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Director

Dr. Candace Konnert

Dr. Candace Konnert

E-mail: konnert@ucalgary.ca
Phone:  403-220-4976
Office: Administration 235C

Highest degree/Institution:
Ph.D., University of Southern California (Clinical Psychology, Specialty track: Aging)

Research Interests
Clinical and social aspects of aging, specifically the following areas: mental health in long-term care residents, barriers to mental health care utilization, mental health training among home support workers, education and training in clinical geropsychology.

Prospective Students
I am interested in working with undergraduate and graduate students that have a demonstrated  interest in working with older adults and advancing research and practice in the field of aging.  Students become inspired to work with older adults in many ways – through course work, volunteer activities, work commitments, or research opportunities. If you enjoy older adults and are intrigued by life-span developmental issues, this growing area of research and practice may be for you!

Ph.D. Students

Julie Gorenko

Julie Gorenko, M.Sc.

Email: julie.gorenko@ucalgary.ca
Phone: 403-220-4975
Office: Administration 235D

Research Interests
My dissertation research seeks to improve understandings of gambling among older adults, who have historically received little attention in gambling research. Gambling participation and problem gambling among the growing aging population appear to be increasing. Importantly, evaluating prevalence of problem gambling among older adults is difficult due to the use of measures developed for use with general adult population that have not been evaluated for age-equivalence; thus, it is unclear if resulting scores have equivalent meaning/interpretation among older gamblers. Accurate assessment is necessary for understanding factors related to late-life gambling. Older adults face unique circumstances (e.g., late-life events, such as retirement; health status; social contexts), which may increase vulnerability to gambling-related harms (e.g., damaging financial losses due to limited/fixed income). My research is comprised of four studies, examining: (1) the psychometric properties of the commonly used PGSI (Ferris & Wynne, 2001) in older adults; (2) if responses to PGSI items differ by age and problem gambling severity; (3) the temporal influence of life events on gambling patterns among older adults, accounting for individual and social factors; and (4) how retirement transitions influence subsequent gambling trajectories, in the context of changing social and individual factors. 

Previous Research Assistants and Honours Students

Camille Mori

Camille Mori

Graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Calgary

Claire McGuinness

Graduate student in the School and Applied Child Psychology Program at the University of Calgary

Previous Graduate Students

Calandra Speirs

Dr. Calandra Speirs

Graduated 2020

Dr. Ana Petrovic

Dr. Ana Petrovic

Graduated 2018

Dr. Yvonne Tieu

Dr. Yvonne Tieu

Graduated 2013

Dr. Ashli Watt

Dr. Ashli Watt

Graduated 2007