Congratulations to graduate student Jenna Gilchrist for placing as one of the top 25 finalists for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC) 2017 Storytellers Challenge.
Gilchrist created a three-minute video, called Self-Compassion Protects Against Negative Emotions, to explain her research and show its impact on the sporting experiences of young adolescent girls.
“We followed 530 girls enrolled in sport over three years, and found that self-compassion protected girls against painful emotions such as guilt and shame,” says Gilchrist, a PhD student working with Professor Catherine Sabiston. “It also helped them to feel more proud of their bodies. Those with higher self-compassion were less likely to drop out of sport.”
Other top entries this year featured big data, climate change, Indigenous knowledge, youth, food security and immigration.
“This is a really impressive accomplishment in knowledge translation,” says Sabiston. “It’s important to recognize the power of positive ways to deal with an often negative topic of body image – that way we can create effective interventions. If we can keep more girls engaged in sport through self-compassion interventions, we will have more women at all levels involved – from competing to coaching.”
Gilchrist was selected from nearly 200 applicants from 14 post-secondary institutions across Canada. She will receive a cash prize of $3,000 and will compete in the Storytellers Showcase at the 2017 Congress of the Humanities and Social sciences from May 27 to June 2 at Ryerson University.