Trent University’s Centre for Health Studies hosted its ninth annual Health Studies Day on Wednesday, January 26, 2011, when a crowd gathered for the afternoon in the Nursing Department of the DNA building.

Professor Peri Ballantyne, from the Department of Sociology said that the day provided opportunities to discover potential new collaborations and projects for students. You could overhear the connections being made in the room. “We should definitely work together on this.” “My office is just down the hall…”

“We’ve all discovered that there are interesting overlays between disciplines, marvelling that we should get out of our offices more,” said Professor Ballantyne who presented her talk on “Health Status of Injured Workers with Permanent Impairments.”

Dr. Elaine Scharfe from the Department of Psychology presented “Changing Health Behaviours: An Exploration of the Importance of Attachment and Time Since Diagnosis in a Sample of Breast Cancer Survivors”. A room full of people including students, faculty and members of the public weighed in from different perspectives on various implications in practice, such as understanding relationships of patients who have been diagnosed and promoting autonomy vs. showing authority.

Anecdotes and examples were shared during a discussion about the relationship between health risk and health promotion, as heads nodded in understanding that the two are quite different. “It’s great to have these interdisciplinary talks,” said Dr. Deborah Kennett, director of the Centre for Health Studies. “

Other talks included “Rapid Aging Syndrome and Electronsmog”, by Dr. Magda Havas from Environmental & Resource Studies; ”Lessons from Canadian Mortality Data About Life Span Extension and Dying in Advanced Old Age?”, by Beryl Cable-Williams, from Nursing; and “Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Nursing Students”, Leslie Grightmire, also from Nursing.

Organized to highlight the types of health research underway at Trent, this year’s Health Studies Day featured presentations on a range of health topics from different disciplines such as Environmental Resource Studies, Psychology and Nursing, all presented by faculty and graduate student researchers.

To learn more about Trent’s Centre for Health Studies, visit www.trentu.ca/ihs