie Ford, Masters of Nursing, Registered Nurse, CCNE; Larissa Gomes, Masters of Nursing, Registered Nurse, CCNE, Dr. Stephen Brown, Ph.D. 

Research description: Given the critical need to create morally supportive learning spaces which support civil discourse in nursing ethics education, the authors investigated the use of intentional pedagogy which fosters authentic engagement and courage in the classroom using a brave space framework. Using an exploratory cross-sectional design, data was collected from a nursing healthcare ethics and law course which was using a collaborative assessment called the engagement self-assessment (ESA). The research explored the influence of the ESA in the classroom and alignment with and creation of brave spaces within the learning environment.

Impact of research on learners at RDP: Results support the use of engagement assessment tools which promote agency, diversity in engagement, and independence for learners in our nursing program. Using a brave space framework can help transform the fear of vulnerability in learning spaces into authentic learning with one another.

Impact of research on broader community: The use of brave spaces in nursing ethics education is a novel approach not yet published in the nursing ethics literature. Results of the study offer new insights into the transformative impact of using brave spaces to support vulnerability in learners and the creation of inclusive and morally supportive learning spaces in higher education.

Future and current uses: Brave learning spaces are now embedded into the healthcare ethics and law course in our nursing program and is being piloted in our nursing simulation program. Expanded uses of brave learning spaces continues to be explored to support graduates who can exemplify bravery and accountability.  

"Life Skill Needs of Occupational Therapy Assistant Students: Perceptions of Instructors, Preceptors, Graduates and Current Students." Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 6(3). 2022.

Candi Raudebaugh, DSc (RHL), MSc (OT)

In this article, Red Deer Polytechnic Occupational and Physical Therapy Assistant Program instructor Candi Raudebaugh, along with her co-authors Marcia Finlayson and Kathleen Norman from Queen’s University and Sally Stewart from the University of British Columbia Okanagan describe their study of the life skill needs of occupational therapy assistant (OTA) students. Students in the second year of a 2-year therapy assistant diploma program, graduates, instructors, and preceptors participated in interviews or focus groups to discuss OTA students’ life skill needs. Common themes were identified: contributors to student success; impact of students’ life skills on clinical encounters; and life skills training needs. Findings suggest that OTA students with lower confidence or abilities in life skills may also have lower confidence and success in clinical encounters. Life skills training tailored to OTA students may help students develop foundational skills to enhance their confidence and competence in relevant life skill areas. 

"The Impact of a Virtual Doctoral Student Networking Group during COVID-19." Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(0), 667–679. 2021.

Candi Raudebaugh, DSc (RHL), MSc (OT)

In this article, Red Deer Polytechnic Occupational and Physical Therapy Assistant Program instructor Candi Raudebaugh, along with her co-authors Jodi Webber, Stacey Hatch, Julie Petrin, Rhona Anderson, Ansha Nega, Karen Shannon, and Marcia Finlayson explore the value of a virtual doctoral networking group created to foster academic connection and peer learning during the COVID-19 global pandemic. They demonstrate that the benefits of the cohort model of learning can occur across programs and independent of the stage of progression in the programs, in a virtual context. These benefits open opportunities to new ways of supporting doctoral students in a post-pandemic environment.

Victorian Samplings Podcast Episode 4: Singing From the Margins. Crafting Communities.

Heather Marcovitch, PhD

In this podcast, Red Deer Polytechnic English faculty member Dr. Heather Marcovitch is part of a panel discussion about the hymns Victorians sang and the role of vocal music in the lives of marginalized individuals and groups. Dr. Marcovitch’s talk focuses on the Ethical Culture Society of New York, a secular humanist society, and the way its founder, Felix Adler, wove Talmudic knowledge into a popular hymn for the Society. These podcasts are part of the Crafting Communities project, a scholarly website about Victorian material culture and crafting.

“Open Education Lightning Talk: Open Education Practices in Introductory Psychology Courses.” 2021 University of Alberta Open Education Symposium.

Elena Antoniadis, PhD

In this presentation, Red Deer Polytechnic Psychology faculty member Dr. Elena Antoniadis describes the planning and implementation phases for the integration of Open Education Resources in online introductory psychology courses. A description of the faculty-generated instructional content and resources aligning with specified learning outcomes are also covered. The overarching goal of the project is to broaden access to education by lowering the cost of learning to students, all the while delivering a high-quality educational experience. If this year-long pilot is successful, the use of Open Educational Resources will be introduced into other introductory psychology courses within the institution.

