ARC Research Unit

Last month, two of our lab members presented posters at the 2025 Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research Conference!

Check out what they presented below ⬇️

Meet Carissa!

This past semester Carissa completed her honours thesis while under Dr. Gallant’s supervision.

Carissa’s honours thesis, An Investigation into the Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Autonomic and Psychological Stress Reactivity, aimed to validate a control TSST (C-TSST) and examine whether adverse childhood experiences predict autonomic and psychological stress reactivity.

To learn more, check out Carissa’s full honours thesis here: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/16722

Meet Ayesha! This past semester Ayesha completed her honours thesis while under Dr. Gallant’s supervision.

Ayesha’s honours thesis, Emotion Regulation Under Pressure: The Impact of Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression on Stress Responses, examined how two prevalent emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES), influence acute social stress responses.

To learn more, check out Ayesha's full honours thesis here: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/16705

Last month, Dr. Gallant’s graduate student, Mir Nabila Ashraf, policy challenge report was published online! 🎉

Nabila was a 2023–2024 Policy Challenge mentee of AGE-WELL and AGE-WELL National Innovation Hub – APPTA, where she had the opportunity to receive hands-on training and work closely with policy experts.

This work led to the creation of her report focused on strategies to support governments in improving access to digitally available health information for older adults managing chronic diseases.

To view the whole report, click here: https://lnkd.in/dQucn_V8

Congratulations to Dr. Natasha Gallant’s honours students Ayesha and Carissa for presenting their honours projects at the poster symposium!

Special congratulations to Carissa for receiving the Leonard Schein Honours Prize in Psychology and Ayesha for winning runner up at the symposium! 🎉

Exciting news - Registration is now OPEN for MS Beyond Diagnosis: Building Bridges to Wellness Forum in Regina, on May 14! 🎉

Join the Saskatchewan MS community on Wednesday, May 14 from 9am-4pm at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel and Conference Centre in Regina or virtually on Zoom. This full day forum features expert-led talks on MS research, brain health, and wellness, plus lots of opportunities to connect and network!

Space is limited—so secure your spot now! Don’t miss out before registration closes on May 4th.
Sign up here: https://mssp.tfaforms.net/wf97zyq

We are looking to recruit individuals to participate in a virtual workshop on March 20, 2025 from 12:00pm to 3:30pm AND March 21, 2025 from 12:00pm to 2:30pm to shape the next 10 years of research in Saskatchewan.

We are looking for long-term care residents and people living with serious mental illness along with their caregivers and healthcare professionals to participate. This is an opportunity for people who are not already influencing the research agenda to have their say.

If you think you might fit these criteria, and are interested in participating, please fill out the following expression of interest form: [https://uregina.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9HtjTT7Y3cn70VM]. If you do not fit the criteria but know someone who does, please feel free to share this information with them.

Compensation will be provided to participants who are selected to attend the workshop.

For more information, please contact Venezya Thorsteinson at [email protected]. This study has been approved by the University of Regina’s Research Ethics Board.

We’re excited to announce MS Beyond Diagnosis: Building Bridges to Wellness—an upcoming event bringing together the Saskatchewan MS community, including individuals with lived experience, their support networks, healthcare providers, and caregivers/partners. The aim of this gathering is to foster connection, learning, and knowledge sharing, while inspiring one another within the MS community.

This event will feature presentations from researchers, healthcare providers, and individuals with lived experience. Topics will include updates on MS, brain health (including aging and mindfulness), and wellness (nutrition and physical activity). There will also be plenty of opportunities for networking and connection.

We are looking to recruit individuals 18 years or older to complete a 40-minute online survey about their emotional responses to a series of brief video clips.

To participate, please follow the link for more information
[https://uregina.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9NCubWNMWA1DKMS].

For more information, please contact Natasha Taylor at [email protected]. This study has been approved by the University of Regina’s Research Ethics Board ( #866).

The ARC Unit is currently looking for research volunteers to help with an upcoming study.

This role is ideal for students at the University of Regina who are completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, in their 3rd or 4th year of study and are currently seeking experience in research.

Interested students can email one of the study’s researchers Carissa at [email protected]