University News

Bishop's Opens Vast Health and Well-Being Laboratory Facilities

November 29, 2012

Thanks to well over half a million dollars of research funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the provincial government and other partners, Bishop’s University now has spacious and top-of-the-line research facilities exclusively dedicated to better understanding and enhancing health and well-being.

The laboratory is headed by Dr. Fuschia Sirois, Canada Research Chair in Psychological Health and Well-Being and Professor of Psychology at Bishop’s. She is particularly interested in understanding how individuals can find meaning and motivation to pursue their various personal goals in ways that support rather than detract from health and well-being. Dr. Sirois strongly believes there is a need to focus on the health and well-being of individuals and communities in a way that is much broader than simply the absence of disease.

“Our Psychology and Biology departments have designed programs which emphasize health issues,” says Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Associate Vice-Principal of Research at Bishop’s. “This new international-level lab will provide a range of hands-on research opportunities for many Bishop’s students, which is very much in line with the University’s mission to provide the best undergraduate educational experience in the country.”

Dr. Sirois’ broad research program investigates how self-perception and one’s goals over time are associated with health and well-being. One line of research which is unique both nationally and internationally explores the effects of procrastination on health and well-being. Dr. Sirois also studies mechanisms of positive adaptation to chronic illness such as arthritis. Finally, she focuses on investigating the motivations for using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and how it is associated with physical and psychological well-being. For example, working with Fibromyalgie de l’Estrie, Dr. Sirois’ lab will launch an innovative study in the New Year that will examine the effects of massage therapy on the sleep quality and cognitive functioning of people with fibromyalgia.

“This is the second international-level research laboratory to open at Bishop’s since October,” notes Dr. Bacon. “With our science teaching labs also being recently renovated at a cost of over 7 million dollars, our research infrastructure is better than ever and our students will greatly benefit.”

About the Lab
The Health and Well-Being Lab is a state-of-the-art research facility which consists of a welcoming reception area for incoming research participants, a data archive room, a community engagement meeting room, a student working area, psychological testing facilities (PTF) and qualitative research facilities (QRF). The QRF features live audio and visual recording equipment for conducting interviews and focus groups; the PTF includes a testing room for paper and online survey completion and two portable units for tracking psychophysiological changes related to autonomic functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response, and respiration rate. Together the PTF and QRF provide the means for both objective and subjective assessments of health and well-being. A private office adjacent to the welcome area in the lab has been designated as a space suitable for visiting researchers and post-doctoral fellows.

About Research at Bishop’s University
In 2009 Bishop’s committed to developing four areas of research excellence: Psychological Health and Well-being; Multi-scale Climate and Environmental Change; Crossing Borders (Social and Cultural Identity); and Stellar Astrophysics and Relativity. Largely as a result of this initiative, Bishop’s was recently awarded over $2M in funding for three Canada Research Chairs and 4 CFI-funded state-of-the art laboratories. Bishop’s is proving very successful at recruiting a new generation of professors who successfully ally international research programs with true dedication to undergraduate education.

-30-