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Health equity in action: assessing the impact of the Healthy Kids Family Program using the RE-AIM Framework
(2026) Pearson, Hannah; Pearson, Erin; Klarner, Taryn; Boynton, Heather
Background: Families living in equity-deserving communities experience disproportionate barriers to engaging in health-promoting behaviours such as healthy eating and physical activity due to intersecting social determinants of health. Community-based health promotion programs are well positioned to address these inequities; however, there remains a need for comprehensive, real-world evaluations. The RE-AIM Framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance), is a robust tool for evaluating community-based initiatives, yet its application within family-focused, equity-oriented interventions remains under- represented. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a summative evaluation of the Healthy Kids Family Program (HKFP), a four-week, community-based health promotion program delivered in equity-deserving neighbourhoods in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Guided by the RE-AIM Framework, this study aimed to assess the utility, impact, and sustainability of the HKFP as a model for fostering health behaviours in families and children. Method: A pragmatic mixed methods case study design was employed, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collected from 2021 – 2025. Involving a priori and new data and in-line with the RE-AIM Framework, this entailed an assessment of the: (1) Reach associated with the target population; (2) Effectiveness of the program; (3) Adoption by program providers and resident participants; (4) Implementation fidelity with respect to anticipated versus actual program delivery; and (5) Maintenance of program-related outcomes among recipients over time. Quantitative data were obtained from validated health measurement tools assessing health behaviours, self-efficacy for nutrition, and quality of life via two summary scores involving Physical and Mental health. These surveys were administered at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 6-weeks post-intervention across 11 iterations of the HKFP. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) testing, dependent t-testing, and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze quantitative data to examine changes over time. Qualitative data were derived from multiple sources including semi-structured interviews with program participants and staff, as well as program documentation including program fidelity notes, and were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Data sources were triangulated and organized deductively via RE-AIM dimensions to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the program and its impact. Results: Data from 60 participants were obtained from HKFP assessments. Participant demographics revealed that the majority who participated were female (n = 52), aged 22-48 years (M = 35.52), with a mean monthly income of $3,396. Results for Reach showed that the HKFP engaged primarily female individuals across diverse areas of Thunder Bay, though participation was influenced by structural barriers including childcare and scheduling conflicts. Significant improvements were noted in Effectiveness. Quantitative results indicated a significant increase in Self-Efficacy for Nutrition scores between baseline (M = 3.43, SD = 0.89) and follow-up (M = 3.93, SD = 0.72), p < 0.001, η² = .11. No significant improvements in health behaviours or quality of life took place. Assessment of Adoption revealed that the HKFP was supported through strong community partnerships and collaboration. Implementation revealed that program delivery was shaped and adapted by both facilitators to engagement (i.e., supportive environments and resource access) and barriers to engagement (i.e., duration of program session, pandemic-related restrictions). Regarding Maintenance, participants shared that they applied knowledge learned through program delivery into their daily lives; however, longer-term sustainability was influenced by ongoing structural challenges. Qualitatively, participation in the HKFP was described by participants as influenced by contextual barriers including conflicting schedules, transportation, and childcare. Qualitative findings obtained from HKFP participant interviews (n = 7) highlighted themes related to structural barriers (i.e., childcare, financial constraints), social support and community (i.e., peer connection, sense of belonging), as well as empowerment and increased confidence in health behaviours (i.e., self-efficacy and feeling capable of making change). Other qualitative findings obtained from the administrative team of the HKFP (n = 3) contextualized the realities of program offerings and described the importance of collaboration between organizations offering health promotional programming. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the importance of employing a robust, well-rounded framework when considering study design, specifically when working with equity-deserving communities. For example, statistically significant gains were made in self-efficacy related to nutrition, which may be attributed to the program’s emphasis on skill-building, resource access, and supportive learning environments. Qualitative findings suggest that a meaningful shift in perception surrounding healthy eating took place. They also highlight the importance of contextualized measures of success that extend beyond traditional behavioural outcomes to include empowerment, feasibility, and sustainability. The HKFP represents a promising model for community-based health promotion in equity-deserving communities, because the program offerings provided an opportunity for participants to learn information and make informed decisions surrounding their health. Future research should prioritize strategies to enhance long-term maintenance, including longer or tapered intervention sessions over time, address structural participation barriers including transportation, childcare, and conflicting schedules. This study demonstrated that short-term, community-based health promotion programs can produce meaningful impact for an equity-deserving community through gains in self-efficacy and health behaviour framing, even in the absence of immediate, measurable behaviour change.
