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July 6, 2022
Presenters: Shannon Bird
Melissa MacKay
Alexa Ferdinands
Facilitator: Emily Clark
Equity and Knowledge Translation: Insights from the 2022
Knowledge Translation Student Award Recipients

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Knowledge Translation Graduate Student Awards

NCCMT Products and Services
Registry of Methods and Tools
Online Learning
Opportunities
Workshops
Video Series
Public Health+
Networking and
Outreach

Presenters
Shannon Bird Melissa MacKay Alexa Ferdinands
Brock University University of Guelph University of Alberta

Art as a Tool for Public and
Environmental Health:
A Lesson Plan for EcoJustice
Educators
Shannon Bird
MPH Student, Brock University
shannon.bird68@gmail.com

Land
Acknowledgement and
Positionality
The land upon which I currently live and
learn is on the traditional territory of the
Anishinaabe people, and the unceded
territory of the Algonquin Nation. The
land is governed by the Robinson Huron
Treaty of 1850, though treaties are
regularly broken to the detriment of the
land and its First Peoples; true land
protection remains the responsibility of
all treaty people. This project is an
offering of my thanks for all that both the
land and its people have taught and
provided me, Miigwetch. I hope this
work inspires young caretakers of the
land both here and afar.

Development Process
Conceptualizatio
n
Literature
Review
KT Tool
Development
Communit
y Review
Implementatio
n
Review
and
Evaluation

Why Climate? Youth? Art?
Climate change
is the single
biggest human
health threat1
Art is a
socially
inclusive
communicatio
n tool2
Youth agency
is not being
translated into
action
Climate
Art!

Developments from the Literature Review
Art is not only good for
stimulating creativity; it is
a form of investigation3
Ecojustice education
teaches that the climate
crisis is a cultural crisis;
Ontario education
systems lack
environmental ed.4,5
Interdisciplinary thinking
is needed to solve
complex public health
problems6
The most engaging
climate art examines
“awesome solutions”7

Climate Art in 3 Parts
Part A: Everything is
Interconnected
Part B: Climate Art
Examination
Part C: Creating
Climate Art

Part A: Everything is Interconnected
A conversation
about the
interconnections
between climate,
art, and health

Part B: Climate Art Examination
Examples of diverse
climate artists across
Canada
A discussion about how
their work benefits the
health of land and
people

Part C: Creating Climate Art
Artmaking using any available supplies.
“For humans to have an ethical relationship with the land we
must imagine our space and place on it, and a sustainable future.”8
“Imagination is not just about the future but also thinking about how
and where we are living now, for whom we are responsible and
why.”8

Desired Outcomes
Short Term
• Artmaking improves health9
• Communication and advocacy tools improve agency and self-
efficacy10
Long Term
• Interdisciplinary learning improves public health thinking6
• Climate advocacy improves environmental health1

Implementation
Gould Lake Outdoor
Centre
• Summer arts
programming
North Bay Parry
Sound District Health
Unit
• Land-based events
with youth
organizations
• Train-the-trainer
events across the
region at youth
organizations

What does this mean for public health
professionals?
Knowledge translation
efforts should include
youth more often
Community health
communications should
make more effective use
of art
Public health interventions
and programming should
make more effective use
of art

Everything is Interconnected

Acknowledgements
• Dr. Valerie Michaelson, Brock University
• Indigenous Knowledge Keepers
• Elder Peter Beaucage, Nipissing First
Nation
• Kacey Dool, Red River Settlement of the
Métis Nation
• Bryanne Smart, De dwa da dehs nye>s
Aboriginal Health Centre
• Brock University Faculty of Graduate Studies
• Brock University Faculty of Applied Health
Sciences
• Gould Lake Outdoor Center
• Isabel Michaelson
• North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
• Jessica Love
• Brianne Peshko

