News and Articles Archive

2008

New frontiers in scholarly journal publishing

Wednesday, October 22 at 12:10pm The landscape of scholarly journal publishing has changed profoundly and rapidly over the past several years. Dr. Vivian Lalande, former editor of the Canadian Journal of Counselling, will discuss the history of the journal, why she and the Canadian Counseling Association chose to publish under the U of C Press imprint, and the journal's plans for going online and increasingly open access. For more information contact Terry Rahbek-Nielsen, University of Calgary Press at 220-4343 or email ttrahbek@ucalgary.ca.

Education professor given counselling honour

A prestigious Canadian counselling honour, given out only "under exceptional circumstances," was recently granted to the Faculty of Education's Dr. Vivian Lalande. more>>

 

 

Podcast: Strategies for Combating School Bullying

Dr. Tanya Beran, professor in the Applied Psychology Division of the Faculty of Education, discusses current issues around school bullying, including the rise of cyberbullying. Beran shares her findings on the causes and effects of bullying and shares strategies on how parents can help their children. [Recorded Jan. 31, 2007 - mp3] Listen>>

Faculty of Education wins the Golden Ladle at the Charity Chili Cook-off

The Golden Ladle found a home again with the Faculty of Education, winners of the Charity Chili Cook-off for the third year in a row with their ‘Just Chili-in’ chili! Their charity of choice, the Dr. Michael Pyryt Memorial Fund, will receive a cheque for $687. more>>

 

 

Groundbreaking U of C Study proves teen years don't have to be tough

Dr. Anne McKeough, a professor in the Division of Applied Psychology
Feb 10, 2008 -- The University of Calgary announced today the results of an independent study offering hope to parents and teens struggling through difficult teenage years. The research found students involved in the Werklund Foundation's Teen Leadership Breakthrough program had increased selfesteem, confidence, emotional intelligence, and social and communication skills and maintained these improvements for six months.

The good news about this research is that this program can promote more positive social behaviour in teens by improving their self-concept and interpersonal relationships. Studies show that kids with these skills go on to have greater success in school and in life.

"Evaluation research rarely demonstrates results of this nature," said Dr. Anne McKeough, a professor in the Division of Applied Psychology who conducted the study for the University of Calgary. Although many youth leadership programs exist, there is little research that evaluates the outcomes, particularly in the longterm. more>>

Kick some butt - U of C's resident hypnotist is back and ready to kick some cigarette butt

Jan 15, 2008 -- In his fifth and new self-published book Breathe, Freedom: Kicking the Crap Out of Cigarettes, Dr. Kevin Alderson, a clinical hypnotist and associate professor in applied psychology at the U of C, uses hypnotic suggestions and offers a host of other methods that he is confident will make readers kick the habit for good. more>>

Kicking butt - Hypnotist's new book tackles smoking

By Veronica Hoskins
Jan 2008 -- What if there were hypnotic suggestions throughout this story that would help you quit smoking? Would they work? There's no way to know unless you read on.

In a new book called Breathe, Freedom: Kicking the Crap Out of Cigarettes, Kevin Alderson, a clinical hypnotist and associate professor in applied psychology at the U of C, uses hypnotic suggestions and a host of other methods to help readers kick the smoking habit for good. more>>

2007

Personality, Emotional Intelligence and Exercise

Donald H. Saklofske, Elizabeth J. Austin, Betty A. Rohr and Jac J.W. Andrews
Journal of Health Psychology
The associations of personality and self-report emotional intelligence (EI) with attitudes to exercise and self reported exercise behaviour were investigated in a sample of 497 Canadian undergraduates. A positive attitude to exercise was negatively associated with Neuroticism and uncorrelated with other personality traits and EI. Exercise behaviour was positively associated with Extraversion and EI and negatively associated with Neuroticism. Structural equation modelling indicated that EI mediated the relationship between personality and exercise behaviour. The interpretation of this result in terms of EI having some properties of a coping style is discussed. Download PDF of article here.

J Health Psychol 2007; 12; 937
Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com

Getting kids the help they need-faster

By Derek Sankey
Oct 18 - 2007 -- Dr. Brian Siray saw kids falling through the cracks every day.
The family physician near Millarville helped pioneer the area of attention deficit disorder and developmental pediatrics with colleagues in the late 1980s, but could only watch as children with developmental problems in the rural community south of Calgary waited up to two years to get the psychological support they needed. more>>

"Dying for Beauty"

The Globe and Mail
Sept 25, 2007 -- "It's pretty normal in our culture for women to think, 'Oh, I'll be happy when I lose the last 10 pounds,'" says Shelly Russell-Mayhew, an assistant professor in applied psychology at the University of Calgary. "Women really are judged on their appearance, and it's pretty easy to internalize that." more>>

Elephant in the room

The Toronto Star
Kevin Alderson, Assistant Professor
Sept 2, 2007 -- One day, he speaks out against gay issues. The next, he's caught asking for sex in a public men's washroom. He's one of several Republicans whose dubious thought processes lead to an obvious question: Hypocrisy, anyone?

