Research work by StFX faculty to help with bullying prevention and to strengthen community-based mental health care in rural Nova Scotia has received significant funding from the Nova Scotia Office of Addictions and Mental Health. Dr. Laura Lambe and Dr. Jill Murphy are both recipients of nearly $100,000 in award funding through the new Investigator in Addictions & Mental Health grants, delivered by Research NS.
L-r, Dr. Jill Murphy and Dr. Laura Lambe
Dr. Lambe, a faculty member in the StFX Department of Psychology and the principal investigator of the IVY Lab: Interrupting Victimization in Youth, has been awarded $99,937 over two years for research on "Understanding the mental health impacts of witnessing identity-based bullying." Dr. Lambe's research aims to better understand the impact of witnessing identity-based bullying on student mental health through both quantitative and qualitative research. She will also explore whether bystander intervention buffers the negative impacts of identity-based bullying on student mental health.
Dr. Murphy, who holds the Research Chair in Mental Health and Addictions and is a faculty member in the StFX Interdisciplinary Health Program, will receive $99,962 over the same time period for her work on "Collaborative Priority-Setting to Strengthen Community-Based Mental Health Care in Rural Nova Scotia." Dr. Murphy says the overall objectives of this study are to understand the landscape of Community-Base Mental Health (CBMH) services for adults in rural Nova Scotia with an emphasis on availability, accessibility and perceived quality from an equity lens and to identify community priorities related to further strengthening CBMH access and effectiveness.
More details on each project follows:
Dr. Laura Lambe: "Understanding the mental health impacts of witnessing identity-based bullying"
"Bullying is a significant threat to the well-being of Nova Scotian youth," says Dr. Laura Lambe, who is a registered clinical psychologist and expert in youth relationships and mental health, bullying prevention, and bystander intervention.
"The Auditor General's Report on School Violence indicates a 60 per cent increase in school violence in Nova Scotia over the last seven years, with a 196-285 per cent increase in racist and discriminatory behaviors. It is likely that many of these behaviors overlap and reflect identity-based bullying, in which students are targeted based on their gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, weight, and/or disability. Students from equity-deserving groups are especially affected by identity-based bullying; however, the well-being of entire school communities is negatively impacted by school violence."
Dr. Lambe's research is designed in collaboration with a Youth Advisory Committee, who will give input on each phase of the project to ensure it aligns with adolescents' experiences.
Funds from Research NS will be used to hire research staff and students to conduct the research, and to collect data from adolescents recruited from the Antigonish community.
Data gathered from this research is critical for designing safe and effective bullying prevention efforts, especially those that aim to reduce bullying through bystander intervention, she says. Results from this research can be used to design prevention programs that recognize the layered and cumulative impact of both direct and vicarious victimization. Dr. Lambe says findings are especially relevant in Nova Scotia, where the Mass Casualty Commission has recommended the promotion of bystander intervention among all age groups as a tool to end the epidemic of interpersonal violence in the province.
Dr. Jill Murphy: "Collaborative Priority-Setting to Strengthen Community-Based Mental Health Care in Rural Nova Scotia"
Nova Scotia has one of the highest lifetime prevalence rates of mental health conditions in Canada (41.7 per cent) compared with the national average (33.1 per cent) and has one of the largest Canadian rural populations (41.1 per cent), says Dr. Jill Murphy.
"Rural communities face higher rates of mental health and substance use conditions compared with urban areas, and face added barriers to care access, including having to travel long distances to access services and fears related to confidentiality. People from equity-deserving communities who reside in rural areas may face additional barriers to accessing care that is acceptable and appropriate for them," she says. "Despite these challenges, rural communities also have many strengths that can support the mental health and well-being of their residents."
Offering mental health services that are available where people live and that align with the needs and priorities of communities is identified as necessary to deliver timely, appropriate and acceptable care, she says. Since 2019, Nova Scotia has taken substantial steps to strengthen its mental health and addictions program, including as the first Canadian province to commit, in 2021, to providing Universal Mental Health Care (UMHC).
The majority of mental health system data in Nova Scotia was collected before 2019, prior to the implementation of these polices and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a substantial impact on mental health prevalence and need. Dr. Murphy says there is therefore a substantial opportunity to map the current landscape of Community-Base Mental Health (CBMH) in rural Nova Scotia, particularly in the context of UMHC implementation, and to understand the perspectives and experiences of people living in rural communities related to mental health care.
Dr. Murphy says the overall objectives of this study are to understand the landscape of CBMH services for adults in rural Nova Scotia with an emphasis on availability, accessibility and perceived quality from an equity lens and to identify community priorities related to further strengthening CBMH access and effectiveness.
This formative study will use qualitative methods to capture the perspectives of people with lived and living experience and their families/carers living in eastern Nova Scotia (Pictou County, Antigonish County and Cape Breton), service providers and policy makers.
This research will be conducted in partnership with a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP), made up of people with lived and living experience of mental health conditions. Partnerships with community-based healthcare organizations will support the recruitment of community members and will promote alignment with local priorities, while partnerships with policy makers in NS Health's Mental Health and Additions Program will promote effective knowledge translation.
Research funds will be used to hire research staff and students, to support the participation of the LEAP and partner organizations, and to collect data across the three eastern Nova Scotia regions.
The results of this study will guide evidence-based decision making informed by the priorities of rural Nova Scotians and will shape directions for future research that is responsive to these priorities. This in turn will make an impact on the mental health of rural Nova Scotian communities.
