Insights into Canadians' Perceptions of Service Dogs in Public Spaces.

Service Dogs (SDs) are an increasingly common type of working dog supporting people with disabilities in Canada. One of the groups being paired with SDs is Veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSIs). In past research, Veterans have expressed stress over negative interactions with people in public spaces because an SD brings attention to their disability. There is a dearth of research exploring perceptions of SDs in public settings. METHODS: A total of 485 Canadians were surveyed via an online questionnaire about their demographic information and beliefs about SDs in public spaces. Data were analyzed using robust ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to determine which demographic features, if any, contribute to perceptions. RESULTS: Generally, the Canadian public holds highly positive perceptions of SDs being in public spaces. Our analysis found that women, people who currently have pets, and Indigenous people were more supportive of SDs in public spaces than others. People with certain cultural heritages were less receptive. CONCLUSION: These findings are an important beginning contribution to the growing SD and Veteran health field.

Socioeconomic differences in parental financial support, coresidence, and advice: A portrait of undergraduate students in the Canadian Prairies.

In this paper, we examine the intersections of parental support and family socioeconomic background within an undergraduate sample (N = 596) in a mid-sized Canadian Prairie city. Coresidence, financial support, and parental and professional financial advice are examined as types of 'family capital' that may be distributed unequally across socioeconomic groups. In keeping with previous literature, findings showed that students whose parents had university education and higher incomes received more robust coverage of their housing and school expenses. Students whose parents were university-educated were also more likely to be living with a parent, though no relationship was found between parental income and coresidence. Contrasting with previous literature, few relationships were found between socioeconomic background and receipt or influence of financial advice. These results contribute to the literature by generalising claims about family capital to a Canadian student sample, where relatively few studies have empirically examined intergenerational transfers as mechanisms for transmitting privilege during the transition to adulthood. With increasing demands for higher education and simultaneous declines in government subsidisation of its costs, disparate access to family capital is likely to intensify the reproduction of social inequality across generations.

Dans cet article, nous examinons les intersections entre le soutien parental et les antécédents socioéconomiques de la famille au sein d'un échantillon d'étudiants de premier cycle (N = 596) dans une ville canadienne de taille moyenne des Prairies. La coresidence, le soutien financier et les conseils financiers parentaux et professionnels sont examinés en tant que types de ' capital familial ' susceptibles d'être répartis de manière inégale entre les groupes socioéconomiques. Conformément à la littérature antérieure, les résultats ont montré que les étudiants dont les parents ont fait des études universitaires et ont des revenus plus élevés bénéficient d'une couverture plus solide de leurs frais de logement et de scolarité. Les étudiants dont les parents ont fait des études universitaires sont également plus susceptibles de vivre avec un parent, bien qu'aucune relation n'ait été établie entre le revenu des parents et la coresidence. Contrairement à la littérature précédente, peu de liens ont été établis entre le milieu socio-économique et l'obtention ou l'influence des conseils financiers. Ces résultats contribuent à la littérature en généralisant les affirmations sur le capital familial à un échantillon d'étudiants canadiens, où relativement peu d'études ont examiné empiriquement les transferts intergénérationnels en tant que mécanismes de transmission des privilèges pendant la transition vers l'âge adulte. Avec l'augmentation de la demande d'enseignement supérieur et la diminution simultanée des subventions gouvernementales pour ses coûts, l'accès disparate au capital familial est susceptible d'intensifier la reproduction de l'inégalité sociale entre les générations.

Remotely and collaboratively evaluating a campus-based therapy dog program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the wellbeing of university students and adults in general, emphasizing the need for mental health programming that was compliant with physical distancing mandates. The present evaluation investigated mental health and social connection within the context of COVID-19 by remotely evaluating a virtual animal-assisted activity at the University of Saskatchewan - PAWS Your Stress. The purpose of this article is to outline our evaluation methods and findings, while calling specific attention to the collaborative strategies that were implemented within a remote, time-sensitive context. The evaluation findings revealed that remote animal-assisted programming can facilitate connections with humans and animals, and promote multiple mental health benefits, despite the lack of physical interaction with the animals. Our lessons learned indicate that remote program logic modelling workshops are feasible when suited to audience demographics. Further, our experience suggests that the Most Significant Change technique (a qualitative, participatory, storytelling method that elicits outcome data) can be useful in time-restricted evaluations, and the necessity of central steps in the process may vary depending on evaluation goals. This project has implications for future evaluation work, by demonstrating the effective use of remote methods that allowed for successful stakeholder collaboration.

