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Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Determinants of Household Food Waste and Packaging Reduction Behaviour in Nova Scotia
(2026-03-05) Kayelle, Prosper Kaangmenpuo; Not Applicable; Master of Science; Faculty of Agriculture; Received; Dr. Michael von Massow; Yes; Dr. Gumataw Abebe; Dr. Prosper Koto; Dr. Emmanuel Yiridoe; Dr. Ji Lu
The purpose of this study was to better understand household food and packaging waste reduction behaviour in Nova Scotia. Household food and packaging waste reduction behaviours for a sample of 750 Nova Scotia residents were evaluated. A first objective involved applying the theory of planned behaviour and structural equation modelling to evaluate how household financial concerns influence household food waste behaviour. A second objective investigated the effects of food packaging characteristics on household food packaging waste management. A third objective applied an ordinal logit model to investigate the effects food packaging characteristics on household food waste magnitude. The results indicated that although Nova Scotia households who reported difficulties affording food showed a greater intention to reduce food waste (b=0.128, p=0.002), they interestingly reported a higher percentage of food wasted than less challenged families. The probability of wasting more food is lower among respondents who consider transport integrity to be important, while those who consider convenience important were more likely to waste more, compared to those who consider these attributes to be not important. Lifestyle convenience of packaging (b=-0.190, p<0.001) negatively influence recycling intention, while appropriateness of package size reduced reuse intention (b=-0.067, p=0.043) but increased recycling intention (b=0.094, p=0.009).
Access status: Open Access ,
HOW PHYSICAL ACTIVITY CAN BE DISCUSSED IN CLINICAL SETTINGS WITH ONCOLOGY CARE PROVIDERS AND NON-CURATIVE CANCER PATIENTS
(2026-03-03) Langley, Jodi; Yes; Doctor of Philosophy; Faculty of Health; Received; Dr. Katie Dainty; Yes; Dr. Robin Urquhart; Dr. Christine Cassidy; Dr. Grace Warner; Dr. Melanie Keats
Physical activity (PA) is an important component of a healthy lifestyle, with strong evidence demonstrating its benefits for individuals living with and beyond cancer, including those with non-curative cancer. Evidence shows that PA helps maintain quality of life (QOL), improve physical functioning, and enhance overall well-being. Despite this, PA remains underutilized in cancer care. One key factor is the role of oncology care providers (OCPs), who are trusted sources of information for patients but face challenges in consistently integrating PA discussions into clinical practice. This dissertation explored the clinical care context of PA conversations, understanding the current healthcare system, use of resources, and how patients, family/ friend caregivers, health decision makers, and OCPs perceive these discussions. To achieve this, this dissertation conducted three studies, with corresponding manuscripts. We conducted interviews to gain a deeper understanding of clinical appointments and to identify barriers and facilitators to PA conversations. We present these findings in two manuscripts: one focused on glioblastoma (GB) patients, OCPs, health decision-makers, and family/friend caregivers; the second study on OCPs of patients with non-curative cancer. We mapped these findings onto the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) model and then further refined them using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to create co-designed resources in the subsequent study. In the third manuscript, using a co-design approach this study embedded the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) to identify ways of making PA conversations more effective and efficient for both patients and OCPs. This process involved co-design workshops, during which participants collaborated with the research team to gather, analyze, and interpret data. Methods employed included storyboarding the clinical appointments to identify touchpoints where an OCP could discuss PA. Following this, this study developed workshop outputs into resources to support future integration into clinical care. Findings from this research emphasize the importance of the patient–provider relationship. Both patients and providers want PA conversations to happen but face systemic barriers such as limited appointment time and a lack of formal support. This work contributed to the design of two resources 1) a patient-facing information video for waiting rooms and 2) a prompting guide to support OCPs in having efficient, meaningful PA conversations. Overall, this dissertation offers valuable insights into the local health system context, with implications that extend to both local and national levels. The findings highlight multilevel factors, spanning individuals and the health system, that influence discussions about PA in clinical care for non-curative cancer patients. Importantly, OCPs are willing and motivated to engage in these discussions but need better systems to support them. Given the growing evidence base for PA in cancer care, these findings represent an important step toward embedding PA as a standard component of oncology practice.