 “An Exploration of Concept-Based Curriculum: A Qualitative Study”

Principal Investigator: Juliet Onabadejo, PhD, RN; Co-Investigators: Katherine Schepp, MN, RN; Carnelle "Raigne" Symes MN, RN CCNE; Kala Streibel, MN, RN CCSNE

Red Deer Polytechnic Nursing faculty members Dr. Juliet Onabadejo, Katherine Schepp, Carnelle "Raigne" Symes and Kala Streibel are exploring the overall impact of a new concept-based curriculum at the program level. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) program has recently implemented a concept-based curriculum which is a response to the issues of content-laden curricula to encourage effective student outcomes. The experiences of faculty, staff, administrators, and students are being explored to understand the impact of the curriculum change. A qualitative research method will enable the researchers to gain an understanding of how the faculty, staff, and students construct meaning within their context. This study will assist with knowledge generation and quality assurance while promoting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research within the Collaborative BScN Program.  

Funding enables an undergraduate nursing student to participate as a paid research assistant, giving her a direct nursing education research experience with an opportunity to further develop a range of twenty-first century skills that will enhance her workplace readiness.

Award recipients: Dr. Gregory Wells, School of Arts and Education and Dr. Reiko Yeap, School of Arts and Education

Project summary: The rapid growth of eHealth and mobile health (mHealth) services in recent years presents significant opportunities to enhance healthcare access and quality by providing remote access, improving patient-provider communication, and supporting self-management. However, barriers persist, particularly for aging populations with complex healthcare needs that require continuous monitoring and management. In Central Alberta, older adults face unique challenges in accessing and managing healthcare services, especially in rural and remote areas where infrastructure and resources are limited. These challenges include limited access to healthcare services, transportation difficulties that impede attending in-person medical appointments, and social isolation, which negatively impacts mental and emotional well-being. As part of the Health Everywhere initiative, this project examines the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences with eHealth and mHealth technologies of older adults residing in urban and rural communities through surveys and in-depth interviews. The findings aim to uncover key obstacles and opportunities for digital health adoption, guiding strategies to improve accessibility, reduce user anxiety, and promote healthy, independent aging in place.”

Award recipient: Dr. Laura Davis, School of Arts and Education

Project summary: This project is a conference paper presentation called “Time in Alice Munro’s Autobiographical Stories: ‘The Eye’ and ‘Dear Life,’ which stems from Dr. Davis’ forthcoming book, Alice Munro and the Art of Time (University of Alberta Press, 2025). She will present the paper in June of 2025 in Toronto at the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) annual conference, part of the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences.

In their seminal book, Reading Autobiography, authors Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson explain that the boundaries between life writing and fiction are often dynamic and in flux. Munro’s engagement with such intricacies and the slipperiness of autobiographical discourse is not new, since she was enmeshed with them throughout her career. Yet, the stories that Dr. Davis addresses are the last stories that she wrote about her life. In them, she expresses her own life in round about and complex ways, looking back on it endearingly, even as the title also suggests a kind of survival mode, evoking the phrase “hold on for dear life.” Since Munro’s death in May of 2024, and her daughter’s subsequent revelations that she was abused by her stepfather, no one has written about these final stories and their implications for Munro’s life and legacy. My paper aims to fill that critical gap.

The work examines how Muro mirrors and rejects the Self as it is represented in art and literature. Drawing from psychoanalytic and feminist theories, Dr. Davis will address how the young Munro, in these stories, rejects her mother and refuses to see herself confined, like the “Alice” in Alice in Wonderland. Finally, Dr. Davis will delineate how Munro turns to the home as a location for the Self, examining her childhood house, the home of her own body, and her return to her mother. 

