Rebecca Purc-Stephenson
RESEARCHER BIO
Dr. Rebecca Purc-Stephenson is an Applied Social Psychologist and Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus, located in Camrose, Alberta. She is also a research associate of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities.
Broadly, her research focuses on health, resilience, and employment issues, and she uses a qualitative and quantitative methodology to achieve her research objectives. Over the past 20 years, she has conducted studies that examine how individuals with chronic physical and mental health conditions adapt at work, strategies to help them build and sustain resilience to ongoing work stressors, and ways to improve access to timely and reliable healthcare for those living in rural and remote areas.
More recently, she has narrowed her research to one industry: agriculture. Working with community partners across the province and collaborating with other researchers across Canada, she is examining the experience of mental health among agricultural producers, veterinarians, and farm families and identifying ways to build their resilience to ongoing stressors. This line of research is a natural fit for Dr. Purc-Stephenson as she has lived on a farm, worked as a farm labourer on large livestock operations and smaller family-run farms, and is a survivor of a childhood farming accident.
CURRENT RESEARCH WORK
Dr. Rebecca Purc-Stephenson is working on developing the Farm Culture Course.
