Picture of Kheana

Dr Kheana Barbeau

PhD
Pronouns: She/They

Affiliations

Postdoctoral Scholar

Werklund School of Education, Specialization, Counselling Psychology

Contact information

For media enquiries, contact

Clayton MacGillivray
Content and Media Specialist


Email: clmacgil@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @UCalgaryEduc

Background

Credentials

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Canada, 2023

Program Evaluation Training for Physical Activity Practitioners, Research Power Inc, 2021

Clinical Pediatric Research Training, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 2015

Educational Background

PhD Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa, 2023

BA Honours Psychology, University of Ottawa, 2016

Biography

Dr. Barbeau completed her PhD at the University of Ottawa in Experimental Psychology with a specialization in Social Psychology. Her doctoral work sought to understand distinct mechanisms involved in the regulation of healthy and disordered eating to inform integrative interventions that are health promoting and risk averting (i.e., disordered eating). Mechanisms include motivational differences, self-compassion, self-directed weight-related commentary, and dissonance compensation. Dovetailing this work, Dr. Barbeau leads foundational research on the interpersonal transmission (i.e., family and peer contexts) of body-related commentary and eating attitudes among Canadian adolescent girls, with a specific emphasis on resilience pathways, and remains a collaborator with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research group on projects related to children and youth's 24-hour movement behavior.

As a Banting Postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Barbeau continues to provide leadership on the interpersonal and intrapersonal factors associated with positive relations with the body, food, and physical activity through their independent research with sexual and gender minority young adults using a strength-based approach (R2R project). She also co-leads research on teacher preparation training in wellness as a  systemic health promotion intervention for K-12 school systems. 

Research

Areas of Research

Stigma, Self-Compassion, Sexual Minorities, Gender Minorities, Motivation, Body Image, Eating Behavior, Physical Activity

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
PSY3303 Personality
PSY2105 Child Development
HSS3101 Health Research Methods
PSY 2110 Social Psychology

Projects

Risk to Resilience (R2R): An intersectional examination of how identity-related experiences shape sexual and gender minority individuals’ relations with their body, food, and physical activity

This work seeks to understand how stigmatizing and affirmative identity-related experiences shape relations with the body, eating, and physical activity across intersections with sexual and gender minority adult populations using a multi-method approach. This will highlight areas of risk, but more importantly, areas of resilience at the individual (i.e., self-compassion, resistance of stigma) and community-level (i.e., social support, positive body and weight-related commentary) that facilitate positive relations with the body and healthy active living. This research is supported by a SSHRC Banting award.


Teachers of Tomorrow: Mobilizing partnerships for school wellness across the education system

This project aims to evaluate the effect of pre-service teacher preparation training in wellness (informed by a Comprehensive School Health Framework) in Bachelor of Education programs in Alberta on pedagogical practices in the classroom and teacher and student wellbeing in the K-12 school system.  


Flip the script: Experiences of wellbeing from teacher training to early career

Exploring how a flipped learning approach to learning Comprehensive School Health in Bachelor of Education programs influences the wellbeing during the transition from pre-service to in-service teaching. Specific emphasis on how this influences the transition of diverse teachers (i.e., those with marginalized identities). 


Weight stigma in health information systems

Examining the presence of weight stigma in electronic medical health systems. 


Motivational differences in women’s perceptions, compensation strategies, and intentions to eat in response to body-related self-discrepancies

My doctoral research examined distinct motivational pathways implicated in health-promoting and disordered eating following self-discrepancies related to the body, such as physical appearance and lapses in healthy eating and physical activity. This work led to an amendment of a theoretical framework to predict individual differences in dissonance processes and was used to predict responses to common paradigms, such as mirror exposure, that are used to change healthy and disordered eating behaviors. This work tested and identified types of mirror-based manipulations, including attitudinal restructuring through positive body talk, that work best to induce healthy eating and reduce disordered eating in certain populations (young adult women). 

Awards

  • Banting Postdoctoral Award, SSHRC. 2024
  • Eyes High Postdoctoral Match-Funding , University of Calgary. 2023
  • Grant for Student Research and Knowledge Dissemination, Canadian Psychological Association . 2018
  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier (JAB) Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral , SSHRC. 2018
  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier (JAB) Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s, SSHRC. 2017
  • Admission Scholarship, University of Ottawa. 2017
  • Transfer Scholarship, University of Calgary. 2014
  • Admission Scholarship, University of Ottawa. 2012

Publications

  • Motivational pathways involved in women’s intentions to engage in healthy and disordered eating behavior following a body-related discrepancy. Barbeau, K., Boileau, K., & Pelletier, L.. Motivation and Emotion. (2023)
  • Evidence supporting a combined movement behavior approach for children and youth’s mental health – A scoping review and environmental scan. de Lannoy, L., Barbeau, K., Vanderloo, L. M., Goldfield, G., Lang, J. L., MacLeod, O., & Tremblay, M. S.. Mental Health and Physical Activity. 100511. (2023)
  • Scoping review on adult-oriented outdoor play publications in Canada. de Lannoy, L., Barbeau, K., Seguin, N., & Tremblay, M.. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada. (2023)
  • Scoping review on children and youth’s outdoor play publications in Canada. de Lannoy, L., Barbeau, K., Seguin, N., & Tremblay, M. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada. 1-13. (2023)
  • Family members and peers’ negative and positive body talk: How they relate to adolescent girls’ body talk and eating disorder symptoms. Barbeau, K., Carbonneau, N., & Pelletier, L. Body Image. 213-224. (2022)
  • The effects of self-compassion and self-esteem writing interventions on women’s valuation of weight management goals, body appreciation, and eating behaviors. Barbeau, K., Guertin, C., Boileau, K., & Pelletier, L. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 1-17. (2021)
  • Development of a consensus statement on the role of family in physical activity, sedentary, and sleep behaviors of children and youth. Rhodes, R. E., Guerrero, M. D., Vanderloo, L. M., Barbeau, K., Birken, C. S., Chaput, J. P., … & Tremblay, M. S. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. (2020)
  • Examining fat talk and self-compassion as distinct motivational processes in women’s eating regulation: A Self-Determination Theory perspective. Guertin, C., Barbeau, K., Pelletier, L. Journal of Health Psychology. 1-13. (2018)
  • Why do women engage in fat talk? Examining fat talk using Self-Determination Theory as an explanatory framework. Guertin, C., Barbeau, K., Pelletier, L., & Martinelli, G. Body Image. 7-15. (2017)
  • Les perceptions et cognitions sociales: Percevoir et penser aux gens qui nous entourent. In Vallerand, B. (3rd Ed.), Les Fondements De La Psychologie Sociale. Pelletier, L. G., Beaudry, S., Firzly, N., & Barbeau, K. . Gaetan Morin Editeur. (2021)