A Commentary about Lessons Learned: Transitioning a Therapy Dog Program Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In 2015, the University of Saskatchewan PAWS Your Stress Therapy Dog program partnered with St. John Ambulance for therapy dog teams to visit our campus and offer attendees love, comfort and support. We recognized at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that students, staff and faculty may require mental health support, particularly with the challenges of isolation and loneliness. In response, our team transitioned from an in-person to a novel online format at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We designed online content for participants to (1) connect with therapy dogs and experience feelings of love, comfort and support as occurred in in-person programming, and (2) learn about pandemic-specific, evidence-informed mental health knowledge. Our unique approach highlighted what dogs can teach humans about health through their own care and daily activities. From April to June 2020, we developed a website, created 28 Facebook livestreams and 60 pre-recorded videos which featured therapy dogs and handlers, and cross-promoted on various social media platforms. Over three months, first a combined process-outcome evaluation helped us determine whether our activities contributed to the program's goals. A subsequent needs assessment allowed us to elicit participant preferences for the program moving forward. This commentary reflects on these findings and our teams' collective experiences to share our key lessons learned related to program personnel needs, therapy dog handler training and support requirements, and online programming prerequisites. This combined understanding is informing our current activities with the virtual program and should be of interest to other therapy dog programs transitioning online.

Warmth, Competence, and Blame: Examining Mothers of Sexually Abused Children Within the Stereotype Content Model.

Research shows that nonoffending mothers are frequently held at fault for child sexual abuse (CSA), by both society and professionals, with contradictory explanations for the fault. For example, the same maternal characteristic can be used to assign blame or alleviate blame (i.e., single mothers have been held more at fault for their child's CSA and less at fault). The purpose of this study was to assess a theoretically based model that could account for these different reasons. We tested the stereotype content model (SCM), which examines the content of stereotypes toward target groups, by focusing on perceptions of that group's levels of warmth and competence. We sampled 136 undergraduate participants who read a vignette describing CSA, and completed the SCM with the mother of the victim as the target, and measures of mother fault. Our results showed that participants fell into three SCM groups of mother fault: (a) Moderate Contemptuous Prejudice (i.e., low competence, low warmth); (b) Admiration (i.e., moderate competence, high warmth); and (c) Very Contemptuous Prejudice (i.e., very low competence, very low warmth). Each cluster also held unique emotions toward the mother, as predicted by the SCM. Results further showed that assigned levels of fault were significant, but that fault did not vary by SCM group, lending support to the ideas that the SCM can be applied to this group and that different participants assign fault for different reasons.

Canadian Support for IVF Access and Use.

OBJECTIVE: Apply Weiner's attribution-affect-action (AAA) model to the context of societal support for access to assisted reproductive technology (ART). METHODS: Five hundred and fifty-four Canadians were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 vignette conditions describing reproductively challenged women differentiated by the root cause of their need for ART. Following this, participants completed an online questionnaire measuring the components of the AAA model. RESULTS: The overall expected relationships among the AAA framework variables were found. Participants were least willing to support access to ART for women perceived as relatively more responsible for their fertility issues and who elicited lower levels of sympathy, whereas participants were most willing to support access for women viewed as less responsible and who elicited more sympathy. Additionally, participants were most supportive of general access to ART and least supportive when asked to offer personal funds to assist the women with access. CONCLUSION: These findings have potential implications for Canadian health care policy decisions on funding fertility treatments through the universal health care system. Further research on this issue, as well as the development and testing of interventions aimed at addressing beliefs around equitable and inclusive access to ART, are warranted.

A needs assessment on addressing environmental health issues within reproductive health service provision: Considerations for continuing education and support.

