Dr. Ben Mortenson Research Lab

07/16/2024

Join Badminton Canadaat the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club on Thursday, July 25 from 3-5 pm to try out this fun and inclusive sport! For more info see the link in the comments!

11/10/2023

Interested in helping us learn more about cycle lane use by wheeled mobility device users? We are looking for volunteers to take a short online survey to share their thoughts!

This study is led by Dr. Ben Mortenson (PI ). If you are 19+ and spend time using cycle lanes in metro Vancouver please go to the comments to find the link to the survey!

To keep your privacy and confidentiality, please do not comment on this post. Instead, DM us or email us at mortenson.lab@ubc.ca to learn more! Interacting with this post (e.g., like or comment) may connect you with the study.

Photo by Rasmus Gerdin on Unsplash

09/01/2022

Interested in help making parks more accessible to visitors with disabilities? We are looking for volunteers to identify and rank potential standards for natural parks by completing a series of 2 or more online surveys. If you are 19 years of age or older, have a disability, and are currently living in Canada, contact us to learn more! See the link in the comments for more information about the project! Participants will receive a stipend as a thank you for completing each survey!

To keep your privacy and confidentiality, please do not comment on this post. Instead, send a private message or send an email to mortenson.lab@ubc.ca to learn more about our exciting study! This study is being conducted by Principal Investigator Dr. Ben Mortenson at University of British Columbia.

02/08/2022

New paper by Dr. Mortenson & colleagues now published online in Trials BMC!

"Virtual Arm Boot Camp (V-ABC): study protocol for a mixed-methods study to increase upper limb recovery after stroke w an intensive program coupled with a grasp count device"

Viewable at the following link: https://trebuchet.public.springernature.app/get_content/45ba9819-d12c-4fbe-b648-e68a177ec320

02/04/2022

Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) are looking for volunteers to complete an anonymous, 10-15 minute survey about their experience as drivers who use adaptive driving equipment. The study is led by Dr. Ben Mortenson, Associate Professor at the UBC along with Lisa Kristalovich, Occupational Therapist at GF Strong, and Parisa Madani and Urian D’Silva, UBC Occupational Therapy students.

If you are 19+, have ≥ 1year of experience driving with adaptive driving equipment and have driven with this equipment in the past year use the following link to access the survey:

https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eqUMm67RTqWIdng

Please note that by engaging with this post you may be publicly identified with this study. To protect your privacy and confidentiality, email mendoey@student.ubc.ca if you need more information on the study.

12/09/2021

RA Gurkaran Singh, who completed his MSc in UBC Rehabilitation Sciences in Dr. Mortenson's Lab, has won a writing prize with his essay about the effects that mobile health apps can have for spinal cord injury self-management. Check out his essay published by Spinal Research Institute in the 2021 edition of !

12/03/2021

Call for abstracts!

The first World Occupational Science Conference, due to be held in Vancouver (August 18-20, 2022), is accepting abstracts for just 2 more days!

Two days left to submit (or a little bit longer depending on where you are located!)

Final call for abstracts for
Please find guidelines and information about how to submit > https://bit.ly/WOSC2022-abstracts

Deadline: Monday December 6, 24:00 PST 📄👈

10/09/2021

Help us learn what makes parks accessible!

The Mortenson Lab at UBC is doing a study to help learn what makes natural parks accessible (or not)! We are looking for disabled adults to visit a park with us, navigate a set route on the park’s trails, and be interviewed and filmed while doing it! We provide a stipend ($100) and transportation costs. Maybe you or someone you know qualifies and would like to participate? Please visit https://parkaccessforall.ca/ for more info!

In the PARCOURS (Providing Accessible ReCreation Outdoors: User-driven Research on Standards) participants will be asked to complete an online survey and to visit Deas Island Regional Park or Boundary Bay Regional Park with the study team. While traveling on a set route on the trails, they asked to talk about their experience and offer their recommendation to improve it. Park choice may be limited by the needs of the study. As a thank you participants will receive a $100 stipend and reimbursement of mileage or taxi transportation. Participants are welcome to bring a companion.
We are looking for participants who:
• Are 19+ and live in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia
• Can complete a ~ 3 km route on natural trails (with gravel/dirt/similar surface. No stairs are involved). The distance can be modified for cane/crutch/walker users if they visit Deas Island.
• Who meet one or more of the following criteria:
o Use a walker, rollator, cane, or crutch(es)
o Are D/deaf or have a hearing disability
o Have dementia
o Have a brain injury
o Are Autistic
o Have an intellectual disability
o Have a developmental disability
o Have a Mental illness or condition that may significantly impact cognition or perception (such as schizoaffective conditions)
Interested? Please go to https://parkaccessforall.ca/ for more information!

06/21/2021

MAP (Mobility, Access, and Participation) aims to create partnerships and collaborations to improve mobility among people with disabilities and to create barrier-free communities. This interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral and tri-provincial partnership include university researchers, community/business partners, governmental partners and other collaborators from the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British-Columbia.



This seven-year partnership, financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research funds, wants to support organizations and municipalities to develop, evaluate and implement evidence-based practices to contribute to the development of barrier-free communities in increasing mobility, access and participation for people with disabilities.



This collaborative Partnership will provide evidence to support the implementation of novel interventions that can rapidly and effectively be integrated into daily practices, will offer training and development opportunities for students and community partners and, ultimately, will support the development of barrier-free and accessible communities for people with mobility issues.

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MAP (Mobilité, Accès et Participation) vise à créer des partenariats et des collaborations pour améliorer la mobilité des personnes handicapées en misant sur des communautés sans obstacles. Ce partenariat interdisciplinaire, intersectoriel et triprovincial comprend des chercheurs universitaires, des partenaires communautaires, des partenaires gouvernementaux et d'autres collaborateurs des provinces de Québec, de l'Ontario et de la Colombie-Britannique.



Ce partenariat de sept ans, financé par les fonds de recherche en Sciences humaines, veut aider les organisations et les municipalités à développer, évaluer et mettre en œuvre des pratiques afin de contribuer au développement de communautés sans obstacles en augmentant la mobilité, l'accès et la participation pour les personnes présentant des limitations.



Ce partenariat de collaboration fournira des outils pour soutenir la mise en œuvre d'interventions novatrices qui peuvent être intégrées rapidement et efficacement dans les pratiques quotidiennes, offrira des possibilités de formation et de développement aux étudiants et aux partenaires communautaires et, finalement, soutiendra le développement de communautés accessibles et sans obstacles pour les personnes à mobilité réduite.

06/21/2021

Check out our work over on the MAP Project page!

05/21/2021

Congratulations to Ben's students who represented UBC Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists virtual conference this week!

On Monday, Carmen Bennison and Katie Bieber presented on Experiences of Adults with Stroke Attending a Peer-Led Support Group.

Tuesday, Murveena Jeawon, Bethany Hase, and Susanna Miller presented about the need for better support and recognition for ambulatory people with incomplete spinal cord injury.

The last day of the conference, Wednesday, featured Ethan Simpson among the researchers' presentation on A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring COVID-19 Related Experiences and Changes in Outcomes Over Time Among Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury.

Compelling presentations on innovative research by excellent students.