Academic Title: Professor
Education
PhD, University of Manitoba
BHEcol, University of Manitoba
Contact Information
Office: U243O
Email: llafave@mtroyal.ca
Phone: 403.440.5967
Dr. Lynne Lafave holds a doctorate in nutritional sciences and an active member of the Dietitians of Canada. She has a special interest in the interrelationships between nutrition behaviours, attitudes, and knowledge with a focus on individual health and organizational behaviour change. At Mount Royal University, she teaches courses in Nutrition and Health, Statistics and Research Methods, and Research Methods for Health Professionals.
Dr. Lafave’s research focuses on well-being, nutrition and physical activity initiatives in the early years (3 to 5 years). She has developed the evidenced-based Creating Healthy Eating Environments Scale (CHEERS) for child care that provides evaluation and a feedback report to promote healthy child care environments. This public health initiative is a result of collaboration with early learning and care providers, the provincial health authority, Alberta Health Services — Population and Public Health, and the Government of Alberta Ministry of Children’s Services — Early Childhood Development Branch. Her community research also includes working with vulnerable families to support food literacy in preschoolers through building connections from the garden to plate. In recognition of this work, Lynne was awarded the Mount Royal University Community Engagement Award in 2019.
Areas of Instruction
- Nutrition and Health
- Research Methods
- Statistics
- Child Health
- Capstone
Areas of Scholarship
- Nutrition
- Healthy Eating Environments
- Child Health
- Active Environments
- Eating Behaviour
Selected Publications
Lafave, L. (2019). Creating a healthy eating and active environment survey (CHEERS) for childcare: an inter-rater, intra-rater reliability and validity study. BMC public health, 19(1), 1384. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7719-8 Springer — https://rdcu.be/b9faT
Lafave, L., Tyminski, S., Riege, T., Hoy, D., & Dexter, B. (2016). Content Validity for a Child Care Self-assessment Tool: Creating Healthy Eating Environments Scale (CHEERS). Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice & Research, 77(2), 89-92.
Lafave, L. M. Z., Tyminski, S., Hoy, D., Dexter, B., Riege, T., & Seguin, L. (2015). Reliability assessment of the CHEERS child care self-assessment tool. Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice & Research, 76(3), 19.
Tomkins-Lane, C. C., Lafave, L. M.Z., Parnell, J. A., Rempel, J., Moriartey, S., Andreas, Y., ... & Hu, R. (2015). The spinal stenosis pedometer and nutrition lifestyle intervention (SSPANLI): development and pilot. The Spine Journal, 15(4), 577-586.
Lafave, L.M.Z., Lafave, M. and Nordstrom, P. (2010) Development of a Canadian behaviour, attitude and nutrition knowledge survey (BANKS) Canadian Council on Learning.
Selected Presentations
Lafave, L. & Van Wyk, N. [2019] Assessing Childcare Physical Activity Environments using CHEERS and activPAL. International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) Conference. PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC.
Lafave, L., Yeo, M., Farebrother, M., Seguin, L., & Riege, T. [2019] The Role of Professional Learning Communities to Enhance Health Knowledge and Teaching Practice in Early Childhood Educators. European Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (EuroSoTL) Conference. BASEL, SPAIN.
Lafave, L., Hughes, S., Jakubec, S., & Gleeson, J. [2019] Garden to Plate Pilot Study: Food Literacy Intervention to Promote Healthy Eating in Preschool Children from Economically Disadvantaged Families. Health Promotion & Education: 7th Annual International Conference on Health & Medical Sciences. ATHENS, GREECE.
Lafave, L. & Smey-Carston, C. [2018] Assessment as learning: ECEC educator’s perceptions of the CHEERS self-administered tool. European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) conference. BUDAPEST, HUNGARY.
Lafave, L., Lafave, M., & Yeo, M. [2018] Using Concept Maps to Address Competence of Athletic Therapy Students with Evidence Informed Practice. 2nd World Summit on Competency-Based Medical Education Conference of the International Association for Medical Education. BASEL, SWITZERLAND.
Relevant Community Service
- Healthy Eating Environments in Childcare Provincial Advisory — Alberta Health Services
- Advisory Committee for the Food Guide Resources for Teachers — Physical & Health Education Canada
- Reviewer Board Member for the Journal Healthcare — MDPI