The paradox of care: service providers’ experiences of delivering opioid-related care in rural Northwestern Ontario
(2026) Ambury, Sydney; Sprakes, Abigale; Kortes-Miller, Kathy; Sanderson, Kathy; Potvin, Leigh
The opioid epidemic continues to impact rural communities across Canada, with Northwestern Ontario (NWO) experiencing disproportionately high rates of opioid-related harms relative to the rest of the province. Despite this, little research has examined how service providers in rural NWO understand and navigate opioid-related care in practice. Grounded in a Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework, this qualitative descriptive study explored how providers understand the influence of the SDOH on opioid-related harms and service engagement, what strategies they use to deliver and adapt care for clients who use illicit opioids, and what their experiences suggest for sustaining and strengthening rural opioid-related service systems. 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with service providers across health, social service, and justice sectors in rural NWO, and the data were analyzed using reflective thematic analysis. Six themes were generated and organized into three conceptual pairings: Structural Inequities and Reconfiguring Service Delivery, Environmental Vulnerabilities and Relational Care, and Professional Strain and Workforce Sustainability. Across these three pairings, the findings revealed that the conditions constraining rural care simultaneously produced the practices that sustained it. Participants absorbed service gaps through role expansion and informal coordination, built trust within community and institutional contexts that caused harm, and sustained their commitment through the same attachments that depleted them. Together, these findings point to a service system whose functioning depends largely on invisible forms of labour unevenly distributed across the workforce. The findings have implications for social work practice, rural service policy, and the conditions needed to sustain providers.
Long-term relationship between soil carbon dynamics, hydrology, and microbiome in peatlands around North America’s largest historical point source pollutant of toxic metals, metalloids, and sulfur (Sudbury, Ontario, Canada)
(2026) Samantha, Mitchell; Pendea, Florin; Basiliko, Nathan; McCarter , Colin; Diochon , Amanda
Peatlands are major long-term carbon (C) sinks whose stability depends on tightly coupled soil carbon dynamics, hydrology, and microbial communities, yet these relationships can be profoundly disrupted by industrial pollution. In the 1970s, Sudbury (Ontario) was North America’s largest point source of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and toxic metal and metalloid (TMM) emissions, generating a deposition gradient that provides a natural experiment for examining the long-term consequences of atmospheric contamination on peatland ecosystems. Using radiocarbon-constrained peat cores from three poor fen sites - two proximal to the smelter centre (Laurentian, Transplant), one distal (Cartier) - this thesis integrates high-resolution geochemical analyses and paleoecological reconstruction to evaluate how industrial disturbance altered carbon accumulation and restructured microbial assemblages. Geochemical profiles (Corg, Cinorg, N, S, Ca, P, and nine key metals/metalloids) reveal distinct smelter-derived signatures, including pronounced enrichments of Cu, Ni, Pb, As, Cd, Zn, and S at or below the Industrial Isochron (1880–1975 CE), accompanied by Ca depletion and coincident increases in N and P. Long-term apparent rates of carbon accumulation (LARCA) show a paradoxical response: heavily polluted fens exhibit industrial-era peaks in apparent C accumulation but lower Holocene-scale mean LARCA relative to a minimally impacted site with intact Sphagnum cover, indicating a cumulative long-term carbon deficit attributable to enhanced decomposition and export from older catotelm strata. Stratigraphic and geochemical evidence suggests vertically divergent effects of pollution, including suppressed microbial decomposition and enhanced apparent C preservation in shallow horizons under extreme metal–acid stress, coupled with enhanced decomposition and C loss in deeper peat driven by acidification, sulfate migration, and destabilization of humic-Fe-S complexes. Stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis (CONISS), canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), variation partitioning, permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA), and indicator species analysis were used to characterise microbial community change relative to geochemical gradients. Pre-industrial testate amoebae (TA) assemblages at all three sites were dominated by sphagnophilous taxa, particularly Hyalosphenia