News

Step into the future of healthy aging! On January 21, IALH hosted a Lunch & Learn on Virtual Reality for Healthy Aging presented by Natasha Tat, MSc, exploring how immersive tech is being used to support health, wellbeing, and aging well.

Natasha has successfully defended her master’s thesis, Virtual reality for healthy aging: Assessing the feasibility of a community-delivered virtual reality intervention for older adults experiencing subjective cognitive decline! We’re so proud of her dedication, hard work, and all the impact she’s made on our lab and the community!

New publication describing the co-design of a just-in-time adaptive mHealth intervention to improve parental support for child physical activity. The app was created using Pathverse, our in-house no-code app design platform.

New CIHR-funded RCT protocol, testing a blended web-based program that combines guided group sessions + self-paced resources to help kids with overweight/obesity improve their physical activity, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. Our goal was to see if this family-focused approach works better than just self-guided online resources over 12 months. With 270 families across Canada participating, results coming soon will show if this scalable approach can support healthier habits for kids and their families. Stay tuned for results in 2026!

New publication authored by Parker Cotie, Amanda Willms & Dr. Sam Liu. This scoping review explores how behavior change techniques (BCTs) and theories are used in mobile health just-in-time adaptive interventions to promote physical activity.

The DHL team had the privilege of co-hosting a planning meeting at the Prince George Family YMCA to support planning the evaluation and expansion of the YMCA BC "Healthy Hips and Knees" program. Our goal for the May 29 workshop was to bring together individuals with lived experience with the program to collaboratively identify potential barriers and facilitators to expansion. We had a wonderful day connecting with local interest holders and learning more about the program!

Sending a HUGE congratulations to Cameron Trim, who successfully defended his MSc thesis on May 5! Cam created and conducted a mixed methods usability study of a mobile health application designed to help support people with an inflammatory bowel disease to increase their physical activity levels. We’re so proud of you Cam!

Sending a big congratulations to Master's student Natasha Tat on receiving a SSHRC Partnerships Engage grant for her MSc research project, “Virtual Reality for Cognitive Engagement and Social Interaction in Community-Based Settings for Aging Populations”!

The Digital Health Lab showed up strong at the Society for Behavioural Medicine's 46th Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions in San Francisco—presenting cutting-edge research, leading workshops, and sharing ideas with the global behavioural medicine community.

Rebecca Jantzen received her CAN TAP TALENT Clinical Research Professional Internship award certificate and presented her internship details at the 2025 CANTRAIN Clinical Trials Training Summit in February.

Parker Cotie presented his Honours research project at the Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards fair on March 19, 2025

Congratulations to Rebecca Jantzen on being selected to receive a 2025 Clinical Research Professional Internship award from the CAN TAP TALENT national clinical trials training platform!

Huge congratulations to our PhD candidate Amanda, a recipient of the 2024 CBITN Scholars Program award!

Brand-new DHL-led review article! Advancing physical activity research methods using real-time and adaptive technology: A scoping review of “no-code” mobile health app research tools.

Big shoutout to our amazing undergraduate student, Parker, for receiving the prestigious JCURA (Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Award)!

New publication led by Amanda Willms explored the feasibility of using ChatGPT to create content for a physical activity just-in-time adaptive intervention. Check out her recommendations for using ChatGPT to develop mHealth content!

How does the menstrual cycle impact athletes' recreational physical activity? Read our latest publication to find out!

Check out this "Friday Family Challenge" featured by Generation Health Community, starring our very own Cameron Trim on a physical activity scavenger hunt! Doesn't this make getting active look like FUN?

New publication: “Examining the Coach-Athlete Relationship for Facilitators and Barriers to Healthy Sport Participation for Cyclically Menstruating Athletes” led by Sharan Srinivasa Gopalan, PhD candidate.

Congratulations to Natasha Tat for her success in the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Master’s Award competition!

Amanda Willms was a featured speaker at Health Tech Night hosted by the UVic Coast Capital Innovation Centre and Research Partnership Office, presenting the story of how Pathverse came to be!

The DHL team has supported the Generation Health Community family-based healthy living program to evaluate program outcomes as they increase their reach to more families across BC, including hosting a program site for local families at UVic CARSA. Cameron Trim (EPHE Master’s student) served as Physical Activity Facilitator for the CARSA Generation Health site.

Sending a big congratulations to Rebecca Coulter, our most recent MSc defender! Rebecca’s thesis was titled “Effect of Wearable Activity Trackers and Social Media Use on Day-Level Physical Activity Motivation and Behaviours."

DHL had a strong representation at the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) conference in Sweden this year!

PhD student Sharan Gopalan and our lab director, Dr. Sam Liu, presented at the 8th Canadian Obesity Summit in Whistler earlier this month.

DHL co-hosted a booth at the Centre for Youth and Society Flourishing Children & Youth Program Fair.

Check out our latest publication, focused on the feasibility of a financial incentive intervention for adults at risk of developing hypertension.

DHL members presented at the Society for Behavioural Medicine 2023 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.

Check out our latest publication, focused on the development and usability of an mHealth program called "Healthy Hearts" using the Pathverse "No-Code" mobile app builder tool.

Rebecca Jantzen joined the DHL as Research Coordinator in September. A Q&A with Rebecca (led by the Generation Health Program) is featured here.

Our team attended ISBNPA 2022 both virtually and in-person in Phoenix, Arizona to share some exciting research happening in the Digital Health Lab!

Check out our most recent publication!

We are pleased to announce the launch of Pathverse!

Check out our submission to the SBM 2021 Annual Meeting as a Research Spotlight. It explains the findings from a systematic review completed by Amanda Willms and Dr. Sam Liu.

Check out our recent publication in the Journal for Medical Internet Research (JMIR)!

Check out our recent publication in the Annals of Leisure Research!

We've been busy lately. Here's a summary of what we've been up to!

Pathverse is now available in the Apple App Store.

We were recently published in the Childhood Obesity Journal.

Android users, you can now download Pathverse on your Smartphones!

Our lab-developed solution to accessible mHealth development resources has launched! Find it in YOUR app store shortly!