Education
Ph.D. University of Alberta, 2002 (Psychology of Exercise and Health)
M.A. University of Victoria, 1996 (Psychology of Sport and Exercise)
B.A. University of Victoria, 1993 (Psychology, with First Class Honours)
Courses Taught/Teaching Interests
· Sport and Exercise Psychology
· Group Dynamics in Sport and Exercise Psychology
· Mental Training in Sport Psychology
· Sport Psychology Internship
· Exercise Science, Wellness and Health
My teaching interests centre on sport and exercise psychology concepts, theories and applications. These courses emphasize how psychological, social, contextual/environmental and cultural factors influence sport and/or exercise participation within a health promotion framework.
Research Interests
- Discursive Psychology
- Qualitative methodologies (e.g., discourse analysis, grounded theory)
- Critical interpretations of sport and exercise
- Self and identity
My research provides a “bridge” between traditional psychological approaches and cultural studies approaches to understand physical activity participation. The goals of this research are to produce knowledge that (1) contributes toward helping people adhere to lifestyle behaviour guidelines to prevent disease occurrence (i.e., primary prevention) and recurrence (i.e., secondary prevention), and (2) improve individuals’ quality of life through physical activity participation. I study the foregoing using theories (e.g., discursive psychology) and/or qualitative methodologies (e.g., discourse analysis, grounded theory) less common in sport and exercise psychology.
I have been funded as a principal investigator by the University of Iowa Prevention Research Center Pilot Grant Program, funding through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research. I have also been funded as a co-investigator by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. My published scholarship includes empirical studies and theoretically-driven contributions that re-imagine the field of sport and exercise psychology. My research program continues to develop and/or use alternative theoretical and methodological perspectives to study socio-cultural and psychosocial issues in physical activity participation.