Award recipient: Dr. Heather Marcovitch, School of Arts and Education 

Project summary: Drs. Heather Marcovitch (Red Deer Polytechnic) and Richa Dwor (Douglas College) are publishing the first modern anthology of Jewish Women Writers of Victorian England. This book will include essays, poems, short stories, excerpts from novels, sermons, recipes, etiquette manuals, and literary letters from Jewish women who were prominent in the synagogues and Women’s Auxiliaries of Victorian England, and by Jewish women who were read by the wider Victorian public. These writers not only dealt with the modernization of Jewish life, but also the widespread anti-Semitism of British Victorian culture, and the increased freedoms women demanded by the end of the nineteenth century. By conducting research in archives at London universities and synagogues, I will be collecting writings that have never been anthologized before to show the significant contributions made by Jewish women to Jewish culture and to secular Victorian culture. These writings will be printed alongside better-known Jewish women writers to show the wide-ranging interests and diverse perspectives of Jewish women writers in the Victorian age.

Award recipients Dr. Juliet Onabadejo, School of Health and Wellness; Dr. Fola Oluwasina, Donald School of Business; Dr. Jones Adjei School of Arts and Education

Project summary Impact of racial discrimination on the mental health of Black Canadians- Phase II builds on our previous study that described the effects of racial discrimination. The qualitative approach of Phase I helped situate personal stories of racism and racism-related stressors and identify the nature and extent of how racism erodes mental health.

Phase II of this project will further build on these patterns by utilizing a quantitative survey strategy across Alberta. This phase is expected to determine the proportion and intensity of mental health outcomes associated with racial discrimination, among Black Canadians. It will also ascertain how these outcomes are mediated; by, for instance, systematic factors or social health determinant factors or coping factors. The Black population across Alberta will be targeted through a detailed survey to gather information on the study’s variables. This study will also enable us to consider the differences in the mental health consequences arising from the above factors by comparing and contrasting the results. The knowledge obtained will result in practical recommendations for public policies and interventions to reduce mental health disparities, and address racism.

The project is timely in the context of Canada’s ongoing push toward practicing mental health equity and supporting people of color, by identifying the concrete issues that Black Canadians face, this research aims to address the gaps in the literature as well as outline the key steps toward change.

The results will be disseminated, both formally and freely, to policymakers, mental health care service providers and community-based agencies as well as Black-led organizations in order to better understand and address their needs and promote equitable mental health care for the population. This study is a contribution towards redressing these injustices thereby promoting greater mental health for Black people and a healthier society in general.

Award recipient: Dr. Robert Opoku, Donald School of Business

Project summary: Research in Canada has largely focused on environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors by comparing Canadians with other nationalities or examining Canadians as a whole. However, little research has explored the environmental engagement of international students, a growing demographic with the potential to enhance campus sustainability. International students bring diverse ecological attitudes and behaviors that can impact campus culture and promote environmentally friendly practices, making them a valuable segment for sustainable products and future leadership on environmental issues. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating factors influencing international students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors at Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP). This study will offer insights into fostering sustainable behaviors, enriching the understanding of environmentalism in diverse populations, and helping to create sustainable, inclusive campus communities aligned with Canada’s sustainability goals.

Award recipient: Dr. Choon-Lee Chai, School of Arts and Education

Project Summary:   This research aims to study international students’ experiences of “place” at Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP). Arriving in a new place, international students often experience feelings of unfamiliarity, displacement, and alienation. To overcome this sense of dislocation, they engage in activities such as placemaking and spatial homemaking to forge a sense of continuity and belonging. Their interactions with campus spaces shape their sense of RDP as a place, which has a unique socio-cultural and geographical makeup that presents specific learning opportunities and challenges to international students. Little is understood about how feelings of place disruption or identity dislocation might impact student learning and their lives. This research will fill the knowledge gap through international students' narratives of comfortable and uncomfortable places at RDP. International students are part of the Red Deer community, and the research findings will forge a better understanding of their presence, contributions, and challenges they face, as RDP and Red Deer venture to make Central Alberta a welcoming and inclusive place of destination for international migrants.

Award recipient: Dr. Jamie Prowse-Turner, School of Arts and Education

Project Summary: The perinatal period is one anticipated with joy. However, for many mothers, the experience can result in physical and emotional trauma. Although birth trauma is considered a subjective experience, the general conceptualization of the experience is complex. This research will aim to address how childhood trauma may make women more vulnerable to experiencing birth trauma, specific factors and unique characteristics of mothers related to their experience, and the outcomes of the interaction of these variables following birth. This research will fill a gap in the field and provide insights that may influence practitioners, policy makers, and the general public by promoting maternal mental health and well-being and, ultimately, contributing to healthier families.

