Research Projects

Major projects        Short term projects        Completed projects

 Major projects: 2009 - 2011    

Start Smart Stay Safe Children and Family Project

The Children and Family Project is a collaboration between the Calgary Police Service (CPS), the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD), the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and the Mount Royal University’s Centre for Child Well-Being (CCWB).

Goal of Children's Project: To enhance resilience of young persons leading to healthy life choices and responsible citizenship.

Goal of Family Project: To enhance parents' existing knowledge, capacity and skills in effectively supporting their children's inclusion and positive contribution to society.

Building Safe Communities from the Start

The UpStart Parent Survey was developed to help agencies evaluate common outcomes (as determined by the Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research or ACCFCR) of their prevention-focused parenting programs (P-FPP). Building Safe Communities, a short-term project funded by the Centre for Criminology and Justice Research, is beginning to provide critical information about the feasibility of measuring population-based common outcomes of these P-FPP. The purpose of this short-term project is to (1) examine the psychometric properties of the UpStart Parent Survey, and (2) determine the feasibility of using the tool in P-FPP.

The importance of having a valid, reliable and feasible evaluation tool is crucial in developing, supporting and maintaining parenting programs in Calgary. With reliable and valid evaluation tools, programs will be better equipped to engage in program quality improvement to more effectively support children, parents, and families and create more cohesive and safer communities.

  

A Hop, Skip and a Jump; Enhancing Physical Literacy

A Hop, Skip and a Jump; Enhancing Physical Literacy & Physical Activity in Preschool Aged Children

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) guidelines state that preschool aged children should get at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity a day as well as 60 plus minutes of unstructured physical activity. Both structured and unstructured activities should be designed to build the child’s physical literacy development.

This document provides you with structured physical activities using space and equipment most centres possess. The activities are easy to implement and focus on building basic gross motor skills important in child development.

The revised version can be purchased at Mount Royal's Bookstore today.

Physical Activity in Preschool Aged Children

Our society is facing many significant problems relating to inactivity, poor health, and obesity among our children.

This project is in the process of examining the levels of physical activity for preschool children in Calgary and has been through four different phases. 
 

Did your child get 60 minutes of active play today? Check out these spring activities, outdoor summer and indoor summer activities, fall activities, and indoor winter and outdoor winter activities around ideas to help kids get the physical activity they need!

The LEAP Project

LEAP Project research team reaches out to teens with depression

The LEAP Project The Leap Project, an initiative funded by Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions and the Sick Kids Foundation, is an intervention program for 13 – 18 year old teens. An online learning tool, it focuses on exploring spiritual concepts and features videos, personal stories from young people, suggestions from mental health experts, music, relaxation techniques and book ideas. All eight of the modules in the two-month program have been designed in consultation with teenagers.

The research team also includes Patti Paccagnan, Niki Rickhi and Mary Kelly, researchers at CINIM, Dr. Hude Quan, PhD, a community health scientist at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine, Dawne Clark, PhD, an associate professor in child and youth studies at Mount Royal University as well as Reverend John Griffith, founder of Spiritual Directions.

For more information watch the LEAP Media Video.

Click for more information

Positive Behaviour Supports

Linda Fountain (Social Work and Disabilities Studies) and Dr. Joanne Baxter (Child and Youth Studies) are developing an e-learning website on strategies to promote adaptive behaviour in children with complex disabilities. This project is funded through grants reaching close to a million dollars, from two ministries: Children and Youth Services, and Alberta Education. The project will have three linked websites. The first was developed for community aides and will be complete mid-October. The second site is for teachers and teaching staff, and the third is for families of children with complex disabilities. The goal is to provide strategies to minimize challenging behaviour, while promoting developmental abilities and adaptive behaviours. By having three linked sites everyone who supports the child can be working from a common knowledge and skills base, providing more consistent approaches. This collaborative project includes representatives from parent groups, the two ministries, nonprofit service providers in Calgary and Edmonton, Media Learning Services, and the Teaching and Learning Commons at the University of Calgary.

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Short-term projects for Fall and Winter Term involving students in Child Studies

Further Education Society of Alberta (FESA) – Sue Phillips
www.nald.ca/fesa/Home.htm

The Further Education Society (FESA) was established in 1996, to build educational opportunities for multi-barrier, low-literate learners. FESA conducts research, designs curricula, trains facilitators and assists communities across Canada to build capacity and help learners build education through literacy and parenting skills. In Calgary we work with 35 social agencies and community partners to offer approximately 70 – 80 free programs across the city each year. FESA programs build parents’ literacy and learning, while gaining strategies to build their children’s reading and writing skills. There is a focus on removing barriers to learning and all sessions are informal and build on learner skills. This approach has proven to be effective with learners who are intimidated by formal education or lack confidence.

This project focused on one specific program, Literacy and Parenting Skills (LAPS), developing long-term outcomes and the tools to measure those outcomes to enable FESA to conduct a program evaluation at a later date.

