Transitions - work, family, education

Beginning with an informal book study with the goal of engaging currently and formerly incarcerated men in a participatory action project, this study will address the reduction of recidivism, or reoffending, by studying ways in which individuals reconceive of themselves when engaged in a project of initiating self-change away from offending.  This includes a focus on how identities change (as precursors to behavioural change) as individuals move through the prison system and prepare for re-entry, and how programming impacts conceptions of the self. The team will also consider how individuals conceive, and hope to approach, potential supports and barriers they encounter upon release. The team is currently coordinating access to Wilkinson Road Jail where the data collection will take place.

Funding: SSHRC, internal IRCPG grant
Research Team: Tamara Humphrey & Audrey Yap (Uvic)
Contact: tamarahumphrey@uvic.ca

Resilience is the effective adaptation and coping to hardship and adversity. Intergenerational resilience is the transmission of resilience from one generation to the next. Using narrative as a research method, this project explores intergenerational resilience in Chinese Canadian families. The research team invited adult parent-child dyads of Chinese heritage where the parent had experienced adversity to share how the parent adapted and coped with the hardship and its influence on the child.

Funding Partner: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Research Team: Fred Chou, Catherine Costigan, Marla Buchanan (UBC), Grace Wong Sneddon, & team
Contact: fchou@uvic.ca

(Re)Claim & Connect is an online counselling support group created to support Asian Canadians experiencing anti-Asian racism. Experiences of racism contribute to psychological distress and mental health struggles. The study aims to refine an anti-Asian racism counselling support group based on participant feedback. Presently, the research team has conducted a pilot of the support group and is evaluating the program.

Funding Partner: Victoria Foundation
Research Team: Fred Chou, Tim Black, Carmen Huang, Catherine Costigan, Jin-Sun Yoon
Contact: fchou@uvic.ca

The research team is piloting an intervention where individuals create a family story with another family member from a different generation. The program's goal is to support the well-being of Asian Canadians by strengthening intergenerational family relationships through creating and sharing family stories. The program adapts a counselling intervention known as Life Review, a process of reflecting, writing, and telling your story in a structured way that can expand one’s awareness and understanding of oneself and one’s family, as well as improve psychosocial well-being and life satisfaction.

Research Team: Fred Chou, Tim Black, & Carmen Huang
Contact: fchou@uvic.ca

Examines parents’ and early childhood educators’ perceptions of a digital toolkit, then second grant creates digital toolkit posted in Pinterest for public consumption. The team has created resources intended for parents, educators, and caregivers of children aged 1.5 to 5 years old using free or inexpensive household materials. 

Funding Partners: UVic Faculty of Education COVID-19 Emergency Research Fund, SSHRC
Research Team: Todd Milford & Christine Tippett
Website: https://www.pinterest.ca/STEMintheEarlyYears/stem-learning-experiences-for-young-children/
Contact: tmilford@uvic.ca 

Following a workshop with newly arrived refugee families, Dr. Costigan identified a key difference in the experience of privately sponsored refugee families and government-assisted refugee families. While both groups receive financial and settlement support, privately sponsored families have the added benefit of community and social ties which aid their transition. In order to address this, Dr. Costigan is working with Victoria Immigrant & Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS) in an effort to create a socially cohesive environment to welcome all refugees.

Funding Partners: SSHRC (Partnership Engage Grant with VIRCS)
Research Team: Catherine Costigan & team
Contact: costigan@uvic.ca 

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education encourage children to explore and observe the world around them. However, there are very few early childhood STEM initiatives in Canada. Working with 2 early childhood educators, 14 Pre-K students, and 11 parents, Dr. Milford and Dr. Tippett created two tools to guide data collection: a classroom observation protocol and an online parent survey. The observation protocol which helped the researchers document the behaviours of early childhood educators and students during STEM activities and data were collected via: classroom observations, interviews with early childhood educators, student work samples, student focus groups, and parent questionnaires. 

Funding Partners: SSHRC
Research Team: Christine Tippett & Todd Milford
Website: https://www.stemintheearlyyears.com/
Contact: tmilford@uvic.ca 

Dr. Costigan conducts annual parenting workshops for immigrant and refugee parents in partnership with Victoria Immigrant & Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS), primarily targeting Chinese and Arabic-speaking communities. Dr. Costigan and her team routinely evaluate these workshops in order to improve the program.

Funding Partners: SSHRC (Partnership Engage Grant with VIRCS) 
Research Team: Catherine Costigan & team
Contact: costigan@uvic.ca