Award recipient: Dr. Jones Adjei School of Arts and Education

Project summary: This project sought to achieve two main objectives. The first was to examine individual adults’ attitudes towards corporal punishment of children and how these attitudes vary by broader socioeconomic and geographical characteristics of the individuals. To address this question, a statistical analysis was undertaken using data from the 2017-2022 World Values Survey involving over 94,000 respondents from 64 countries.

The second objective was to access if individual parents’ and guardians’ prior experiences with corporal punishment when they were children affect their attitudes as adults. To this end, an in-depth interview was conducted with 20 participants comprising parents and childcare providers of children between the ages of three and twelve years old. The qualitative component of this study was first vetted and approved by the Red Deer Polytechnic Research Ethnics Board. Two senior undergraduate students in the Bachelor of Arts Multidisciplinary Degree program at Red Deer Polytechnic were hired as student research assistants for this project. The interviews were conducted by the trained student research assistants and each participant was offered a $10 Tim Hortons gift card as a token of appreciation for their participation.

Consistent with the social learning theoretical framework, the analyses of the transcripts revealed that adults who had experienced or witnessed maltreatment in childhood such as corporal punishment as a means of corrections were more likely to indicate that they sometimes, often inadvertently, use spanking as a form of correction. This is consistent with the earlier research that have demonstrated that people who experienced corporal punishment to correct their behaviour were more likely to use the same tactics against their own children when they became adults.

Through analyses of the World Values Survey, it was found that individuals in rich developed countries where corporal punishments are banned in all settings were significantly more likely to view corporal punishment as an inappropriate way of correcting childhood misbehaviours. This suggested that the existence of legal provisions that protect children from all forms of abuse tend to interact with a country’s level of socioeconomic development in shaping individuals’ towards child-safety values.

This project is quite unique in its ability to utilize a mixed-methods approach. It allows for an investigation of the much broader macro-level factors such as the legal environment and the socioeconomic contexts within which individuals’ lives are embedded and how those forces shape their perceptions and attitudes towards corporal punishment of children.

Award recipients: Dr. Juliet Onabadejo, School of Health and Wellness and Dr. Folajinmi Oluwasina, Donald School of Business and Jones Adjei, School of Arts and Education

Project summary: The study aims to examine racial discrimination's effect on Black Canadians' mental health and determine the underlying processes and elements that contribute to this impact.  By analyzing the unique experiences of Black Canadians, the research team will add to current literature on racial discrimination and mental health, with the ultimate objective of guiding policy and practice to improve mental health outcomes for Black Canadians and other marginalized populations.

Award recipients: Natalie Ford, Masters of Nursing, Registered Nurse, CCNE; Larissa Gomes, Masters of Nursing, Registered Nurse, CCNE, Dr. Stephen Brown, Ph.D.

Project summary: Given the critical need to create morally supportive learning spaces which support civil discourse in nursing ethics education, the authors investigated the use of intentional pedagogy which fosters authentic engagement and courage in the classroom using a brave space framework. Using an exploratory cross-sectional design, data was collected from a nursing healthcare ethics and law course which was using a collaborative assessment called the engagement self-assessment (ESA). The research explored the influence of the ESA in the classroom and alignment with and creation of brave spaces within the learning environment.

Impact of research on learners at RDP: Results support the use of engagement assessment tools which promote agency, diversity in engagement, and independence for learners in our nursing program. Using a brave space framework can help transform the fear of vulnerability in learning spaces into authentic learning with one another.

Impact of research on broader community: The use of brave spaces in nursing ethics education is a novel approach not yet published in the nursing ethics literature. Results of the study offer new insights into the transformative impact of using brave spaces to support vulnerability in learners and the creation of inclusive and morally supportive learning spaces in higher education.

Future and current uses: Brave learning spaces are now embedded into the healthcare ethics and law course in our nursing program and is being piloted in our nursing simulation program. Expanded uses of brave learning spaces continues to be explored to support graduates who can exemplify bravery and accountability. 