References
1. World Health Organization. (2021, October 30). Climate change and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
2. Mach, K. J., Cortada, X. I., Mignanelli, N., Owley, J., & Wright, I. A. (2021). Climate mobility and the pandemic: Art–science lessons for societal resilience. World Art, 11(3),
277–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2021.1911839
3. Virago, M.-Ch. (2021). Art psychotherapy and public health. Public Health, 196, 150–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2021.05.020
4. Chesky, N., & Milgram, J. (2021). Eco-Mathematics Education: K-8 Lesson Plans for Ecological and Social Change. BRILL.
5. Zheng, D. (2020). Cultural Roots: An EcoJustice Analysis of Scholarly Articles on Ontario’s K–12 Environmental Education, 2009–2018. Major
Papers.https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/major-papers/124
6. Galea, S. (2021). The Arts and Public Health: Changing the Conversation on Health. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1524839921996341
7. Sommer, L. K., & Klöckner, C. A. (2021). Does activist art have the capacity to raise awareness in audiences?—A study on climate change art at the ArtCOP21 event in
Paris. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 15(1), 60–75. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000247
8. Foster, R., Mäkelä, J., & Martusewicz, R. A. (2018). Art, EcoJustice, and Education: Intersecting Theories and Practices. Taylor & Francis.
9. Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature. American Journal of Public Health, 100(2), 254
–263. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.1564
10. Drugan, E. R. A. (2014). A Case Study of a Socially Transformative Lesson in the Art Classroom [Kent State University].
https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_olink/r/1501/10?clear=10&p10_accession_num=kent1406125005

School of Public Health
Collaborating with youth to address weight
stigma in healthcare, education, and the home
Alexa Ferdinands, PhD, RD
July 6, 2022

School of
Public Health
Angela’s story
2
A lot of the time during bullying if I ever tried to stand up for myself they
would always say ‘well, it’s true’. They would call me fat and I would say like,
‘hey that’s mean,’ and they’d say ‘but it’s true. It’s true’. You know, they
would say that for how fat I was, how ugly I was, how stupid I was. So I kind
of developed this like super perfectionistic complex. Where I wanted to make
sure that none of it would ever be true again. So that it couldn’t be anybody’s
opinion that I was fat. That I could I could prove that I was skinny. I could
prove that I was smart. So I became really obsessed with losing weight.
Because like, if I was clinically underweight, nobody could call me fat. And
they would never be right. I would have medical proof.

School of
Public Health
Outline
3
● What is weight stigma and
why is it important?
● Using institutional
ethnography
● Results
● Lessons learned
Image credit: Oliva Chase Designs

School of
Public Health
Why weight stigma?
4
Image credit: Obesity Canada

School of
Public Health
What is weight stigma?
5
● Labelling, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination of people
based on their weight (Calogero et al., 2016; Puhl et al., 2010)
● Can be overt (e.g., bullying) or subtle (e.g., social exclusion)
● Range of physical, mental, and social health consequences
(e.g., anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, disordered
eating, social isolation) (Puhl & Suh, 2015)

School of
Public Health
Weight stigma and youth
6
● Preference for thinness over fatness
by age 3! (Ruffman et al., 2016)
● Importance of a life course
perspective (Puhl & Lessard, 2020)
● Youth have had comparatively few
opportunities to voice their concerns
in weight-related research (Bardick,
2015; Messner & Musto, 2014)
Image credit: Oliva Chase Designs

School of
Public Health
Using institutional ethnography (IE)
7
● Dorothy Smith (1987, 2005) designed
IE to help people better understand
the world in which they live
○ IE maps out how something
happens, rather than abstracting
or theorizing why
● Research purpose: To examine the
work of growing up in a larger body
○ Work = any activity that requires
time, energy, and intent
● Individual interviews (n=16) and
group interviews (n=5) with youth
aged 15-21 in Edmonton, Alberta
OISE, UofT, November 2018

School of
Public Health
8

School of
Public Health
Youth weight stigma working group
9
1. Name the problem (e.g., weight
stigma in healthcare)
2. Identify the intentions behind this
problem
3. Uncover the assumptions that support
these intentions
4. Identify who benefits
5. Identify who is disadvantaged
6. Link these specific ideas to current
society-level patterns
7. Conceive of alternatives that mitigate
actual or potential harms (Nixon et al.,
2017)

School of
Public Health
10

School of
Public Health
What it’s like to grow up in a larger body: A letter to parents
11
● https://obesitycanada.ca/oc-news/what-its-like-to-grow-up-in-a-larger-body-a-
letter-to-parents/
Image credit: Obesity Canada

School of
Public Health
12

School of
Public Health
Lessons learned
13
● IE was a valuable tool for addressing four
principles of participatory research central
to this study:
○ Go beyond “do no harm”
○ Provide opportunities for giving
feedback
○ Create space for critical engagement
○ Bring knowledge translation to the
fore
Image credit: Oliva Chase Designs

School of
Public Health
Thank you!
14
Supervisory Committee:
Dr. Kim Raine
Dr. Kate Storey
Dr. Tara-Leigh McHugh

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