subflava, indicating long-term hydrological stability. Pronounced community restructuring coincident with the Industrial Isochron was evident at the two smelter-proximal sites, where disturbance-tolerant TA taxa (Cyclopyxis arcelloides type, Centropyxis cassis type, Phryganella acropodia type) displaced wet-affinity forms. The distal reference site exhibited comparatively muted change. Geochemical variables explained a significant proportion of total community variance (20%; CCA p < 0.001), with carbon composition emerging as the strongest unique predictor (adj. R² = 0.057), exceeding the independent contribution of toxic trace metals (adj. R² = 0.019). Critically, no discrete post-industrial recovery assemblage was detected at either proximal site: industrial-era taxa persist in surface samples and CONISS does not resolve a recovery zone distinct from the disturbance interval. These findings indicate that passive recovery following emission reductions has not reversed the microbial legacy of industrial contamination and that active restoration intervention may be required to re-establish pre-disturbance ecological conditions. Keywords: Peatland degradation, Carbon dynamics, Industrial pollution, Testate amoebae, Community ecology, Paleoecology, Sudbury, Heavy metals, Ecosystem recovery, Smelter emissions
Examining the Increase of AI Tool usage among pre-service teachers: a comparative analysis of spring 2024 and spring 2025 results
(2026) Ahmed, Abubakr; van Barneveld, Christina; Kaefer, Tanya
AI tool usage has increased significantly in the past few years, but very few researchers have used cross-sectional surveys to measure the increase. This study sought to evaluate the extent to which the frequency of AI tool usage has increased among first-year pre-service teachers at a rural public university in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected in the spring of 2024 and the spring of 2025 through a self-report survey. A concurrent embedded mixed-methods design was used with a sample size of 158 participants. Findings indicate that there was a 57% increase year-over-year in AI tool use, going from 54% in 2024 to 85% in 2025. Further statistical analysis indicated a correlation between gender and AI tool use, with a greater percentage of females adopting these tools. The qualitative findings revealed various themes, including using AI tools for idea generation and editing, as well as the negative stigma associated with its use. These findings underscore the importance of policymakers adopting new strategies to address AI tool use in teacher education programs, with the hope of sufficiently preparing pre-service teachers to teach in this new digital era. Keywords: AI tool use, mixed-methods research, pre-service teachers (PSTs), gender differences, frequency of use
A critical discourse analysis of the Instagram account of a tradwife
(2026) Manisha; Chambers, Lori; Walton, Gerald; Parker, Barbara; Brady, Miranda
This thesis investigates how Instagram tradwife content constructs love through aesthetics of submission, dependence, and self-erasure. The research explores how tradwife discourse on Instagram aestheticizes and circulates ideals of control, coercion, and emotional violence as love. Drawing on Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) and visual analysis, the study analyzes 62 reels and captions posted by white tradwife influencer Aria Lewis between January 2 and March 30, 2024. Interpretation is guided by Foucault’s theory of power, Butler’s theory of performativity, and Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, which helps trace how submission is produced and made desirable through discourse, embodiment, and visual style. Seven themes structure the findings. They are economic dependence as love, domestic servitude as devotion, illness and failure, spiritualized patriarchy and courtship, aestheticized modesty and historical femininity, scripted femininity, and tradwife discourse as harmless choice. Unequal power is softened through religious language, gratitude, nostalgia, humour, and routine-based formats that frame women’s accommodation, emotional containment, and one-income reliance as moral, safe, and chosen. Rather than showing overt conflict, the account builds a romantic common sense in which hierarchy appears as peace and protection. This creates vulnerability because women’s security depends on a husband’s kindness. The thesis locates coercive control not only in private couple dynamics but also in cultural and digital infrastructures that teach followers what love should look like. It also contributes to tradwife scholarship by focusing on a young woman in a pre-motherhood phase and the scripts she circulates to younger audiences. Keywords: Instagram, tradwife discourse, feminist critical discourse analysis, coercion, influencer culture