MSVU e-Commons
The MSVU e-Commons is the institutional repository for Mount Saint Vincent University. It allows MSVU faculty, students, and staff to store their scholarly output, including theses and dissertations. Works in the e-Commons have permanent URLs and trustworthy identifiers, and are discoverable via Google Scholar, giving your work a potential local and global audience.
In addition to free storage, the e-Commons provides Mount scholars with an open access platform for disseminating their research. Depositing your work in the e-Commons complies with the requirements for open access publication of work supported by Tri-Agency funding (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC).
If you would like to deposit your work in the e-Commons, or you have any questions about institutional repositories, copyright, or open scholarship, please contact the MSVU Library & Archives.
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Alexa McDonough Institute for Women, Gender, and Social Justice Celebrating Writing Week Department of Aging and Family Science Department of Applied Human Nutrition Department of Biology Department of Business Administration and Tourism Department of Chemistry Department of Child and Youth Study Department of Communication Studies Department of English Department of History Department of Mathematics Department of Modern Languages Department of Political & Canadian Studies Department of Psychology Department of Sociology & Anthropology Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management Department of Women and Gender Studies Faculty of Education Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection This is a collection of essays MSVU students have written using source texts from MSVU Library's Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection.Library MSVU Art Gallery MSVU Senate MSVU Theses Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies Open Educational Resources SE space/L’Espace ES
Recent Submissions
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Breastfeeding Self-efficacy among Newcomer Mothers of African Descent in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-07) Oladipupo, Olayemi Deborah
Immigrant women in Canada generally report high rates of breastfeeding initiation, with these rates declining with longer stay in Canada. Several factors have been identified as predictors of breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and duration, with Breastfeeding self-efficacy (BFSE) contributing significantly. There is however, limited research on factors that influence breastfeeding among immigrant women. Even less explored, is how BFSE is experienced, negotiated, and sustained among newcomer mothers of African descent (NCMAD), particularly within Atlantic Canada. This study explored the breastfeeding self-efficacy experiences of NCMAD living in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), as well as the structural factors that influence breastfeeding confidence among these mothers, within the context of migration and settlement. Guided by Dennis's Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Theory and the Socio-Ecological Model, this study employed a qualitative descriptive design. Data were collected through 10 in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions involving seven newcomer mothers of African descent who had breastfed within the previous two years. Data were analysed using a hybrid deductive-inductive reflexive thematic analysis involving transcript familiarization, manual coding, and iterative theme development to identify patterns across participants' lived experiences. Findings indicate that BFSE was a dynamic, context-dependent process shaped by mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and emotional and physiological states. All participants initiated breastfeeding with strong prenatal intentions and high early confidence, largely influenced by culturally embedded beliefs that positioned breastfeeding as natural, expected, and central to maternal identity. Factors that strengthened BFSE included successful breastfeeding experiences, culturally transmitted breastfeeding knowledge, observational learning from family members and peers, emotional encouragement from partners and mothers, support from healthcare providers, adaptive coping strategies, and enabling structural conditions such as maternity leave. Traditional postpartum practices and intergenerational breastfeeding knowledge further reinforced confidence and breastfeeding continuation. In contrast, BFSE was challenged by migration-related disruptions in family support networks, breastfeeding difficulties, fatigue, emotional stress, return to work or school, caregiving demands, and limited access to culturally responsive support. Although most mothers aspired to practice exclusive and extended breastfeeding, continuation was influenced more by structural and environmental conditions, including return to work or school and reduced mother-infant proximity, rather than by low breastfeeding confidence alone. Overall, BFSE emerged as a multidimensional construct coproduced through individual experiences, interpersonal relationships, cultural influences, and broader social and policy environments. The findings highlight the need for culturally responsive breastfeeding support within healthcare and community settings, strengthened peer-support networks for newcomer mothers, and policies that facilitate breastfeeding continuation through flexible work and study arrangements, breastfeeding-friendly environments, and supports that promote mother-infant proximity. Nova Scotia Health, healthcare providers, community organizations, and policymakers should collaborate to develop inclusive breastfeeding interventions that recognize the influence of cultural, social, and structural factors on breastfeeding confidence. By centring the experiences of African newcomer mothers, this study contributes to addressing gaps in Canadian breastfeeding research and provides evidence to support equitable maternal and child health programming in Nova Scotia and other immigrant-receiving contexts
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Cortés Monroy, María José A.
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-06) A Situated Critique of Anglo-North American Femist Discourses on Motherhood
Anglo-North American Motherhood Studies and matricentric feminism have been central to legitimizing motherhood as a site of feminist inquiry. Yet their theoretical frameworks remain shaped by specific historical, geopolitical, linguistic, and epistemic conditions that privilege Anglophone, Global North maternal experiences. This study advances a feminist decolonial critique of these frameworks by foregrounding coloniality as constitutive of feminist knowledge production on motherhood. Drawing on decolonial feminist thought from Abya Yala, it examines how universalizing claims obscure the racialized, colonial, and migratory conditions that shape maternal lives across the Global South. Through critical textual and discursive analysis, it demonstrates that the marginalization of Latin American and Caribbean feminist genealogies is not incidental but structural. The study calls for a hemispheric, plurilingual reorientation of the field that challenges epistemic authority and repositions Abya Yala feminist thought as central to the theorization of motherhood.
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The Role of Animals in Early Modern European Witchcraft Trials: In the Village, In Demonology, & In Folklore
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-06) Spikings-Taylor, Samantha
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Proposal for a Public History Display in Halifax: Commemorating Dr. John Slayter Following the McNab’s Island Cholera Outbreak of 1866
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-06) Strickland, Courtney
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Patient Satisfaction and Knowledge Following Gestational Diabetes Online Education in Atlantic Canada
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-06) LeBlanc, Julianne
The rising Gestational Diabetes (GD) prevalence has strained the capacity of Atlantic Canada’s largest Diabetes in Pregnancy clinic. Preliminary semi-formal interviews with clinic dietitians revealed perceptions that glycemic index (GI) education was not integrated fully in GD standard care in alignment with Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines recommendations (2018). Despite this potential gap, their transition to ‘home-based’ online follow-ups had reduced workload compared to in-person visits. However, the unanticipated full shift to online education amid the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 raised concerns about the quality and effectiveness of care in the absence of in-person interactions.