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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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Recent Submissions

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Understanding how long-term care organizational context affects nurses’ quality of work life in Nova Scotia: A model of workforce support
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-12) Duynisveld, Amber
Understanding how work environment in long term care (LTC) homes impacts staff quality of work life is fundamental to strengthening workforce stability. Guided by Kanter’s theory of structural empowerment, I suggest that organizational context (OC) helps explain LTC nurses’ job satisfaction (JS), a relationship potentially mediated by psychological empowerment (PE). I tested this theoretical model (OC-PE-JS) by examining how LTC work environment, measured by four organizational context (OC) variables (leadership, evaluation, culture, and social capital) associates with nurses’ job satisfaction (JS) while being mediated by PE. Data were collected in December 2021 using a convenience sample of 10 Nova Scotia LTC homes. Eligible nurses (n=138) completed the TREC survey online. I tested the validity of the four OC subscales on this sample using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. I used path analysis modelling to examine the three-part OC-PE-JS model using individual aspects of organizational context to test the PE mediation hypothesis. Results of factor analyses supported the use of the four OC subscales in this sample. I found PE to partially mediate the impact of leadership, culture, and social capital on job satisfaction, and fully mediate the impact of evaluation on job satisfaction. The results indicate that leadership, culture, and social capital each have significant direct and total impact on JS within this model, suggesting that LTC organizations and managers can provide emotionally intelligent leadership and opportunities for professional growth to maintain a stable, effective workforce
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The Social Obligation Paradox: #BlockOut and Celebrity Silence on TikTok
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2026-12-08) Blundon, Hannah
This thesis examines the #BlockOut movement on TikTok, a short-lived but highly visible digital activism campaign in which users blocked celebrities perceived as silent or indifferent toward the genocide in Gaza. The study investigates why audiences expect celebrities and influencers to engage in sociopolitical discourse, how celebrity silence became framed as complicity, and what this reveals about power, performance, and accountability in digital culture. Using a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods design, the research analyzed 973 comments from 11 high-engagement TikTok videos alongside follower and engagement data for the most frequently mentioned celebrities. Findings show that TikTok users positioned celebrities as moral agents obligated to speak out, transforming silence into a politically meaningful act. Seven discursive themes revealed how users negotiated responsibility and belonging within the movement. Although #BlockOut generated significant attention and momentary shifts in online behaviour, its measurable impact on celebrity status was limited, and its momentum rapidly declined. The study concludes that #BlockOut exposes a paradox at the heart of contemporary digital activism: public expectations for celebrity advocacy are intensified by parasocial relationships and platform logics, yet these same dynamics undermine sustained collective action.
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How qualitative data analysis happens: Moving beyond “themes emerged” (2nd vol.)
(Taylor & Francis, 2025) Humble, A. M.; Radina, M. E.
How Qualitative Data Analysis Happens: Moving Beyond “Themes Emerged” (Volume 2), offers an in-depth look into how qualitative social science researchers studying a wide range of human experiences and dynamics approach their data analyses. This expanded edition consists of 13 new chapters from a broad range of disciplines (and an added conclusion) that document the stories about how qualitative data analysis occurred. Chapters for this expanded edition represent a diversity of disciplines (e.g., criminology, family science, education, health, nutrition, sociology, sport psychology) that focus on the human experience and describe a diversity of methodological approaches. These chapters may be used to introduce readers to newer or innovative ways of analysing data. It moves beyond the usual vague statement of “themes emerged from the data” to show readers how researchers actively and consciously arrive at their themes and conclusions, revealing the complexity and time involved in making sense of thousands of pages of interview data, multiple data sources, and diverse types of data. The various authors provide detailed narratives into how they analysed their data from previous publications. The methodologies range from arts-based research, autoethnography, community-based participatory research, ethnography, grounded theory, to narrative analysis. The volume allows readers to be seemingly “in the room” with these international scholars (representing Canada, the US, Austria, Germany, the UK, and the Philippines) and getting their own hands vicariously dirty with the data. This expanded edition also includes a conclusion chapter, in which the authors reflect on commonalities across the chapters. Supplemental figures, images, and screenshots, which are referred to in the chapters, are included in an accompanying eResource (that can be accessed at www.routledge.com/9781032183213), as well as links to the previously published work on which the chapters are based. This book is an invaluable resource for experienced and novice qualitative researchers throughout the social sciences, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students in the field.
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Adding a Course about LGBTQ+ Families to Family Science Curriculum
(Family Science Review, 2025) Humble, A. M.
This article explains why a full course on LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus) families is needed for family science curriculum instead of incorporating small amounts of LGBTQ+ family content into preexisting courses. It also describes the development of a feminist-informed online, hybrid undergraduate course focusing on LGBTQ+ families, which was reviewed by members of the queer community during development and at completion. Most of the required reading consisted of three books providing first-hand accounts of LGBTQ+ family experiences, whereas class content focused on scholarly work. Many classes also involved prerecorded interviews with LGBTQ+ individuals and practitioners working with LGBTQ+ families. A reflective exercise related to the assigned books and a final learnings paper connected to the scholarly work are briefly described. Two appendices are provided: the first provides more information about the course assignments, and the second is a rubric for the final learnings paper. Full text access: https://doi.org/10.26536/GGCZ4190