Students learning within challenging contexts often feel disempowered and may not see the relevance of their learning. The proposed research project will assess the extent to which an educational experience that enhances coding skills while also exercising students’ core “skills of success” increases their feelings of empowerment. This assessment will take place within a number of schools in Lebanon, supported by their Ministry of Education.

Chronic stress increases the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Specifically, chronic stress can cause increased microglial activation, leading to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines through the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a role in the development and progression of certain brain diseases. Cerebiome has been associated with a reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, there is limited research on Cerebiome’s impact on microglia cells and the NLRP3 inflammasome.

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability, with long-term hand function impairments being the most common symptom among stroke survivors. As hand function plays a vital role in performing everyday activities, individuals with stroke face a significant impact in their quality of life including their ability to maintain independence, employment, and socially connectedness. To improve hand function and overcome challenges from this disability, IRegained® has developed the MyHandTM System, a therapy device that promotes various types of hand movements in a gamified environment.

There is growing public interest in the therapeutic use of mushrooms that contain a psychoactive ingredient called psilocybin. There are two categories of psilocybin available for clinical use right now. Natural psilocybin, which is extracted from the mushroom, and synthetically derived psilocybin-like compounds. Synthetic psilocybin is more commonly used in clinical trials because companies producing synthesized psilocybin have a larger share of the market.

In 2017, Canada hosted over 13 thousand asylum seekers younger than 15 years. In Canada asylum seekers wait on average for two years for the determination of their refugee status. Moreover, asylum seekers are being vulnerablized not only by pre-migration trauma, but also because of the ongoing stressors of resettlement, including legal precarity, racism, discrimination, insecure housing, and other forms of social exclusion. The need for programs that can protect and prevent mental health problems in asylum seekers families is crucial.

This research will evaluate the group programming offered by the non-profit counseling service, Gentle Path, which provides professional mental health services to everyone regardless of their financial means. The proposed study will involve recruiting participants from the organization and asking them about their reasons for expressing interest in counseling but not enrolling in it. The results of the study will inform recruitment processes and help identify barriers to accessing counseling services.

The purpose of this research project is to improve psychological health and safety in the workplace. Psychological health and safety refers to comprehensive view of mental health in the workplace which includes reducing risk for mental harm and promoting employee mental health. It is a joint responsibility between employees and employers. Part 1 of the project is to create an evidence-based assessment tool that workplaces can use to assess the degree to which their workplace is psychologically safe and inclusive.

Advances in the field of pharmacogenetics have brought much attention to the potential benefit of personalized medicine in the field of psychiatry. We will assess the value of a simple pharmacogenetic test for treatment-seeking CAF veterans. If the results from prior depression studies hold in our PTSD population, this approach holds potential to save time and money and accelerate the path to recovery by matching treatment to the profile of each patient, and therefore improving treatment outcomes (Hall-Flavin et al., 2013).

Depression has high prevalence, currently available treatments are difficult to access, have low adherence, or are associated with adverse effects. Recent work from our team suggests utility of repetitive Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) of the facial muscles responsible for producing a “genuine” smile pattern in treating depression. We propose to develop a textile-based 3-D printed facial mask personalized to the participant’s face to deliver FES and conduct the first sham-controlled pilot trial of FES of the facial muscles with this device to treat major depressive disorder (MDD).

Although survey measurement is a common practice in many industries to collect workplace feedback, there is a lack of peer-reviewed literature reflecting how organizations are surveying their workforce (Rotolo, Fleck, & Shepherd, 2020). Several survey administration and design concerns should be empirically examined to understand how organizations collect data, which include survey design, delivery, and frequency.