Alexa R Ferdinands
Biographic Data
| ID | 326681 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexa R Ferdinands |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexa R |
| FAMILY NAME | Ferdinands |
| SIGNATURE | FERDINANDS A R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Alberta |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1714-6140 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Mixing Ingredients & Methods: Cooking as Participatory Research With Youth
Cooking is widely used in public health and health promotion as an intervention to support youth nutrition and well-being, yet it remains underutilized as a method of qualitative inquiry. This paper examines the potential of cooking as a participatory research method with youth, drawing on a qualitative descriptive study conducted within a Girl Guides of Canada (GGC) program to explore how youth who participate in GGC develop food literacy. In ou…
A qualitative study of how young women in a rural Canadian community plan their futures
Education and employment are well-acknowledged social determinants of health. However, little is known about how young women in rural, resource-dependent communities make decisions about postsecondary education, employment, and other aspects of their futures. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with young women (ages 16–19) in a rural, oil and gas town in Alberta, Canada. Our overarching research question was, how do young women…
We need them to keep putting food on our tables: Critiquing legislative discourses of food insecurity in Alberta, Canada
Intersecting Expectations when Expecting: Pregnancy-Related Weight Stigma in Women of Colour
Exploring collaboration within Edmonton's City Table on Household Food Insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been unprecedented attention and funding toward addressing household food insecurity (HFI) in Canada. In Edmonton, a virtual "City Table" was developed to coordinate the myriad of HFI responses and begin to explore and address systemic issues underlying HFI. In this qualitative descriptive study, we asked: what are the opportunities for and challenges to collaboratively addressing HFI within Edmonton's City…
What counts? Adding nuance to retail food environment measurement tools in a Canadian context
Objective: Limitations of traditional geospatial measures, like the modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI), are well documented. In response, we aimed to: (1) extend existing food environment measures by inductively developing subcategories to increase the granularity of healthy v . less healthy food retailers; (2) establish replicable coding processes and procedures; and (3) demonstrate how a food retailer codebook and database can be us…
We’re categorized in these sizes—that’s all we are”: Uncovering the social organization of young women’s weight work through media and fashion
Despite some positive discursive change regarding body weight acceptance in fashion and media, this progress has had little impact on the weight work socially expected of young women. Findings highlight the need to broaden public health thinking around how weight discourses are (re)produced, calling for intersectoral collaboration to mobilize weight stigma evidence beyond predominantly academic circles into our everyday practices
Working Hard or Hardly Working? Who are Canada’s Working Poor
Working poverty in Canada is shrouded in mystery and misconception due to the little attention given to this area in research and policy-making. We performed an analysis of working poverty in Canada by using data from the Canadian Income Survey and conducted a binomial logistic regression to discuss the general profile of the working poor and the determinants of working poverty. We found that the working poor have high rates of post-secondary edu…
Reflections on Applying Institutional Ethnography in Participatory Weight Stigma Research with Young Women
Inspired by consciousness-raising practices of North American second-wave feminism, Dorothy Smith developed institutional ethnography (IE) as an alternative to established sociology, which she argued objectified people and their experiences. Instead, IE begins from an embodied standpoint to examine how local phenomena are coordinated to happen by ruling relations from afar. In this article, we present methodological insights from our experiences …
Seeing the food swamp for the weeds: Moving beyond food retail mix in evaluating young people's food environments
Nutritional health of children and youth is an increasing cause for concern in Canada. Through food and beverage messaging in multiple environments, young people develop eating behaviours with ramifications throughout their life course. Unhealthy food retailers near schools, recreation facilities, and childcare centres-key activity settings for healthy eating promotion-present repeated, compounding exposures to commercial geomarketing. Geomarketi…
The ruling of weight: An institutional ethnography investigating young people's body weight surveillance work
A Nutrition Report Card on food environments for children and youth: 5 Years of experience from Canada
Objective: In 2014, a Nutrition Report Card (NRC) was developed as a sustainable, low-cost framework to assess the healthfulness of children’s food environments and highlight action to support healthy eating. We summarise our experiences in producing, disseminating, evaluating and refining an annual NRC in a Canadian province from 2015 to 2019. Design: To produce the NRC, children’s food environment indicator data are collected, analyzed and comp…
Policy recommendations for front-of-package, shelf, and menu labelling in Canada: Moving towards consensus
Reflections on Applying Institutional Ethnography in Participatory Weight Stigma Research with Young Women
Inspired by consciousness-raising practices of North American second-wave feminism, Dorothy Smith developed institutional ethnography (IE) as an alternative to established sociology, which she argued objectified people and their experiences. Instead, IE begins from an embodied standpoint to examine how local phenomena are coordinated to happen by ruling relations from afar. In this article, we present methodological insights from our experiences …
