Graduate Theses

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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.
Transnational Motherhood and the Challenges of Grandparenting
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-05) Emaikwu, Ene
This thesis examines the lived experiences of Nigerian transnational mothers living in Canada whose children remain in Nigeria under the primary care of grandmothers. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Nigerian mothers who had at least one child residing with a grandmother in Nigeria. Guided by transnationalism and attachment theories, the study explores how these mothers understand and enact motherhood across borders, maintain emotional bonds with children, and interpret grandmothers’ caregiving roles within broader migration projects. Analysis generated three overarching themes: experiencing and making sense of motherhood across distance; emotional bonds, guilt, and cultural expectations; and caregiving arrangements, relationships, and safety. The findings show that motherhood is not suspended by migration but reorganized into a transnational, technologically mediated practice, as mothers structure daily life in Canada around children’s routines in Nigeria and use phones, messaging apps, and, in some cases, surveillance technologies to sustain connection and oversight. Mothers navigate significant emotional labour and moral scrutiny, drawing on faith, future-oriented narratives, and selective engagement with Nigerian and Canadian parenting norms to “give themselves grace” in the face of ambiguous loss and shifting attachment relationships. The study also foregrounds grandmothers as everyday mothers in a risky context, highlighting their extensive caregiving work, health strains, and central role in sustaining family life amid concerns about children’s safety and Nigeria’s social conditions. By centring Nigerian mothers’ perspectives in a Nigeria–Canada context, this thesis extends scholarship on transnational motherhood, attachment, ambiguous loss, and intergenerational care. It underscores the need for policies and supports that recognize the emotional, temporal, and intergenerational work involved when mothers care “in two places at once,” including services that attend to the wellbeing of both migrant mothers and the older women who raise their children.
Is Nova Scotia shifting from a risk-based to a child well-being system? A critical content analysis of the child and family well-being practice framework in Nova Scotia
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-05) Wokoma, Orinari Francis
The child welfare policy landscape in Nova Scotia has been subjected to significant criticisms for its reliance on risk-based protectionist paradigms. In response, the provincial government introduced the Child and Family Well-being Practice Framework (CFW, 2025) as a shift towards a holistic well-being practice. This study adopts a two-pronged design. First, a scoping review that synthesizes peer-reviewed and grey literature from 2014-2026, to better understand the discursive orientations shaping contemporary child welfare policies and practices in Nova Scotia. Second, a qualitative document-based analysis that critically examines the CFW (2025) practice framework and its policy manual to assess the extent to which it represents a substantive paradigm shift from a risk-based approach to a holistic child well-being paradigm. Using interpretive critical content analysis, the study examines if the CFW (2025) reflects a paradigm shift that prioritizes child’s rights and wellness. Research findings are categorized into three interrelated dimensions: structural (legislative governance), procedural (culturally responsive practice), and systemic (governance and child and family well-being). The analysis reveals that the CFW (2025) and its policy manual reflects a hybrid governance model characterized by a partial paradigm shift in Nova Scotia’s child welfare system. The shift towards a holistic well-being paradigm is constrained by the embedded legislative authority and risk-based governance structure. The study concludes that achieving a substantive transition from a risk-based child protection model to a culturally responsive child and family well-being approach requires structural and legislative reform of the child welfare system, alongside alignment between policy discourse, institutional practice, and legislative frameworks in Nova Scotia.
Mainstreaming Gender Equality into Legal Education: Perspectives and Challenges in a Vietnamese University
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-04) Nguyen, Phuong Khanh
Gender inequality silently permeates Vietnamese society, often dismissed as a “no-problem’s problem” (Rhode, 1991), where gender stereotypes are viewed as natural or unalterable. While Vietnam’s legal framework promises equality, a profound gap persists between the law on paper and lived reality. This thesis argues that mainstreaming gender equality into legal education is vital for planting the “seeds” of gender justice. Adopting a qualitative in-depth interview design, this study explores how six law professors in Southern Vietnam negotiate gender perspectives during their teaching. Findings reveal that integration remains marginal, spontaneous, and discretionary. Decision No. 678, issued by the Minister of Education and Training, acts as an “institutional architect of silence,” omitting gender from mandated learning outcomes and allowing leadership to prioritize political and economic objectives over social justice. Furthermore, pedagogical insecurity and the persistent myth of legal neutrality lead law professors in Vietnam to reduce complex gender issues to safe and abstract principles. The study also notes students’ reactions, as observed by law professors, including a “hibernation” of marginalized voices and student resistance to the “privileges” women enjoy under the law. To transform constitutional promises into reality, Vietnamese legal education must move beyond a “one-size-fits-all” doctrinal model toward a critical feminist pedagogy, from a purely doctrinal epistemology toward a standpoint epistemology. Only by recognizing the gendered nature of law and identifying systemic gender biases through the lens of feminist legal theorists can the next generation cultivate a truly just legal system.
P-2 French Immersion Teacher Perspectives on Implementing the Neurolinguistic Approach
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-04) Chisholm, Cheryl
The Neurolinguistic Approach (NLA) is a paradigm that focuses on encouraging students to use authentic and targeted language structures (Netten & Germain, 2012). The NLA reflects a shift in focus to oral language development, which has been found to propagate the development of other linguistic aptitudes (Haj-Broussard, Beal & Boudreaux, 2017). The following qualitative research study collected French Immersion teachers' perspectives on the NLA through semi-structured interviews with the purpose of gathering perspectives on what the approach is, what benefits they perceived from implementing it in their classrooms and the barriers they might have encountered while implementing it. The participants were seven French Immersion teachers in P-2 classrooms who previously received professional development on the NLA. The interview data were categorized through thematic analysis to highlight salient themes across conversations. The advantages included the NLA reaching a wide range of students, benefiting beginner French learners, increasing students’ confidence and engagement and giving teachers an explicit structure around which they could plan lessons. The obstacles included time constraints in teaching, being overwhelmed accessing literacy resources, difficulty adapting the approach to older grades and some limits to organic French conversations. A fourth category of resources was added to highlight future directions for supporting French Immersion teachers when using the approach which included more opportunities for teachers to learn about the approach and more pre-made resources to address time constraints. Most teachers expressed that they saw the benefits to the approach in the beginner French classrooms but also expressed that they would benefit from more professional development, opportunities to collaborate with colleagues and premade resources to make the approach more accessible to them and easier to integrate into their regular classroom routines.

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