Foundations for the Future final report
 

Early Child Development Mapping Project Alberta (ECMap) – Danica Martin
www.ecmap.ca

The Early Child Development Mapping Project (ECMap) consortium has been contracted by Alberta Education for a five year period to gather information and work with communities. ECMap’s goals are to:
• Provide current information on early childhood development in Alberta;
• Promote understanding of how children’s early years impact lifelong development;
• Enable governments at various levels to monitor early childhood development and make informed decisions;
• Provide credible information on early childhood development to communities throughout Alberta to support local planning and action;
• Advance early childhood development research and knowledge.

This project focused on comparing services and resources available in established communities and newer communities in Calgary.

A Place to Play and Grow final report

Alumni Chapter of Child and Youth Studies (ACCYS) – Cassandra Skoworodko www.mtroyal.ca/alumni

ACCYS is a newly formed alumni chapter for all graduates of programs in the Department of Child and Youth Studies. The mission of the Society is:
• To provide opportunities for Child and Youth Studies alumni to network and form partnerships with others in the Mount Royal University community;
• To promote opportunities available to Child and Youth Studies alumni for academic and professional development at Mount Royal University;
• To increase awareness of the Child and Youth Studies programs;
• To promote and advocate for the professions related to the Child and Youth Studies programs;
• To collaborate with, mentor and support current Child and Youth Studies students;
• To promote the interests and welfare of the Chapter and the Mount Royal University Alumni Association (MRUAA).

This project supports ACCYS with its MRU Centennial Celebration of Children and Youth and will involve archival research to help build a centennial century timeline and to interview children about their view of their contribution to the world during their lifetime.

Fraser Mustard Chair in Early Childhood Development – Laura Ghali
www.frasermustardchair.ca

The Fraser Mustard Chair in Childhood Development was established as a result of a gift from the Norlien Foundation and an anonymous donor. Under the direction of Dr. Margaret Clarke and the Advisory Council, the Chair team plays a leading role in the development of interdisciplinary programs to further research and practice in child development. The Chair works collaboratively with other child development initiatives across Alberta, as well as nationally and internationally. The Chair has a strong focus on the development of interdisciplinary programs in the area of child development.

This project focused on the knowledge of early brain development among students at MRU in various faculties and disciplines.

Start Smart Stay Safe (S4) – Sgt. Susan Westenberger, CPS www.calgarypolice.ca/sectionsandunits.html#YEP

The Start Smart Stay Safe: Children’s Project is a collaboration between the Calgary Police Service (CPS), the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD), the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and the Mount Royal University’s Centre for Child Well-Being (CCWB). The Project is focused on developing a police safety educational program for students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 that will enhance their ability to avoid risky behaviours and victimization. The crime and safety modules will link to Alberta curriculum outcomes and will be developed using a resiliency/strengths-based and multi-intelligence approach.

This project began by understanding the many programs which connect the CPS to Calgary schools and will support the Children’s portion of the S4 project.

Stepping Stones:Safe Kids Healthy Families final report

 Start Smart Stay Safe (S4) – Jonathan Hutton, MRU S4 Project coordinator

The Start Smart Stay Safe: Family Project is a partnership between the Calgary Police Service (CPS), the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) and the Centre for Child Well-Being (CCWB) at Mount Royal University (MRU).
It has been designed to strengthen parental (family) capacity to prevent the involvement of children in offending behaviour and crime, through a focus on resilience and strength-based education. The project will be conducted as one component of the Start Smart Stay Safe initiative which will also include a focus on children K-6 in both of the City’s School Boards.

This project focused on understanding resilience within social and environmental contexts.

Stepping Stones: Safe Kids, Healthy Families final report

Immigrant Sector Council of Calgary (ISCC) CARE Strategy – Lianne Lee www.isccalgary.ca/carestrategy/carestrategy.asp

Calgary’s CARE Strategy is a comprehensive framework that is the culmination of four years of work, designed to address the challenges facing children and youth of immigrant families. The strategy has been based on four main assumptions, including the fact that while many descendants of immigrant families are succeeding, there are still many who continue to experience grave difficulties in adjusting to the realities of a new country. The most significant challenges for this group include academic and cultural well-being, socio-economic and psycho-social realities.

This project focused on the development of an inter-sectoral collaboration.

CAREing for results final report

Families Matter – Carol Hauer
www.familiesmatter.ca

Families Matter is a non-profit organization that provides a variety of programs that support parents through their many family transitions. Programs include: Postpartum Support, Father’s Programs, Parenting workshops (Terrific Toddlers, LEAP, Home Alone, etc.), Calgary After School Programs, and Family Resource Centres(Reggio inspired).

The purpose of this project was to research family life in Calgary to help Families Matter customize their programs to the current market needs by defining certain demographics, collecting data on current family life in Calgary, and researching family trends and issues.

Trendy Families final report

Human Development Course at MRU

In partnership with the Fraser Mustard Chair of Early Childhood Development, a group of faculty from all disciplines across MRU is designing a course in early human development which would attract a wide array of students. The underlying belief is that all students, regardless of program of discipline of study, will have an enriched education when they understand the role of human development on the sustainability of human potential.

The purpose of this project was to conduct an environmental scan of degrees, diplomas, certificates to determine where human development is currently being taught at MRU. 

Who Cares About the Brain final report

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