Health and Wellness

Overview

Core faculty in the Health and Wellness program conduct research related to health psychology. Current faculty research interests include: eating disorders and obesity; psychological factors affecting medical conditions; chronic disease management; health behaviour change; chronic pain; substance use and addictive behaviours; sleep and health; psycho-oncology; first-episode psychosis; and health promotion.

Funding

Graduate students are automatically considered for financial support. It is a policy of the department to attempt to offer all students admitted to a graduate program some form of support. This support usually consists of a combination of Graduate School Fellowships and graduate teaching assistantships. Applicants are also strongly encouraged to seek external funding as well (e.g., CIHR or SSHRC CGS-M). If you decide to apply for Tri-Council funding (CIHR or SSHRC), please consult with a faculty member regarding a project and supervision.

Core Faculty

Dr. Jacqueline Carter’s research focuses on understanding the development and maintenance of eating disorder psychopathology, evaluating psychological treatments for eating disorders, and identifying predictors, moderators and mediators of treatment outcome. My current research is focused mainly on understanding and treating Binge-Eating Disorder.


Dr. Sheila Garland conducts psycho-oncology and behavioral sleep medicine research with an increasing emphasis on examining the mechanisms and effectiveness of interventions to improve sleep and other symptoms in cancer survivors. She is currently conducting a clinical trial to examine whether treating insomnia improves subjective and objective cognitive impairment in cancer survivors.


Dr. Kellie Hadden studies marginalized populations including children with severe neurological impairment, first episode psychosis patients, street involved youth, and people with health issues that affect their psychological adjustment. I am interested in various psychological factors that undermine optimum development and adjustment, such as, emotion regulation, substance abuse, attachment, pain, decision-making, personality, and coping styles.

 


 

Dr. Nick Harris’ research interests are within the area of addictions. To date, my research program has focused on two specific areas of inquiry. First, my research has focused on developing a better understanding of the etiolegy and treatment of problem gambling behaviours. Much of this research has explored how gambling online may impact an individual's susceptibility to engaging in problem gambling. Second, my research has examined how utilizing a strengths-based approach may enhance treatment programs for adolescent substance use issues. This research has explored how the clinical application of a strengths-based approach may help improve client engagement, therapeutic alliance, and group cohesion with this population. More recently, I have developed a research interest in video gaming addiction among youth and young adults. This interest has developed partially from my clinical experiences with youth in the community. Given my research interests within the area of problem gambling and youth populations, and the significant overlap between our theoretical understandings of gambling and video gaming problems, I see this as a natural fit within my program of research moving forward.

 


 

Dr. Joshua Rash’s primary area of research is within the area of behavioural medicine and has two foci. First, he adopts a lifespan perspective to understand how biopsychosocial factors influence the development and progression of health and disease (e.g., cardiovascular disease, pain, cancer). Second, he is interested in designing and implementing behavioural interventions that are aimed at improving the lives of individuals living with chronic illness. Active areas of research include: adherence, pain assessment and management, cardiovascular reactivity, clinical inertia, developmental origins of health and disease (DoHaD), improving accessibility to evidence-based treatment, and motivating behaviour change. Please visit our laboratory website for additional information: