Wilfreda E Thurston
Biographic Data
| ID | 309491 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wilfreda E Thurston |
| GIVEN NAMES | Wilfreda E |
| FAMILY NAME | Thurston |
| SIGNATURE | THURSTON W E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Calgary |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0779-8943 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 121 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Race as a determinant of prenatal depressive symptoms: Analysis of data from the ‘All Our Families’ study
Strategies to address socioeconomic status, stress, and social support among racialized minority women may reduce the risk for prenatal depression
It's a Valuable Service but a Hard Place to Be: Women's Views About Violence Against Women Shelters
This mixed-methods secondary analysis examined VAW shelter use by 662 Canadian women abused by partners (50.5% Indigenous, 43.4% White, and 6.1% visible minority). Women who had never resided in shelters ( n = 242) had less Severe Combined and Total IPV on the Composite Abuse Scale and fewer PTSD symptoms. More nonresidents worked full time and had higher incomes and no children. The 420 women residents mentioned strengths (70.4%) such as support…
Promising healing practices for interventions addressing intergenerational trauma among Aboriginal youth: A scoping review
There is growing recognition in Canada around the role of intergenerational trauma in shaping physical and mental health inequities among Aboriginal 1 youth. We examined recommendations on best practices for addressing intergenerational trauma in interventions for Aboriginal youth. Academic-community partnerships were formed to guide this scoping literature review. Peer-reviewed academic literature and “grey” sources were searched. Of 3,135 citat…
Sexual Assault Resistance Education’s Benefits for Survivors of Attempted and Completed Rape
The effectiveness of the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program in reducing victimization and impacting other outcomes (mediators of program effects) was demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial. A planned analysis showed that program effects on sexual assault were not significantly different for survivors of completed rape and other women. The present article investigated whether the impact of EAAA on incidence of rape and attempt…
Countering Rape Culture with Resistance Education
Testing a Model of How a Sexual Assault Resistance Education Program for Women Reduces Sexual Assaults
The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program has been shown to reduce sexual assaults experienced by university students who identify as women. Prevention researchers emphasize testing theory-based mechanisms once positive outcomes related to effectiveness are established. We assessed the process by which EAAA’s positive outcomes are achieved in a sample of 857 first year university students. EAAA’s goals are to increase risk detection in…
A First Nations Framework for Emergency Planning: A Community-Based Response to the Health and Social Effects from a Flood
In June 2013, a severe flooding of the Bow and Elbow Rivers affected southern Alberta, a province in Canada. The flood was subsequently described to be the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. Among the hardest hit communities was the Siksika First Nation, located on the Bow River banks about 100 kilometers east of the city of Calgary.A community-university partnership was formed to document the Siksika First Nation community-based res…
The Mental Health and Well-Being of Canadian Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Women Abused by Intimate Partners
Intimate partner violence (IPV), mental health, disabilities, and child abuse history were examined for 292 Indigenous compared with 295 non-Indigenous Canadian women. IPV was assessed by the Composite Abuse Scale and mental health by the Symptom Checklist-10, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression 10, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist, and Quality of Life Questionnaire. Scores did not differ nor were they in the clinical …
Everything Is Related and It All Leads Up to My Mental Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of the Determinants of Mental Wellness Amongst Urban Indigenous Elders
Indigenous peoples in Canada often experience a greater burden of poor health and wellness relative to non-Indigenous Canadians due to a legacy of colonisation and racism. However, Indigenous mental wellness outcomes vary by community, and it is essential to understand how a community has been impacted by the determinants to improve mental wellness outcomes. This article shares insight from a research partnership with the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Soc…
Secondary and 2-Year Outcomes of a Sexual Assault Resistance Program for University Women
We report the secondary outcomes and longevity of efficacy from a randomized controlled trial that evaluated a novel sexual assault resistance program designed for first-year women university students. Participants ( N = 893) were randomly assigned to receive the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program or a selection of brochures (control). Perception of personal risk, self-defense self-efficacy, and rape myth acceptance was assessed at …
Aboriginal Homelessness: A Framework for Best Practice in the Context of Structural Violence
Homelessness among Indigenous peoples is an important issue in Canada and internationally. Research was conducted in seven metropolitan areas in the four western provinces of Canada to explore current services with the aim of developing a best practices framework to end homelessness for Aboriginal peoples. Sequential mixed methods were used. Key results found agreement that Aboriginal peoples were overrepresented among the homeless and policy det…
Using Mixed Methods to Facilitate Complex, Multiphased Health Research
From conceptualization to application and evaluation, research is conducted in a context of increasing complexity of disciplines, goals, communities, and partnerships. Researchers often are challenged to demonstrate the rigor of their methods and results to audiences with diverse backgrounds and disciplinary expertise. This article illustrates the benefits of using mixed methods approaches in research designed to address issues in complex researc…
Mapping the role of structural and interpersonal violence in the lives of women: Implications for public health interventions and policy
BACKGROUND: Research on interpersonal violence towards women has commonly focused on individual or proximate-level determinants associated with violent acts ignores the roles of larger structural systems that shape interpersonal violence. Though this research has contributed to an understanding of the prevalence and consequences of violence towards women, it ignores how patterns of violence are connected to social systems and social institutions.…
Discordant indigenous and provider frames explain challenges in improving access to arthritis care: A qualitative study using constructivist grounded theory
Low specialist care utilization rates among Indigenous people cannot be attributed to cultural and social preferences. Further, the assumptions made by providers lead to stereotyping and racism and reinforce rejection of healthcare by patients. Examples of 'working around' the system were revealed and showed potential for improved utilization of specialist services. This framework has significant implications for health policy and indicates that …
Comparing criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China
Canada and China are two very different countries in terms of their socio-economic and political contexts; however, neither country is immune to the social problem of violence against women. This paper compares the criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China in order to explore the pathway of responses to violence against women in different cultural contexts, and discusses the implications for addressing violence agai…
Pathways Into and Out of Homelessness: Domestic Violence and Housing Security for Immigrant Women
Housing insecurity is a major barrier to leaving domestic violence; it may force abused women to live in inadequate conditions or to return to their abusers. Immigrant women face additional barriers. Longitudinal interviews with 37 abused immigrant women living in three Canadian cities investigated key causes of housing insecurity. Results show a need to target systemic factors, a diversity of issues foregrounded along pathways into and out of ho…
Considerations for the provision of prosthetic services in post-disaster contexts: The Haiti Amputee Coalition
Following the 2010 earthquake, Hôpital Albert Schweitzer and Hanger Prosthetics founded a prosthetics shop in rural Haiti. This research explored barriers to clients’ continued use of their limb, with the goal of improving programming and thus increasing rates of success. Methods used included ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The participants included retrospective and prospective prosthetic users as well as …
Direct and Indirect Services for Children in Domestic Violence Shelters
Health's a difficult beast: The interrelationships between domestic violence, women's health and the health sector
Successful Integration and Maintenance of Screening for Domestic Violence in the Health Sector: Moving Beyond Individual Responsibility
Domestic violence (DV) screening and prevention interventions have been implemented in the health sector; however, few health care settings have successfully implemented protocols that have been fully integrated and sustained within the larger organization. Researchers have tended to focus on individual-level characteristics of health care providers to explain this. The authors argue that organizational, structural, social, and cultural factors, …
Understanding place and health: A heuristic for using administrative data
Bridging the divide between families and health professionals’ perspectives on family‐centred care
Objectives To describe and discuss key findings from a recent research project that challenge an increasingly prevalent theme, apparent in both family‐centred care research and practice, of conceptualizing family‐centred care as shifting care, care management, and advocacy responsibilities to families. The purpose of the research, from which these findings emerged, was to develop a conceptualization of family‐centred care grounded in the experien…
An ecological model for understanding culture as a determinant of women's health
In combination with gender and culture, the authors argue that the migratory experience must be considered as a determinant of the health of immigrant women in its own right. Gender and other symbolic institutions are seen as intertwined in an ecological model of health. Bronfenbrenner's (1986 Bronfenbrenner, U. 1986. Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives. Developmental Psychology, 22(6): 723–742. [Crossr…
Evaluability Assessment of a Survivors of Torture Program: Lessons Learned
An evaluability assessment (EA) framework was used to assess a survivors of torture program for which one of the authors had been coordinator. Staff and other stakeholders were interviewed and documents reviewed. Program logic models were developed and discussed. The results of the EA and the process are discussed in terms of the barriers to EA identified by Smith (2005). The article suggests that an EA can be done with limited resources and stil…
Public Participation for Women's Health: Strange Bedfellows or Partners in a Cause
A major focus of health system reform in Canada has been the regionalization of health services administration. With a goal of bringing decision-making closer to the community, there has been a commitment to public participation in planning by some health authorities. Women, however, often feel that their participation is minimal or their needs are not addressed. During regionalization of the Alberta health system, the Calgary Health Region (CHR)…
Immigrant women's health
Balancing Culture, Ethics, and Methods in Qualitative Health Research with Aboriginal Peoples
Including Aboriginal women in qualitative health research expands our understanding of factors that contribute to their health and well-being. As part of the larger WHEALTH study, we gathered qualitative health data on midlife Aboriginal women living both on and off reserves. Despite careful planning and a commitment to methodological congruence and purposiveness we encountered a number of challenges that raised ethical questions. We present how …
Secondary and 2-Year Outcomes of a Sexual Assault Resistance Program for University Women
We report the secondary outcomes and longevity of efficacy from a randomized controlled trial that evaluated a novel sexual assault resistance program designed for first-year women university students. Participants ( N = 893) were randomly assigned to receive the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program or a selection of brochures (control). Perception of personal risk, self-defense self-efficacy, and rape myth acceptance was assessed at …
Direct and Indirect Services for Children in Domestic Violence Shelters
Understanding place and health: A heuristic for using administrative data
Testing a Model of How a Sexual Assault Resistance Education Program for Women Reduces Sexual Assaults
The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program has been shown to reduce sexual assaults experienced by university students who identify as women. Prevention researchers emphasize testing theory-based mechanisms once positive outcomes related to effectiveness are established. We assessed the process by which EAAA’s positive outcomes are achieved in a sample of 857 first year university students. EAAA’s goals are to increase risk detection in…
Evaluability Assessment: A Tool for Incorporating Evaluation in Social Change Programmes
In this article we discuss the evaluation of a particular type of health promotion programme where social change is a central theme of programme development, implementation and evaluation. Evaluation of social change programmes requires a politics of accountability and a utilization focus. These require a process of planning evaluations that mirrors the process of programme planning and implementation. Such an approach must be open to the possibi…
Sexual Assault Resistance Education’s Benefits for Survivors of Attempted and Completed Rape
The effectiveness of the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program in reducing victimization and impacting other outcomes (mediators of program effects) was demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial. A planned analysis showed that program effects on sexual assault were not significantly different for survivors of completed rape and other women. The present article investigated whether the impact of EAAA on incidence of rape and attempt…
The Mental Health and Well-Being of Canadian Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Women Abused by Intimate Partners
Intimate partner violence (IPV), mental health, disabilities, and child abuse history were examined for 292 Indigenous compared with 295 non-Indigenous Canadian women. IPV was assessed by the Composite Abuse Scale and mental health by the Symptom Checklist-10, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression 10, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist, and Quality of Life Questionnaire. Scores did not differ nor were they in the clinical …
Pathways Into and Out of Homelessness: Domestic Violence and Housing Security for Immigrant Women
Housing insecurity is a major barrier to leaving domestic violence; it may force abused women to live in inadequate conditions or to return to their abusers. Immigrant women face additional barriers. Longitudinal interviews with 37 abused immigrant women living in three Canadian cities investigated key causes of housing insecurity. Results show a need to target systemic factors, a diversity of issues foregrounded along pathways into and out of ho…
Health Promotion and Preventive Measures: Interpreting Messages at Midlife
In this article, the authors provide important insight into the cultural messages that midlife women receive about preventive health care. Data were collected from 24 rural women as part of an ongoing project on midlife women's health. Kleinman's model of the popular and professional health care sectors was used to examine the data. There is clear evidence of clashes between the orientations and expectations of these sectors. Women's experiences …
Everything Is Related and It All Leads Up to My Mental Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of the Determinants of Mental Wellness Amongst Urban Indigenous Elders
