Media releases

• Brock receives $655,000 to support early-stage research

  Thursday, August 20, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 20 August 2020 – R0128

  Brock University researchers have been awarded more than $655,000 in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant program.

  “We are happy but in no way surprised by this level of success,” says Brock University Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon. “SSHRC’s investment in our researchers and scholars continues to enable Brock University to develop and contribute expertise on topics and problems of importance to society.”

  The 11 researchers and their projects receiving funding are spread out over the Faculties of Applied Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities and the Goodman School of Business.

  Kemi Anazodo, Assistant Professor of Organization Behaviour and Human Resource Management in the Goodman School of Business, is one of the researchers awarded an Insight Development Grant.

  Anazodo is heading up a team of Canadian and American researchers in partnership with the Centre of Research and Policy at John Howard Society of Ontario to investigate employers’ attitudes towards hiring people with a criminal history.

  She says recent research has shown many employers say they are willing to hire justice-involved persons, but that it doesn’t happen so often in practice.

  “We know from past research the best way to integrate people with a criminal history into society is with gainful, sustainable employment, however, they experience so many barriers and hardships in being able to attain that,” says Anazodo.

  The team will conduct literature reviews, interviews and surveys to understand the social and psychological factors that shape willingness to hire; if and how incentives motivate employers to hire; perceptions of risks and benefits of hiring; and power relations between subordinates with a criminal history and their managers at work.

  “I’m incredibly honoured to receive the Insight Development Grant,” says Anazodo. “I’m really excited for our team. Getting this award is an important step towards better understanding and support for second chance employment.”

  This year’s recipients of SSHRC’s Insight Development Grants are:

  • Antony Chum, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Understanding disparities in substance-use related crisis across sexual orientations in Canada”
  • Keri Cronin, Faculty of Humanities, “Navigating Niagara’s human-animal history”
  • William Hall, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Climates of inclusion: Creating positive interpersonal dynamics in STEM”
  • Valerie Michaelson, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “How do Indigenous undergraduate students experience the decolonization and reconciliation initiatives that are taking place in their university? A participatory action research study
  • Sylvia Grewatsch, Goodman School of Business, “Reimagining the role of government in catalyzing solutions to grand challenges: Lessons from a 20-year experiment”
  • Amna Mirza, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Do oral language skills predict reading acquisition? Profiles of EL1 and ELL second and third grade children and their response to vocabulary intervention”
  • Elizabeth Greene, Faculty of Humanities, “Entangled mobilities across the Mediterranean: Archaeologies of migrant displacement
  • Jason Hawreliak, Faculty of Humanities, “Accessible scholarship: Examining the role and impact of middle-state publishing in game studies”
  • Kemi Anazodo, Goodman School of Business, “A second chance in sight: Employer perspectives of employment for individuals with a criminal history”
  • Colin Rose, Faculty of Humanities, “Mapping the crimescape of renaissance Florence”
  • Shawna Chen, Goodman School of Business, “From thinking to doing to being: Women entrepreneurs and experiential programs”

  Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and ideas. Funding is provided for short-term research development projects of up to two years that are proposed by individuals or teams.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• People with COVID-19 often lie about symptoms and distancing, says Brock research

  Thursday, August 20, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 18 August 2020 – R0127

  People living in the United States who believe, or know, they are COVID-19 positive are more likely to lie about their physical distancing practices when compared to people who believe they are free of the virus, new Brock University research has found.

  Although rates of lie-telling are fairly high, concealment drops in older populations and among those who are community-oriented, says the Brock study “Dishonesty during a pandemic: The concealment of COVID-19 information.”

  “This study highlights the difficulties in trying to accurately track and prevent the spread of the virus,” says PhD student Alison O’Connor, who co-authored the study with her supervisor, Associate Professor of Psychology Angela Evans.

  “In accurately tracking COVID experiences and COVID rates during the pandemic, we’re relying on people honestly disclosing this information,” O’Connor says.

  Participating in the research were 451 adults ages 20 to 82 years living in the U.S. Most identified as having a post-secondary education.

  Through an online questionnaire, O’Connor and Evans asked participants about their physical distancing practices, COVID-19 symptoms and status, whether they’ve been instructed to quarantine, and their moral evaluations of others’ COVID-19 concealment.

  Participants were asked a series of questions to determine if they had concealed any of their COVID-19 behaviours. They also completed the Communal Orientation Scale to measure the extent to which they believe that they should help others and that others’ needs are important.

  Results include:

  • 34 per cent of COVID-19 positive participants had denied having symptoms when asked by others; 55 per cent reported some level of concealment of their symptoms
  • 25 per cent of participants reported some level of concealment of their physical distancing practices; those with COVID-19 had higher physical distancing concealment
  • 53 per cent of COVID-19 positive participants denied needing to quarantine when asked by others
  • those who concealed their own COVID-19 status and behaviours were less critical of others for doing so
  • females were more readily disclosing health symptoms during this pandemic compared to males
  • older adults and those who scored higher on the Communal Orientation Scale were more honest about their COVID-19 status and behaviours

  O’Connor says people may tell “health-related lies” such as what the research has uncovered to avoid stigma, judgement and social repercussions, especially if they haven’t followed COVID-19 protocols.

  “It can be hard to disclose health information, especially during this uncertain time,” she says. “Sometimes, psychologically we may feel safer to conceal or lie about something to protect ourselves.”

  O’Connor says she hopes the research will lead to discussions and programs that will support people in disclosing their sensitive health information and overcoming anxieties in doing so. This could extend beyond COVID-19 to other physical and mental health conditions.

  “It’s important to not necessarily blame people who are concealing this information, but to understand the barriers that are there from preventing them from telling the truth,” says O’Connor.

  Although a similar study hasn’t yet been conducted in Canada, she expects “there would be a similar pattern of lie-telling among Canadians.”

  Evans says that, given their research finding that community-oriented people tend to lie less about their COVID-19 experiences, “it’s possible that governments and campaigns promoting togetherness and collectivity would have lower lie-telling rates.”

  “An important next step may be to explore the effect of different pandemic procedures on disclosures to help us to better understand potential differences in lie-telling across countries,” says O’Connor.

  The research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), was published August 17 in the Journal of Health Psychology.

  Brock University PhD student Alison O’Connor and Associate Professor of Psychology Angela Evans are available for media interviews.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca or 905-347-1970 

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  Categories: Media releases