Research Interests

Current Research

Currently, the WEL is involved in three main research projects:

Attitudes and Well-Being in High School Students

The Weight and Eating Lab is currently involved in a study examining the influence of different types of body measurements on adolescents attitudes and well-being.

*We are not currently recruiting for this study.

The Challenges of Pregnancy

The Weight and Eating Lab is currently conducting a study examining how women cope with the challenges of pregnancy.

*We are not currently recruiting for this study.

The Process and Experience of Weight Loss

The Weight and Eating Lab is in the process of completing a longitudinal study on the process and experience of weight loss. The target completion date of the study is Spring 2015. For more information on this study, please email us at wel5305@sfu.ca, or call us at 778-782-9022.

*We are not currently recruiting for this study.

Past Research

Family Meals

The Weight and Eating Lab extended past research that has demonstrated the protective effects of family meals during adolescence by exploring the longitudinal impact of family meals. A primary goal of this study is to determine whether frequent family meals during adolescence impacts health-related behaviours, body mass index, and depressive and eating disorder symptomology during the transition into young adulthood.

Therapeutic Alliance

The Weight and Eating Lab investigated the role of therapeutic alliance (i.e., the relationship that develops between the therapist and his or her patients in psychotherapy) in family-based treatment (FBT) for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in adolescents. This research project involved the coding of audio tapes from FBT sessions in order to elucidate the nature of child-therapist and parent-therapist alliances in this form of therapy.