Indigenous peoples in Canada often experience a greater burden of poor health and wellness relative to non-Indigenous Canadians due to a legacy of colonisation and racism. However, Indigenous mental wellness outcomes vary by community, and it is essential to understand how a community has been impacted by the determinants to improve mental wellness outcomes. This article shares insight from a research partnership with the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Soc…
A Framework for the Development of Community Health Agency Partnerships
It's a Valuable Service but a Hard Place to Be: Women's Views About Violence Against Women Shelters
This mixed-methods secondary analysis examined VAW shelter use by 662 Canadian women abused by partners (50.5% Indigenous, 43.4% White, and 6.1% visible minority). Women who had never resided in shelters ( n = 242) had less Severe Combined and Total IPV on the Composite Abuse Scale and fewer PTSD symptoms. More nonresidents worked full time and had higher incomes and no children. The 420 women residents mentioned strengths (70.4%) such as support…
Using Mixed Methods to Facilitate Complex, Multiphased Health Research
From conceptualization to application and evaluation, research is conducted in a context of increasing complexity of disciplines, goals, communities, and partnerships. Researchers often are challenged to demonstrate the rigor of their methods and results to audiences with diverse backgrounds and disciplinary expertise. This article illustrates the benefits of using mixed methods approaches in research designed to address issues in complex researc…
Health's a difficult beast: The interrelationships between domestic violence, women's health and the health sector
Evaluability Assessment in Health Care: An Example of the Patient Care and Outcome Process
Evaluability assessment is a critical first step toward successful program evaluation. Programs aimed at making difficult and significant changes to important health care services must be open to both the encouragement and the critical review that follow systematic evaluation efforts. The article introduces the principles and values of evaluability assessment; provides an example of the application of this evaluation tool within a dynamic, rapidl…
Teaching second-year medical students about wife battering
A Framework for the Development of Community Health Agency Partnerships
Enhancing Public Input Into Decision Making: Development of the Calgary Regional Health Authority Public Participation Framework
Public participation in shaping policy and decisions that affect health is receiving increased attention. In the health sector, an imbalance exists between theory and practice. This article describes the development of a framework to promote public and community participation in one urban health authority, including the components of the public participation framework of purpose, values, guiding principles, and expected outcomes. A list of partic…
The Politics of Women’s Health: Exploring Agency and Autonomy
Health Promotion and Preventive Measures: Interpreting Messages at Midlife
In this article, the authors provide important insight into the cultural messages that midlife women receive about preventive health care. Data were collected from 24 rural women as part of an ongoing project on midlife women's health. Kleinman's model of the popular and professional health care sectors was used to examine the data. There is clear evidence of clashes between the orientations and expectations of these sectors. Women's experiences …
Immigrant women's health
Development of Healthy Public Policy: Feminist Analysis of Conflict, Collaboration and Social Change
In the past two decades, the need for economic restructuring has served as a rationale for dismantling social programs in Canada. As it has been enacted, such social restructuring has disproportionately affected marginalized people, particularly women. In this article we explore the schism between the principles that underlie the development of healthy public policy and those that are driving current social policy development. Through this analys…
Identifying Best Practices of Community Participation in Providing Services to Refugee Survivors of Torture: A Case Description
Occupational injury among immigrants
Evaluability Assessment: A Tool for Incorporating Evaluation in Social Change Programmes
In this article we discuss the evaluation of a particular type of health promotion programme where social change is a central theme of programme development, implementation and evaluation. Evaluation of social change programmes requires a politics of accountability and a utilization focus. These require a process of planning evaluations that mirrors the process of programme planning and implementation. Such an approach must be open to the possibi…
Balancing Culture, Ethics, and Methods in Qualitative Health Research with Aboriginal Peoples
Including Aboriginal women in qualitative health research expands our understanding of factors that contribute to their health and well-being. As part of the larger WHEALTH study, we gathered qualitative health data on midlife Aboriginal women living both on and off reserves. Despite careful planning and a commitment to methodological congruence and purposiveness we encountered a number of challenges that raised ethical questions. We present how …
The Influence of Social Context on Partnerships in Canadian Health Systems