We need them to keep putting food on our tables: Critiquing legislative discourses of food insecurity in Alberta, Canada
Working Hard or Hardly Working? Who are Canada’s Working Poor
Working poverty in Canada is shrouded in mystery and misconception due to the little attention given to this area in research and policy-making. We performed an analysis of working poverty in Canada by using data from the Canadian Income Survey and conducted a binomial logistic regression to discuss the general profile of the working poor and the determinants of working poverty. We found that the working poor have high rates of post-secondary edu…
The ruling of weight: An institutional ethnography investigating young people's body weight surveillance work
Policy recommendations for front-of-package, shelf, and menu labelling in Canada: Moving towards consensus
Policy recommendations for front-of-package, shelf, and menu labelling in Canada: Moving towards consensus
A Nutrition Report Card on food environments for children and youth: 5 Years of experience from Canada
Objective: In 2014, a Nutrition Report Card (NRC) was developed as a sustainable, low-cost framework to assess the healthfulness of children’s food environments and highlight action to support healthy eating. We summarise our experiences in producing, disseminating, evaluating and refining an annual NRC in a Canadian province from 2015 to 2019. Design: To produce the NRC, children’s food environment indicator data are collected, analyzed and comp…
Seeing the food swamp for the weeds: Moving beyond food retail mix in evaluating young people's food environments
Nutritional health of children and youth is an increasing cause for concern in Canada. Through food and beverage messaging in multiple environments, young people develop eating behaviours with ramifications throughout their life course. Unhealthy food retailers near schools, recreation facilities, and childcare centres-key activity settings for healthy eating promotion-present repeated, compounding exposures to commercial geomarketing. Geomarketi…
The ruling of weight: An institutional ethnography investigating young people's body weight surveillance work
We’re categorized in these sizes—that’s all we are”: Uncovering the social organization of young women’s weight work through media and fashion
Despite some positive discursive change regarding body weight acceptance in fashion and media, this progress has had little impact on the weight work socially expected of young women. Findings highlight the need to broaden public health thinking around how weight discourses are (re)produced, calling for intersectoral collaboration to mobilize weight stigma evidence beyond predominantly academic circles into our everyday practices
Working Hard or Hardly Working? Who are Canada’s Working Poor
Working poverty in Canada is shrouded in mystery and misconception due to the little attention given to this area in research and policy-making. We performed an analysis of working poverty in Canada by using data from the Canadian Income Survey and conducted a binomial logistic regression to discuss the general profile of the working poor and the determinants of working poverty. We found that the working poor have high rates of post-secondary edu…
Reflections on Applying Institutional Ethnography in Participatory Weight Stigma Research with Young Women
Inspired by consciousness-raising practices of North American second-wave feminism, Dorothy Smith developed institutional ethnography (IE) as an alternative to established sociology, which she argued objectified people and their experiences. Instead, IE begins from an embodied standpoint to examine how local phenomena are coordinated to happen by ruling relations from afar. In this article, we present methodological insights from our experiences …
Exploring collaboration within Edmonton's City Table on Household Food Insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been unprecedented attention and funding toward addressing household food insecurity (HFI) in Canada. In Edmonton, a virtual "City Table" was developed to coordinate the myriad of HFI responses and begin to explore and address systemic issues underlying HFI. In this qualitative descriptive study, we asked: what are the opportunities for and challenges to collaboratively addressing HFI within Edmonton's City…
What counts? Adding nuance to retail food environment measurement tools in a Canadian context
Objective: Limitations of traditional geospatial measures, like the modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI), are well documented. In response, we aimed to: (1) extend existing food environment measures by inductively developing subcategories to increase the granularity of healthy v . less healthy food retailers; (2) establish replicable coding processes and procedures; and (3) demonstrate how a food retailer codebook and database can be us…
Intersecting Expectations when Expecting: Pregnancy-Related Weight Stigma in Women of Colour
A qualitative study of how young women in a rural Canadian community plan their futures
Education and employment are well-acknowledged social determinants of health. However, little is known about how young women in rural, resource-dependent communities make decisions about postsecondary education, employment, and other aspects of their futures. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with young women (ages 16–19) in a rural, oil and gas town in Alberta, Canada. Our overarching research question was, how do young women…
We need them to keep putting food on our tables: Critiquing legislative discourses of food insecurity in Alberta, Canada
Mixing Ingredients & Methods: Cooking as Participatory Research With Youth
Cooking is widely used in public health and health promotion as an intervention to support youth nutrition and well-being, yet it remains underutilized as a method of qualitative inquiry. This paper examines the potential of cooking as a participatory research method with youth, drawing on a qualitative descriptive study conducted within a Girl Guides of Canada (GGC) program to explore how youth who participate in GGC develop food literacy. In ou…
Political science (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Economic growth (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Obesity and Health Practices (4 works)