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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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.
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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.
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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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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.