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Pandora’s Box or Xbox?

December 6th, 2011 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Pandora’s Box or Xbox?)

The debate over violence, addiction and isolation in video gaming

In September 2011, a middle-aged British man burst into the home of a fellow online computer gamer, aged 13 years, and “throttled” him, according to news reports. The shocked teenager’s mother intervened and saved her gaming son.

The story doesn’t surprise Nanaimo resident and avid gamer Ronin Broad, who says that threats and arguments among competing online players are common. Whether online death threats are real or virtual might be the big question. The British incident occurred after the teenager “killed” the middle-aged man in the online game and then taunted him. The Daily Mail reported that the man who throttled the youth “had mental health issues.” (more…)

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Too many patients are restrained

September 15th, 2011 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Too many patients are restrained)

A recent study confirms that one in four psychiatric patients in Ontario was restrained or isolated while in treatment

The use of control interventions, including physical and mechanical restraints, acute control medications and seclusion, is understood to be a method of last resort in care facilities and hospitals. However, according to a new analysis [opens to PDF] from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), nearly one in four (24%) individuals admitted to a designated mental health bed in Ontario experienced at least one type of control intervention during their hospitalization.

Patients admitted to a general hospital, as opposed to a psychiatric hospital, were actually more likely to experience the use of restraint(s). (more…)

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Grieving in an online world

July 28th, 2011 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Grieving in an online world)

Online grieving, whether on Facebook or other social media, is becoming the new normal…but does it actually help?

After the campus shootings in the U.S. at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois University in 2008, hundreds of affected students turned to social media websites to share their grief and search for solace. A study of these students found that their online activities neither helped nor harmed their long-term psychological health.

The study gave a first-of-its-kind portrait of student reactions to shootings on their campuses. It also documented both the online and off-line activities they engaged in to memorialize and recover from these events. (more…)

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Arctic history makes waves in China

July 28th, 2011 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (0 Comments)

The history of the Arctic is retold, from an Inuit perspective, and the project creates interest at an international conference

A University of British Columbia research study was presented at a recent international conference in Shanghai, China. Fourth year sociology student April Dutheil shared her experiences with the Nanisiniq Arviat History Project at the Universitas 21 undergraduate conference—hosted by an international network of 23 research-intensive universities.

The archival project began after a UBC social work professor was approached by Inuit elders from Arviat, Nunavut, who asked for help in passing on their experiences to a younger generation. A plan grew to document the experience and history of colonization—from the Inuit point of view. (more…)

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Homophobia is rampant in schools

June 2nd, 2011 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Homophobia is rampant in schools)

Verbal, physical, and sexual harassment is reported by gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, and queer school students

The terms “homophobia” and “transphobia” signify a great deal of unnecessary misery in the lives of Canadian students. Knowledge of their distress and a determination to bring it to the consciousness of educators and parents motivated members of the Education Committee of Egale Canada to conduct a ‘climate survey’ of Canadian schools. University of Winnipeg professor Catherine Taylor launched the survey in December 2007, eventually collecting information from over 3,700 students across Canada. (more…)

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Mental health, citizenship, and inclusion

June 2nd, 2011 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Mental health, citizenship, and inclusion)

A group of people diagnosed with schizophrenia conducted research about housing and its impacts on mental health

The struggle for housing stability is among the many challenges faced by people with schizophrenia. That struggle was the focus of a participatory action research project led by professor Barbara Schneider at the University of Calgary.

Participatory research involves members of a community group in meaningful participation in all stages of the research process, including developing the research question, gathering the data, analyzing the data, and disseminating and using the results. (more…)

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