Award recipient: Dr. Laura Davis, School of Arts and Culture

Project summary: The project was an exploratory one where Laura set out to find out new knowledge and information about the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. Specifically, Laura wanted to find out the extent to which she impacts conservation and environmental initiatives—through her donations and hands-on involvement. This is an important project because public figures like Margaret Atwood have celebrity leverage by which they can do good for society. Where public figures choose to donate and how they become involved can lead—Laura would argue—to actual impact in terms of conservation initiatives No one, thus far, has measured the extent to which public figures or celebrities impact conservation through their publicity and involvement. Doing so will enable other organizations to target celebrity donors, increase public visibility, and enhance awareness about conservation initiatives. 

Award recipient: Dr. Anah-Jayne Samuelson, School of Arts and Culture

Project summary: This project examines and suggests alternatives to Canada’s past and present child welfare policies that disproportionally impact Indigenous children. According to a 2021 Statistics Canada census, 53.8% of children in foster care are Indigenous, and yet Indigenous children account for only 7.7% of the total child population in Canada (“Indigenous Populations”). Robertson’s novel investigates the consequences of this on Indigenous children’s cultural and familial identities. In the novel, Robertson demonstrates the transformative potential of child welfare if it functions under the goals of Indigenous resurgence, is led by Indigenous Peoples, and is rooted in the Cree concept of Wahoktowin: systems of kinship that are defined not solely by blood relations, but by actions and the shared obligations and responsibilities we have towards one another.

Considering alternatives to federal child welfare policies is especially timely and important as Canada’s Bill C-92, an act that came into effect in 2021 and empowers Indigenous communities to develop and execute their own laws and policies regarding child welfare, is currently in front of the Supreme Court. The province of Quebec challenged the bill, claiming that the federal government has overstepped its jurisdiction in dictating how child welfare could be administered by provincial governments—or, more specifically, not be administered by provincial governments, and by Indigenous communities instead. How the court rules will have major impacts not only on child welfare, but on how Indigenous laws are respected in future cases—the stakes remain high; social dreaming like Robertson’s remain imperative if Canada is to truly meet the calls for decolonization and reconciliation.

Co-authored scholarly article, The effects of HeartMath Heart Lock-In on elementary students’ HRV and self-reported emotion regulation skills published in Psychology in the Schools and your coauthored literature review, Post-secondary student transitions and mental health: Literature review and synthesis, published in New Directions for Higher Education.

Co-authored scholarly article, Physiological responses to treadmill exercise in size and fitness matched male and female firefighter applicants, published in Ergonomics.

Co-authored scholarly article Burnout among Residents: Prevalence and Predictors of Depersonalization, Emotional Exhaustion and Professional Unfulfillment among Resident Doctors in Canada published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Scholarly article, More than Marshmallows: Implementation and Assessment of an Interactive In-Class Activity for Learning VSEPR Theory, published in the Journal of Chemical Education

Your article, Towards a Speculative Friction: Didacticism and Environmentalism in Derrick Jensen’s Lives Less Valuable, published in the collection Precarity in Culture: Precarious Lives, Uncertain Futures. 

The culmination of and subsequent publication of your artwork, Lungs (from Nervous Systems) on the cover of Academic Medicine Journal.

Co-authored scholarly article, Brave spaces in nursing ethics education: Courage through pedagogy, published in Nursing Ethics.

Scholarly article, Concept Mapping in a Flipped Clinical Environment: A Basic Qualitative Study, published in The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Co-authored scholarly article, Impeded Sociability: Racial Consciousness and Racialized Immigrants’ Sense of Sociable and Unsociable Places in SemiRural Alberta, Canada, published in Canadian Ethnic Studies.

Co-authored article, Adaptability and Innovations in Social Work Field Education During the Pandemic of COVID-19: A Study of Student’s Experiences Across Campuses in India and Canada, published on the International Association of Schools of Social Work website.

Research-informed review, The Siren Call of Calculus: A Review of Steven Strogatz’s Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe, published in The Mathematics Enthusiast, and your scholarly article, Flexibility of differentiation procedures in calculus, published in the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology

Your paper, The Persistence of Matching Teaching and Learning Styles: A review of the Ubiquity of This Neuromyth, Predictors of its Endorsement, and Recommendations To End It, published in Frontiers in Education.

Creation and publication of your open educational resource, Pedagogical Leadership for Early Learning Educators.