Graduate Theses

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    Prying into the Cavities: An Abolition Feminist Archival Inquiry of the 2015 Dalhousie Dentistry Restorative Justice Process
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) Yao, Xinyu
    In 2014, the “Dalhousie Dentistry scandal” erupted with the public’s discovery of a series of misogynistic and homophobic postings within a private Facebook group featuring only male Dentistry students. In response, Dalhousie University deployed a months-long restorative justice (RJ) process involving the group members and other Dentistry students. The process elicited mixed responses within the University and the broader community. This thesis delves back into the competing discourses from an abolition feminist perspective, ten years after the incident. The goal of this critical archival inquiry is to complicate a “plausible history” (Enke, 2018) regarding the institutionalization of RJ, especially its use as a gender violence response. Using Ahmed’s (2021) method of “hearing with a feminist ear”, the thesis evaluates from documents produced by the Dalhousie University administration, Dalhousie University students, the news media, and local feminist activists. Through its examination of public, media and institutional discourses, the project seeks to understand the contradictions and tensions that emerge as practices from grassroots movements are adopted by neoliberal institutions.
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    Youths’ Everyday Morality: Understanding the Role of Values and Emotions in a Mixed Methods Study
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) Wong Garcia, Nicole Jennifer
    This study explores how emotional intensity, and values relate to different types of everyday moral judgments in youths. A total of 81 participants, aged 16 to 24, completed an online survey which consisted of 3 measures: 4 videos for two types of moral dilemmas (2 for Care/Fairness, and 2 for Authority) from Moral and Affective Film Set (MAAFS) (McCurrie et al., 2018), items from the self-transcendence and conservation subscales of the Portrait Values Questionnaire [PVQ] (S. H. Schwartz et al., 2001), and emotional reactivity measures through 5 video stimuli. The youths provided quantitative and qualitative information for this study. Emotional intensity was found to predict Care/Fairness moral situations, whereas conservation values were found to predict Authority-related transgression. Qualitative responses highlighted different themes that relate to moral foundations, like harm, unfair advantage, and disrespect to others. On the other hand, the themes of normalizing behavior or how fair it is to judge the actions of the characters gave us a further understanding of youth’s everyday morality. Finally, ambiguity was identified in the reasoning of the young people, since some condemned an action, while others justified it, thus evidencing the complexity of their moral evaluation.
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    Formulating a salt premix solution co-fortified with thiamine and iodine
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) O’Flaherty, Jessica
    Salt fortification is a large-scale, cost-effective method for preventing population-wide nutrient deficiencies. Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency is a national public health concern in Cambodia. Salt iodization is already mandated in Cambodia, so co-fortifying salt with both iodine and thiamine could be an efficient solution, especially if existing spray fortification equipment is employed. Iodine and thiamine react unfavourably in aqueous solution: Thiamine chloride hydrochloride (TClHCl) lowers pH, catalyzing reduction-oxidation reactions leading to discolouration, precipitation, and rapid losses of iodine. However, both thiamine and iodine may be stabilized at 5.00
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    A Scholarly Examination of Zoom Fatigue: A Systematic Review
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024) Onoigboria, Destiny
    This systematic review focused on the nature, prevalence, contributing factors and mitigating strategies of Zoom fatigue. The study reviewed 42 research articles identified from the peerreviewed literature published between 2020-2024. In the current study, Nadler’s third skins theory and Latour’s Actor-Network Theory were used as the theoretical lens. The results indicate that Zoom fatigue is a construct with cognitive, physical, and social-psychological plight. Some of the main areas are; staring, self-observation, lack of motion and abnormal social signals. The findings reveal variations of the disorder affect more women than men and persons with previous anxiety or stress related disorders. Measures for reduction are development of structured breaks, provision for ‘no camera’ option, toggling between synchronous and asynchronous communication. The work shows that Zoom fatigue is a multifaceted phenomenon that relates to human psyche and cognitive activity; technologies and interfaces; as well as organisational and managerial institutions. All of these have important implications for remote work policies and design of video conferencing platforms. The research affirms and prescribes a multi-level response to the problem of Zoom fatigue that entails technology solutions, policy changes, and personal adaptations. More future longitudinal researches are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of these interferences in the long term, as well as in different circumstances and with people.
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    This is my story: Bringing voice to the violence of anti-Black racism trauma with African Nova Scotians through digital storytelling
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024) Willis, Rajean N.
    This qualitative research study explored and examined with six African Nova Scotian participants (co-researchers) their experiences of race-based trauma, and the ways these experiences impacted their overall well-being and quality of life. Specifically, I addressed the research question: What are the Indigenous ANS’ experiences of race-related trauma and how have these experiences impacted their overall well-being and quality of life? The study used an arts-based research method: digital storytelling. There is a growing body of literature examining the intersections and complexities of race-related experiences that have been identified as traumatic by those who experience them. This study looks explicitly at the relationship between racism, trauma, and Indigenous African Nova Scotians’ overall quality of life through their own accounts with a group of six co-researchers. Indigenous African Nova Scotian refers to those whose ancestors had arrived in Nova Scotia as early as the early 1700s, which are a group distinct from more recent Black immigrants (Elliott Clark, 2012). Using Digital Storytelling (DST), co-researchers created a two to five-minute mini-movie articulating their traumatic experience(s) with racism and its impact on their lives. Co-researchers participated in three two-hour group workshops, during which they engaged in finding their story, telling their story, crafting the story and sharing the story. Informed by theories such as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Theory, Africentric Theory and Critical Race Theory, this study acknowledges the intersectional nuances of how anti-Black racism has been experienced with co-researchers. The recognition of structural and systemic anti-Black racism is reflected in the co-researchers’ digital stories. The resiliency and critical hope for equity and healing have also been made evident through their ability to take appropriate action against the assaults of anti-Black racism. Study recommendations point to the need to expand education, including African Nova Scotian-centred/Africentric pedagogies, to contextualize this reality into trauma-informed care in education. Additionally, this study provides further evidence of the value of DST as a research method for individual, communal, institutional, and structural transformation.