News

Division Seminar Series
Social and Behavioural Health Sciences
Tuesday, November 21, 12-1pm

Zoom link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/84813524969 Meeting ID: 848 1352 4969

Dr. Nata Duvvury
Associate Professor, University of Galway

Constructing Scale Index of Intersectional discrimination: Preliminary Outline
In the discourse on equality, diversity and inclusion, intersectionality has emerged as a key framework to integrate into policies and programmes to effectively address discrimination. However most research on access to institutional systems such as health or education, find it difficult to operationalize the concept of intersectionality into quantitative research and thus focus on single axis of discrimination (gender, race, disability, etc). In this presentation we will first review the work of Scheim and Bauer who have proposed measure for self-reported discrimination using intercategorical analysis. We will then present a preliminary framework for constructing an index of intersectional discrimination in higher education that aims to address the gaps of the Scheim and Bauer scale. As the thinking is still preliminary all criticisms and suggestions are welcome.
Nata Duvvury, Associate Professor and Director, Centre for Global Women’s Studies, School of Political Science and Sociology, University of Galway is a feminist researcher & development expert with research interests in gender, labour markets and welfare state, gendered impacts of globalization, economic costs of gender-based violence, civil society and global governance, and social mobilization.

David Kryszajtys
SBHS PhD Candidate, DLSPH

Deciding to Use Psychedelics to Self-Treat Depression and Anxiety: A Grounded Theory of People’s Experiences from Online Community Discussions
Based on the findings from a qualitative study, this presentation will explain how online community members decide to use psychedelics on their own to help with their depression and anxiety. It will outline the steps these individuals take and the resources they may use to make choices around these practices, as well as the factors that they consider significant in their decision-making process. Specifically, it will explain how past experiences with conventional mental health care and shared values within online communities can shape decisions around self-treatment with psychedelics. Additionally, the presentation will discuss the implications of this research for public health policy and suggest directions for future research.

David Kryszajtys is a PhD candidate at the SBHS division. His research is situated at the intersection of harm reduction and self-directed mental health care. David’s CIHR-funded dissertation is a qualitative study using grounded theory that investigates online discussions about self-treating depression and anxiety with psychedelics. His project explores how people’s decision-making is influenced by previous experiences with the mental health system and their engagement with online communities.