Partnerships, collaboration, joined‐up government; these terms have become common elements of global health and social policy discourse. The terms may be pervasive but there remain significant challenges to collaborative ways of working. We argue that some of these challenges arise from a failure to account explicitly for the influence of social context. Between 1999 and 2001 we conducted a comparative case study of partnerships in Canadian healt…
Hearing silenced voices: Developing Community With an Advisory Committee
This article focuses on the challenges and effects of adhering to community participation as a principle of community development and the related issue of reflecting diverse representation in prevention and health promotion planning. As a requirement of funding agencies, the consequences of upholding these principles in light of the resources made available are explored. Information is drawn from a case study of an advisory committee with diverse…
Bridging the divide between families and health professionals’ perspectives on family‐centred care
Objectives To describe and discuss key findings from a recent research project that challenge an increasingly prevalent theme, apparent in both family‐centred care research and practice, of conceptualizing family‐centred care as shifting care, care management, and advocacy responsibilities to families. The purpose of the research, from which these findings emerged, was to develop a conceptualization of family‐centred care grounded in the experien…
An ecological model for understanding culture as a determinant of women's health
In combination with gender and culture, the authors argue that the migratory experience must be considered as a determinant of the health of immigrant women in its own right. Gender and other symbolic institutions are seen as intertwined in an ecological model of health. Bronfenbrenner's (1986 Bronfenbrenner, U. 1986. Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives. Developmental Psychology, 22(6): 723–742. [Crossr…
Evaluability Assessment of a Survivors of Torture Program: Lessons Learned
An evaluability assessment (EA) framework was used to assess a survivors of torture program for which one of the authors had been coordinator. Staff and other stakeholders were interviewed and documents reviewed. Program logic models were developed and discussed. The results of the EA and the process are discussed in terms of the barriers to EA identified by Smith (2005). The article suggests that an EA can be done with limited resources and stil…
Public Participation for Women's Health: Strange Bedfellows or Partners in a Cause
A major focus of health system reform in Canada has been the regionalization of health services administration. With a goal of bringing decision-making closer to the community, there has been a commitment to public participation in planning by some health authorities. Women, however, often feel that their participation is minimal or their needs are not addressed. During regionalization of the Alberta health system, the Calgary Health Region (CHR)…
Successful Integration and Maintenance of Screening for Domestic Violence in the Health Sector: Moving Beyond Individual Responsibility
Domestic violence (DV) screening and prevention interventions have been implemented in the health sector; however, few health care settings have successfully implemented protocols that have been fully integrated and sustained within the larger organization. Researchers have tended to focus on individual-level characteristics of health care providers to explain this. The authors argue that organizational, structural, social, and cultural factors, …
Understanding place and health: A heuristic for using administrative data
Health's a difficult beast: The interrelationships between domestic violence, women's health and the health sector
Direct and Indirect Services for Children in Domestic Violence Shelters
Considerations for the provision of prosthetic services in post-disaster contexts: The Haiti Amputee Coalition
Following the 2010 earthquake, Hôpital Albert Schweitzer and Hanger Prosthetics founded a prosthetics shop in rural Haiti. This research explored barriers to clients’ continued use of their limb, with the goal of improving programming and thus increasing rates of success. Methods used included ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The participants included retrospective and prospective prosthetic users as well as …
Comparing criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China
Canada and China are two very different countries in terms of their socio-economic and political contexts; however, neither country is immune to the social problem of violence against women. This paper compares the criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China in order to explore the pathway of responses to violence against women in different cultural contexts, and discusses the implications for addressing violence agai…
Pathways Into and Out of Homelessness: Domestic Violence and Housing Security for Immigrant Women
Housing insecurity is a major barrier to leaving domestic violence; it may force abused women to live in inadequate conditions or to return to their abusers. Immigrant women face additional barriers. Longitudinal interviews with 37 abused immigrant women living in three Canadian cities investigated key causes of housing insecurity. Results show a need to target systemic factors, a diversity of issues foregrounded along pathways into and out of ho…
Political science (30 works) · Medicine (26 works) · Sociology (23 works) · Psychology (21 works) · Nursing (17 works) · Public relations (16 works) · Environmental health (12 works) · Poison control (12 works) · Public health (12 works) · Intimate Partner and Family Violence (11 works)