BACKGROUND: This needs assessment was initially undertaken to explore the beliefs and knowledge of nurses and physicians about the impact of environmental toxicants on maternal and infant health, as well as to describe current practice and needs related to addressing environmental health issues (EHI). METHODS: One hundred and thirty-five nurses (n = 99) and physicians (n = 36) working in Saskatchewan completed an online survey. Survey questions were designed to determine how physicians and nurses think about and incorporate environmental health issues into their practice and means of increasing their capacity to do so. RESULTS: Although participants considered it important to address EHIs with patients, in actual practice they do so with only moderate frequency. Participants reported low levels of knowledge about EHIs' impact on health, and low levels of confidence discussing them with patients. Participants requested additional information on EHIs, especially in the form of online resources. CONCLUSION: The results suggests that while nurses and physicians consider EHIs important to address with patients, more education, support, and resources would increase their capacity to do so effectively. Based on the findings, considerations and recommendations for continuing education in this area have been provided.

A Multidimensional Investigation Into the Predictors of Physical Activity in Canadian Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The percentage of overweight and obese Canadian children and youth is dramatically increasing. Approaches to reducing obesity in adolescents should include the promotion of physical activity (PA) because a continued physically active lifestyle into adulthood may lower rates of chronic diseases associated with unhealthy body weight. PURPOSE: The current study expands on existing assessments of PA to include predictors based in a multidimensional adolescent wellness and ecological model. METHOD: Canadian adolescents (N = 603) were surveyed and the resulting data analyzed using multiple regression analysis. FINDINGS: Overall, 57.5 and 52.9% of the unique variance in PA for females and males, respectively, were explained by the predictors. Significant predictors for females included age, recreational time, family, leadership, and social comparison (cognitive development) skills. For males, equipment at home was also associated with increased PA. CONCLUSIONS: The finding that social comparison and leadership skills are significant predictors of PA in adolescents is new. Nurses should consider a holistic approach to promoting PA whereby these developmental dimensions are included in assessment and prioritized in providing nursing care. Additionally, individualized PA intervention strategies can then be tailored to this unique population.

Informed reproductive decision-making: the impact of providing fertility information on fertility knowledge and intentions to delay childbearing.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of providing fertility information on personal levels of fertility knowledge and intentions to delay childbearing. METHODS: Participants (n=69 young childless women) were randomly assigned to either an experimental (fertility-related) or control (alcohol-related) informational intervention group. Subsequent to the exposure to information, participants completed a questionnaire measuring fertility knowledge and intentions for reproduction. We predicted that the provision of fertility-related information would result in greater fertility knowledge and less intention to delay childbearing among young childless women. RESULTS: The young women exposed to the brief fertility information intervention were significantly more likely to respond correctly to questions testing their fertility knowledge, and reported less intention to delay childbearing than the young women in the control group. CONCLUSION: This study provided evidence that providing fertility-related information contributes to greater reproductive knowledge and may affect childbearing intentions. Future research is warranted to examine the influence of fertility information on reproductive decision-making within a theoretical framework in order to ensure that subsequent information interventions maximize their effectiveness.

Objectif : Examiner les effets de l'offre de renseignements en matière de fertilité sur les niveaux personnels de connaissances au sujet de la fertilité et sur les intentions de différer la grossesse. Méthodes : Les participantes (n = 69 jeunes femmes sans enfants) ont été affectées au hasard à un groupe d'intervention informationnelle expérimental (traitant de fertilité) ou témoin (traitant d'alcool). À la suite de leur exposition aux renseignements, les participantes ont rempli un questionnaire mesurant les connaissances en matière de fertilité et les intentions en matière de procréation. Nous avions prédit que l'offre de renseignements traitant de fertilité entraînerait une amélioration des connaissances au sujet de la fertilité et une atténuation de l'intention de reporter la grossesse chez les jeunes femmes sans enfants. Résultats : Les jeunes femmes exposées à une brève intervention informationnelle traitant de fertilité ont été considérablement plus susceptibles de répondre correctement aux questions visant leurs connaissances au sujet de la fertilité; de plus, elles étaient moins susceptibles de signaler une intention de reporter la grossesse que les jeunes femmes du groupe témoin. Conclusion : Les données issues de cette étude indiquent que l'offre de renseignements traitant de fertilité contribue à l'amélioration des connaissances au sujet de la procréation et pourrait influencer les intentions en ce qui concerne la grossesse. La tenue d'autres recherches s'avère justifiée pour examiner l'influence des renseignements traitant de fertilité sur le processus décisionnel en matière de procréation dans un cadre théorique, de façon à ce que l'on puisse s'assurer que les interventions informationnelles subséquentes maximisent leur efficacité.