Associate Professor, Health Sciences
My research focusses on the social dimensions of health. My goals are to advance understanding of (1) how different social, structural, and cultural contexts shape health and well-being, and (2) how the unequal distribution of health promoting resources shapes health inequities. With training in religious studies and health equity, I am also interested in the complex ways that culture, religion and spirituality shape human beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours, including in relation to colonization. Much of my research focuses on child and adolescent populations.
My research is highly collaborative. I lead and collaborate with diverse, transdisciplinary teams that include scholars from a range of disciplines (from the bench sciences to the arts and humanities to social sciences). I also work with community members who hold relevant lived experiences, including young people. Building and nurturing authentic, meaningful, and reciprocal research partnerships is core to my approach. I prioritize the co-creation of knowledge with the goal of engaging in research that drives social change.
Trained as a social scientist, I use qualitative and community-engaged research methods and often work in mixed-methods and arts-based paradigms. I am learning to apply a critical social justice lens to all of my research, including to the methods that I use. Being self-reflective about my own social position is core to my research approach. I am a White, cisgendered woman faculty member, and while barriers that women scholars and leaders face are very real, I am also aware of the privileges I hold in the university and society broadly. This includes my comfort in operating in and succeeding by the rules of the dominant Western European culture. As a “settler scholar” who often engages in research partnerships in Indigenous spaces, I am increasingly aware of the complexities of such partnerships, and the constant need to reflect on my own power and privilege as I seek to participate in ethical spaces of collaborative knowledge production. One strand of my program of research prioritizes partnerships with First Nations, Métis and Inuit colleagues, students and community members and is driven by their research priorities.
Current Major Projects
- Using Applied Theatre to Eliminate Discrimination in Health System Delivery
- Spirituality and child health equity
- Indigenous research collaborations and partnerships
- Colonization and the social normalization of violence
- Gender and adolescent mental health
Selected Publications
Here is a sample of some of my more recent publications. For a full list please see my CV.
Michaelson, V., King, N., Smigelskas, K., Slapinskait, A., Slapsinskaite, M., Patte, K., Gardner, P., Inchley, & Pickett, W. (2024) Establishing spirituality as an intermediary determinant of health among 42,843 children from eight countries. Preventive Medicine, vol 179. 107846. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009174352400001X
Michaelson, V., Wadge, S., Peters, M., Khan, S., Pilato, K., & Gardner, P. (2023). “I don’t like it, but it is nice…”: A qualitative study of Canadian Young People and contemporary experiences of nature. Well-being, Space and Society, 5, 100169.
Michaelson, V., King, N., Patte, K. A., Gardner, P., & Pickett, W. (2023). Connections associated with a healthy spirituality: Are these unrecognized intermediary determinants that shape health inequities in Canadian young people? BMC Public Health, 23(1), 1-10.
Michaelson, V, Šmigelskas K, King N, Inchley J, Malinowska-Cieślik M, Pickett W; HBSC Spiritual Health Writing Group. (2023). Domains of spirituality and their importance to the health of 75 533 adolescents in 12 countries. Health Promotion International. Jun 1;38(3):daab185. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daab185. PMID: 34897449; PMCID: PMC10319752.
Michaelson V. (2023). Decolonizing discipline: The normalization of violence against children, church parties to the Settlement Agreement, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 6. Canadian Journal of Children’s Rights/Revue canadienne des droits des enfants, 10(1), 68-93.
Michaelson, V., & Ensom, R. (2022). Ending the social normalization of violence against children in Canada: a framework, rationale, and appeal to Canadian faith leaders. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(24), 17016.
Pilato, K. A., & Michaelson, V. (2022). Spirituality in the health curricula in Canada: A review. Health Education Journal, 81(2), 211-225.
Michaelson, V., Pilato, K., & Davison, C. (2021). Family as a health promotion setting: A scoping review of conceptual models of the health-promoting family. Plos one, 16(4), e0249707.
Michaelson, V. (2021). Developing a definition of spiritual health for Canadian young people: a qualitative study. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 26(1-2), 1-19.
Michaelson, V., & Steeves, V. (2020). “I’ll use it differently now”: using dual-systems theory to explore youth engagement with networked technologies. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 111(6), 1033-1040.
Michaelson, V., King, N., Janssen, I., Lawal, S., & Pickett, W. (2020). Electronic screen technology use and connection to nature in Canadian adolescents: a mixed methods study. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 1-13. 111:502–514.
Dube, A., Bartels, S., Michael, S. & Michaelson, V. (2019). Syrian girls in Lebanon, forced migration and resilience: A sensemaker analysis. Journal of International Humanitarian Action 4(8), 2-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-019-0056-9.
Video and Web-based Productions
Hobbs, K., Michaelson, V. & Mirror Theatre. Addressing Implicit Biases in Health Care and other Professional Relationships. Cultural Humility and Implicit Bias. Available from https://mirrortheatre.ca/topic/social-justice/
Norris, J., Michaelson, V. & Mirror Theatre. (2021). He-art-istic Journeys- Heart DIS-ease. Available from http://www.joenorrisplaybuilding.ca/?page_id=3324.
Theatre Performances
Hobbs, K., Michaelson, V., & Mirror Theatre. (2022). Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto Canada. – Person Centred care and bias in healthcare. Performance with Mirror Theatre.
Hobbs, K., Michaelson, V., & Mirror Theatre. (2020, 2021, 2022). Haunting our Biases: using participatory theatre to interrupt biases in healthcare settings. Performance with Mirror Theatre. Brock University. HLSC 2P21 class.
- Health in Canadian Society (HLSC 2P21)
- Health and Diversity (HLSC 4P59)
- Decolonization, Reconciliation, and Indigenous Health (MPHA 5P16)
I lead the Messfinder Lab and co-lead the Health, Art and Justice Lab with my colleague Dr. Sheila O’Keefe-McCarthy.
All of my students are interested in exploring the messiness of health issues that relate to social justice and to social and structural determinants of health. My students work in diverse areas and my current students are doing projects related to:
- the intersection of mental health and gender in youth who navigate homelessness
- connections to nature and health equity
- having a sense of meaning in life and child mental health
- health system discrimination experienced by Black male youth
- discrimination against Indigenous women who display cultural strengths
- discrimination and chronic pain management
One commonality between lab members is our collective excitement about engaging in research that drives social change. All of my students use anti-oppressive frameworks, prioritize strength-based approaches, and use either qualitative or arts-based methods.
My lab is currently full. Please check back for the academic year starting in Fall 2025.
I am currently taking undergraduate students for small projects and undergraduate thesis projects who have an interest in health equity and social justice in health.
