Go to page content

Student-faculty collaboration

New unit offers clinical, social and health psychology research opportunities

Research

By Elizabeth Furey

The Student Wellness and Counselling Centre (SWCC) wasn’t just running rapid testing clinics or administering vaccines during the pandemic.

Dr. Ken Fowler, (left) director of the Student Wellness and Counselling Centre and Dr. Pamela Button, (right) with the latest cohort of PCRU research students in front of multi-colour poster board displays.
From left are Dr. Ken Fowler and, Dr. Pamela Button, (far right) with the latest cohort of PCRU research students.
Photo: Submitted

A new research unit based in the clinic has also been producing significant results.

Aspects of psychology

The Psychosocial Collaborative Research Unit (PCRU) at the SWCC launched in October 2020, with the goal of supporting students, faculty and applied researchers with an opportunity to conduct collaborative applied research in the areas of clinical, social and health psychology.

“We had an interest in conducting research through the centre, so we put a call out to honours students in the Department of Psychology and were overwhelmed by the response,” said Dr. Ken Fowler, director of the SWCC. “We picked seven students, all of whom were eager to work on the project.”

The director of the PCRU, Dr. Pamela Button, is a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor at the SWCC.

She says that, with Dr. Fowler as director of the SWCC and through the Faculty of Science, the group has access to a significant amount of data.

“Our honours students collaborated with our faculty and the Faculty of Medicine, as well as having master’s in applied psychological science graduate students complete both work projects and work terms with us,” Dr. Button said.

‘Tailor the topic’

The student research projects all focused on mental health, but the finer details varied.

Cailyn Fridgen, a spring 2022 bachelor of science graduate, was one of the students who worked in the PCRU.

She says her interest in women’s health and wellness are what drew her to the project.

“The Student Wellness and Counselling Centre uses data collected from the Canadian Community Health Survey, so we have access to so many different physical and mental health variables as well as demographics, which meant we could really tailor the topic of our research to our personal research interests.”

Bethany Torraville, a psychology student who also graduated this month with a bachelor of science degree, is another student who conducted research with the PCRU.

She says she was attracted to the work because of her interest in clinical psychology and a clinically focused research unit.

From left are student Cailyn Fridgen and her supervisor, Dr. Ken Fowler. They are standing in front of a pink poster board display.
From left are student Cailyn Fridgen and her supervisor, Dr. Ken Fowler.
Photo: Submitted

“My research was focused on the gender differences in adolescents and emerging adults with ADHD,” said Ms. Torraville. “Research that includes females with ADHD is very limited so I have been very grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Fowler and Dr. Button, and been able to work towards filling this gap and advocating for better awareness and practices for this population.”

Dr. Button says it was important to everyone in the unit to conduct research that gave students experience in doing applied research, and research that could be used in the future.

“Dr. Fowler and I wanted to make the unit something that was sustainable, and foster collaborative relationships with other areas of the university,” she said.

“Completing my thesis under the supervision of clinicians with ample experience who work directly in this area was a great learning opportunity,” said Ms. Torraville. “There have already been several opportunities for me to share my research, and Dr. Button and Dr. Fowler have really encouraged me consistently during this process.”

Going forward, Dr. Button and Dr. Fowler hope to expand the unit and work with more faculty and collaborators across the university.

“The number of students we can accept depends on the number of collaborators we get to participate, so we’re eager to grow and conduct more research with honours students, as well as graduate students,” said Dr. Fowler.


To receive news from Memorial in your inbox, subscribe to Gazette Now.


Latest News

Histories, conversations, insights

Dr. Harris Berger renewed as Canada Research Chair in ethnomusicology

Technology test bed

The Launch selected as NATO network test centre

Memorial at 100

Looking back and launching forth: celebrating Memorial University’s centennial anniversary

Mutually beneficial

Celebrating Work-Integrated Learning Day at RAnLab

Top shelf

Business students score with Hockey NL partnership

All things to all people

Engineering's Canada Research Chair aiming for universal connectivity