"Republican Senator Larry Craig lightly tapped his foot in an airport washroom toilet stall, yet for the explosion of scrutiny and criticism that followed, he might as well have stepped on a landmine. more>>

 

Cyber-Harassment: A Study of a New Method for an Old Behavior

Paper to be published at the Journal of Educational Computing Research
Tanya Beran & Qing Li, University of Calgary

A total of 432 students from grades 7-9 in Canadian schools reported their experiences of cyber-harassment, which is a form of harassment that occurs through the use of electronic communications such as e-mail and cell phones. More than two thirds of students (69%) have heard of incidents of cyber-harassment, about one quarter (21%) have been harassed several times, and a few students (3%) admitted engaging in this form of harassment. In addition, victims of cyber-harassment reported a variety of negative consequences, especially anger and sadness, and had experienced other forms of harassment. These results suggest several avenues of research needed to explain how and why adolescents use technological advances to harass their peers. [Download MS Word document here]

New study to explore social and emotional abilities of adolescents with autism

Applied Psychology professor Dr. Don Saklofske and researchers Danielle Dyke and Adam McCrimmon
March 23, 2007 -- People often assume that adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) will have trouble getting a job or developing personal relationships because of their social awkwardness. In fact, we don't yet have a clear understanding about the social and emotional abilities of teens and young adults with ASD. more>>

Strategies for Combating School Bullying

Jan 31, 2007 -- Dr. Tanya Beran, professor in the Applied Psychology Division of the Faculty of Education, discusses current issues around school bullying, including the rise of cyberbullying. Beran shares her findings on the causes and effects of bullying and shares strategies on how parents can help their children. [Recorded January 31, 2007 - mp3] listen>>

The U of C's research bug bites five-year-olds

Anne McKeough
You can never be too young to be curious, as University of Calgary graduate students discovered through their research in the classroom with elementary school children.

"We asked the children what they ‘wonder' about certain topics covered in the school curriculum, such as weather," says Dr. Anne McKeough, professor in the U of C Faculty of Education Division of Applied Psychology. "Throughout our study the children explored their ideas and questions-and became junior researchers in their own right as they too inquired and gathered more information on the topics they were curious about. They began to articulate their ideas and to understand they had theories of their own." more>>

Sibling loss research a personal journey

By Erin Carpenter
Jan 2007 -- Following the death of her sister in 1996, Dr. Ann Laverty, PhD'01, noticed a lack of books and research on adults like her who had lost a sibling. Several years later, she decided to do something about it. While pursuing her doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Calgary, Laverty studied how adult women experience and cope with the death of a sibling. more>>

2006

New training centre provides psychological services to community

By Erin Carpenter
Nov 24, 2006 -- Adam McCrimmon, BA'00, traces his passion for helping school children to his time as an undergraduate psychology student at the University of Calgary when he took part in a program providing early intervention for children with autism.

Now a doctoral student in psychology, McCrimmon says that experience helped shape his decision to pursue research in autism. "Autism became intriguing to me and I wanted to help discover new and creative ways to interact with and teach these children." more>>

Resource launched to help parents talk to kids about bullying

Nov 8, 2006 -- Parents who suspect their children are being bullied but don't know what to do about it can now turn to their computers for help. University of Calgary Education professor Tanya Beran, in partnership with the Action Committee Against Violence (ACAV), has developed a new web-based resource, called ‘How Was Your Day.ca', designed to encourage parents to talk to their children about bullying and cyber-bullying. more>>
www.howwasyourday.ca

2005

BINGE EATING: Designing a treatment for a growing disorder

By Greg Harris
Apr 8, 2005 -- University of Calgary doctoral candidate is testing an intervention program commonly used in addictions counselling to see if it can be applied to a harmful and poorly understood eating disorder.

Binge eating is more prevalent than anorexia or bulimia and affects about two per cent of the population. Those in its grip suffer from depression, shame and low self-esteem, and may be shortening their lifespans due to obesity, diabetes and elevated blood pressure and cholesterol.

" There are very few resources out there right now for people who experience binge eating," says Stephanie Cassin, who has one year left in her psychology PhD. more>>

2004

Improving grades through self-hypnosis

Oct 12, 2004 -- It's the middle of October now and for many students the idea of straight A's becomes more fantastic as each day passes. But it's not too late to turn things around, according to Dr. Kevin Alderson, a University of Calgary professor and counselling psychologist who specializes in hypnotherapy. more>>