Access status: Embargo ,
Transforming Assistive Technology Service Provision and Access in Low-Vision Rehabilitation for People Who Are Blind or Partially Sighted in Canada: Evidence to Inform Policy and Practice
(2026-03-04) Alnasery, Yaser; Not Applicable; Doctor of Philosophy; Faculty of Health; Received; Dr. Colleen McGrath; Yes; Dr. Darren Oystreck; Dr. Parisa Ghanouni; Dr. Tanya Packer
Low-vision rehabilitation (LVR) enables people who are blind or partially sighted maintain independence and actively participate in daily life. However, in Canada, there are still gaps in how assistive technology (AT) is chosen and experienced, as well as delays in referrals to rehabilitation services. This thesis explores these interconnected issues by analyzing patterns of AT use, assessing service provision from the user's perspective, and creating a practical referral tool to facilitate earlier access to care. These studies provide a solid evidence base to guide policy and practice. By integrating informal supports into formal services, incorporating user-centered decision-making into AT services and device prescription, and utilizing efficient referral tools in clinical settings, Canada can deliver more timely, equitable, and effective LVR for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Access status: Open Access ,
Plant-Pollinator Interactions in Lowbush Blueberry Agroecosystems
(2026-03-02) Rutherford, Katherine; Not Applicable; Doctor of Philosophy; Department of Biology; Not Applicable; Dr. Valerie Fournier; Not Applicable; Dr. Robert Beiko; Dr Scott White; Dr. David McCorquodale; Dr. Paul Bentzen; Dr. Nancy McLean
Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton, Ericales: Ericaceae) is a shrub native to northeastern North America. Wild bees have co-evolved with lowbush blueberry and are effective pollinators. The objective of this thesis was to describe plant-pollinator interactions in lowbush blueberry ecosystems in Maritime Canada. The specific objectives were 1) to evaluate correlations between plant richness, abundance, and diversity and bee visits to lowbush blueberry 2) determine which wild bees collected pollen from lowbush blueberry and 3) which non-crop flowers wild bees collected pollen from over the season. Interactions were characterized at 28 site-years. Observations of bee visits to flowers were recorded during transect walks and a subset of wild bees were captured for DNA metabarcoding of bee-associated pollen. Significant correlations between plant metrics and bee visits to blueberry were rare. During bloom, andrenid bee visits to blueberry were positively correlated to plant richness and diversity in the field. Bumble bee visits to lowbush blueberry were positively correlated to the mean bloom abundance (excluding blueberry) in the field. Other wild bee visits to blueberry were positively correlated to bloom abundance in the fall. Bees were observed on 55 of the 113 plant taxa recorded. The most abundant wild bees observed on blueberry flowers were the long-lived, social Bombus spp. and Lassioglossum spp. as well as the short-lived, solitary Andrena spp. At some sites, wild bees were observed on blueberry more frequently than honey bees. All wild bee taxa captured carried Vaccinium spp. pollen. In fact, 96% of captured bees carried Vaccinium spp. pollen, and 52% of captured bees had only Vaccinium spp. in their pollen loads. During bloom 86% of wild bee pollen loads had three or fewer plant genera. There were very few significant differences among bee taxa for the number of plant genera present in pollen loads. DNA metabarcoding of bee-associated pollen revealed more plant- pollinator interactions than observations during transect walks. The most common non- blueberry plant families in pollen loads during bloom were Rosaceae, Sapindaceae, and Asteraceae. Asteraceae was the most common plant family in summer and fall pollen loads. This study identified the wild bees present in lowbush blueberry fields. Observations and bee-associated pollen revealed the plant taxa wild bees visited throughout their lifecycle. These data identified plants that support wild bees in lowbush blueberry agroecosystems.
Access status: Open Access ,
“I do not desire healing”: Grief as Identity in Medieval(ist) Literatures
(2026-02-27) Foster, Gavin; Not Applicable; Doctor of Philosophy; Department of English; Not Applicable; Em Kightley; Not Applicable; Matthew Roby; Erin Wunker; David Evans; Kathy Cawsey
This dissertation examines the processes by which grief becomes identity in medieval and medievalist texts. Where scholars have traditionally read medieval grief through frameworks of consolation, I argue that an alternate tradition exists— one in which grief fundamentally transforms who characters are. Across the Old English elegies, The Wife's Lament and Wulf and Eadwacer, Beowulf, Le Morte Darthur, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, as well as contemporary translations by Maria Dahvana Headley and Miller Oberman, I trace how grief operates as an enduring force that remakes identity at three progressive levels: grammatical identity, bodily identity, and inner selfhood. My project begins with grammar. In the Old English elegies, dual pronouns represent the movement of characters beyond normative cycles of grief and mourning into melancholia, as grief is woven into the speakers’ grammatical selves. I establish this framework by close reading the elegies through a Freudian lens, focusing on Freud’s definitions of “melancholia” and the “work of mourning,” and then apply and extend these insights to Sir Thomas Malory and J.R.R. Tolkien, arguing that shifts between “ye” and “thou” and modernized dual constructions are similarly used to signify characters’ turns to melancholia. The project then moves to the body, reading dysphoria— the painful disconnection between internal experience and external presentation— as grief made physical. Again, I develop this framework through one text before extending it. In The Lord of the Rings, Éowyn's transformation into Dernhelm reveals how dysphoric grief reshapes bodily identity, and this lens proves equally revealing when applied to translations from Old English, where characters suffer altered and/or imperfect genders through both Othering and translation processes, and when applied to Malory, where Lancelot grieves his imperfect masculinity and “monstrous” women are Othered. Finally, the project turns to inner selfhood, characterized through instances of performative death. Drawing on theories of performativity (Derrida, Butler, Phelan, Ahmed) and photography (Barthes's Camera Lucida), I examine how characters stage their deaths as the ultimate articulations of grief-as-identity. Gawain and Elaine in Malory performatively write and stage their deaths, and this framework extends to speakers in the Old English elegies and to Tolkien's Elves, revealing grief as a practice of self-making through which texts imagine what it means to remain changed.
Access status: Open Access ,
Sexual well-being among individuals undergoing fertility treatment: A review of recent literature
(2024) Péloquin, K.; Beauvilliers, L.; Benoît, Z.; Brassard, A.; Rosen, N. O.