{"id":79155,"date":"2022-06-23T12:48:43","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T16:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=79155"},"modified":"2022-06-23T16:19:53","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T20:19:53","slug":"canada-games-research-spotlight-kimberley-gammage-and-sarah-galway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/06\/canada-games-research-spotlight-kimberley-gammage-and-sarah-galway\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada Games Research Spotlight: Kimberley Gammage and Sarah Galway"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOTE: This is the latest in a series of Q&A stories featuring Brock University faculty members who are integrating the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games into their research projects. For more information on Brock\u2019s academic activities around the Games, visit\u00a0<\/em>brocku.ca\/canada-games<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Kimberley Gammage, Professor of Kinesiology in Brock\u2019s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, researches body image \u2014 and\u00a0in particular, positive\u00a0body image \u2014 and physical activity across diverse populations. She and her students try to understand factors that can improve positive body image and reduce negative body image, including exercise, yoga and educational approaches.<\/p>\n

Sarah Galway is a PhD candidate in Applied Health Sciences (Behavioural and Population Health) who works with Gammage. Galway\u2019s PhD research focuses on promoting positive body image and healthy public policy as part of Gammage\u2019s Exercise Psychology and Body-Related Experiences Lab. Research in this lab focuses on how physical activity and other health behaviours can be used to promote positive body image experiences in diverse populations.<\/p>\n

The Gammage-Galway team is one of eight Brock researchers and scholars who received funding under the 2021-22 round<\/a> of the VPR Canada Games Grant program. Here, Gammage and Galway discuss their research project titled \u201cFocusing on the positives: A test of the embodiment model of positive body image in elite athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please give a brief overview of your research project.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Athletes can experience a variety of positive outcomes as a result of sport participation. Our research project is focused on understanding positive body image experiences in elite athletes, even though at times athletes may feel pressured to perform and look a certain way. Positive body image involves individuals\u00a0loving and appreciating their bodies, especially for what they can do (functionality), as\u00a0opposed to\u00a0what they look like (appearance).\u00a0Positive body image\u00a0can help protect against\u00a0low\u00a0self-esteem,\u00a0depression\u00a0and disordered eating. Our research project will examine if\u00a0competitive sport can contribute to positive body image experiences in elite athletes compared to recreational athletes and non-athletes.<\/p>\n

What do you expect will be the outcome of your research?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We expect to find\u00a0greater\u00a0positive body image experiences in Canada\u2019s top summer athletes,\u00a0compared to recreational and non-athletes. We will also determine how<\/em> competitive sport\u00a0participation can lead to positive body image experiences in athletes by, for example, increasing a sense of connection to the body (embodiment).<\/p>\n

How will this contribute to knowledge or understanding of the Canada Summer Games?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elite athletes, including those competing in the Canada Summer Games, face unique pressures and challenges that can lead to negative\u00a0body image\u00a0outcomes.\u00a0Our work will show how these same athletes can experience positive body image through their sport participation, which will ultimately allow\u00a0athletes, researchers,\u00a0coaches\u00a0and other practitioners\u00a0to foster positive body image in future athletes.<\/p>\n

How did you become interested in this research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our research lab is focused on exploring ways to promote positive body image and healthy exercise motives in a variety of populations, including older adults, pregnant women, individuals with chronic conditions\u00a0and disability. We value physical activity across the lifespan, and across all ability levels. The Canada Summer Games has allowed members of our lab to explore these topics in elite athletes.<\/p>\n

How do you plan on sharing your research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Findings from our research will be shared at the Canada Summer Games research showcase, through our lab Twitter account\u00a0(@BrockBIPA), our lab website<\/a>, publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations.\u00a0We will also present to teams, coaches and others involved with sport organizations who are interested in learning how to create positive body image experiences for themselves and others.<\/p>\n

Do you have any advice or tips on how colleagues in your\u00a0Faculty\u00a0can incorporate the Canada Games into their research?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Canada Summer Games brings an amazing opportunity for researchers to diversify their research into new populations and topics. Although our lab has generally examined positive body image related to exercise, the opportunity to study the impact of competitive sport will give us a better understanding of the importance of all types of physical activity. We encourage everyone to expand their research beyond current research programs. This can only enhance our knowledge and allow for new\u00a0collaborations\u00a0with colleagues and new\u00a0opportunities to promote sport participation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brock University PhD student Sarah Galway and Professor of Kinesiology Kimberley Gammage are examining whether competitive sport can contribute to positive body image experiences in elite athletes compared to recreational athletes and non-athletes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,7,188,55,1,5],"tags":[8094,1130,6789,10206,996,7488,5505,3379,8336],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79157,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79155\/revisions\/79157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}