Eva Oberle: Associate Professor at , UBC Faculty of Medicine

Associate Professor

Faculty of Medicine

Research Classification

Public and population health

Other education

Research Interests

Adolescent Mental Health/ Social-Emotional Wellbeing

Positive youth development

Promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools

Risk and resilience

Research with population-level data

Social and emotional learning in schools

Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs

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Affiliations to Research Centres, Institutes & Clusters

Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP)

Research Options

I am available and interested in collaborations (e.g. clusters, grants).

I am interested in and conduct interdisciplinary research.

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Research Methodology

Quantitative research with population-based data

Large-scale cross sectional and longitudinal studies

Recruitment

Looking to recruit:

Master's students

Doctoral students

Desired start dates: 2025

Potential research project areas:

Quantitative research using data from the Middle Years Development Instrument and other HELP-surveys. Topics all focus on the development of children and youth and include trajectories of wellbeing over time, associatios between social-emotional competence and academic success, differences in social-emotional and mental wellbeing among population subgroups. Examining aspects of intersectionality (gender, racial and ethnic background).

Ideal Applicant Profile:

Students with very strong interest and skills in quantitative analyses, and training/knowledge base in the social sciences and/or population health (e.g., psychology, education, human development, sociology, population health).

Other options:

I support public scholarship, e.g. through the Public Scholars Initiative, and am available to supervise students and Postdocs interested in collaborating with external partners as part of their research.

I support experiential learning experiences, such as internships and work placements, for my graduate students and Postdocs.

I am interested in supervising students to conduct interdisciplinary research.

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ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.

Supervision Enquiry

If you have reviewed some of this faculty member's publications, understand their research interests and have reviewed the admission requirements, you may .

Graduate Student Supervision

Doctoral Student Supervision

Dissertations completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest dissertations.

Incidence of non-affective psychotic disorders and access to psychiatric care among adolescents in South-Western British Columbia (2022)

Objectives: Estimate (1) diagnosed incidence of non-affective psychotic disorders (NAP) over adolescence (2) the distribution of risk in the population (3) the level of psychiatric service use and (4) predictors of psychiatric service use following a first diagnosis of NAP among adolescents in British Columbia (BC). Study 1: I used linked administrative data (e.g. hospitalization, physician visit, and immigration records) to estimate the incidence of NAP over adolescence and variation in risk by age, sex, family and neighbourhood income, migration background, parent mental health, and birth year. Study 2. I used the same data to estimate relative risk of adolescent-onset NAP by migrant generation and region of origin adjusting for class of entry into Canada, birth year, low family income and neighbourhood income. Study 3. I examined psychiatric service use (time to psychiatry follow up visit, antipsychotic prescription, hospitalization, rate of psychiatry visits and odds of service gap) following a first diagnosis of NAP among adolescents in BC, and clinical and demographic (migration background, family and neighbourhood income, sex, age) predictors of psychiatric service use. Findings: 0.64% of females and 0.88% of males were diagnosed with a NAP between age 13-19. Incidence increased over the age range, especially among males. Low family income, lower neighbourhood income, parent mental health contact history, and later birth year were associated with higher risk of diagnosis, whereas immigrant adolescents had lower risk of diagnosis compared to non-immigrant adolescents. In study 2 I found that first-generation migrants from East, South and Southeast Asia and second-generation migrants from East and South Asia exhibited lower risk of diagnosed NAP over adolescence compared to non-migrants. In study 3 I found that half of outpatient cases and one third of inpatient cases did not access psychiatry follow up within 30 days of index, and a majority experienced gaps of more than 90 days between psychiatry visits. Moreover, I identified clinical and demographic predictors of psychiatric service use.

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Master's Student Supervision

Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.

Screen time, sleep and social relationships: a population-level study examining emotional wellbeing during early adolescence (2020)

BACKGROUND: This study explored the role of early adolescents’ relationships with peers and adults, recreational screen time, and quality of sleep in relation to optimism, satisfaction with life, depressive symptoms and anxiety. Understanding the ways in which social experiences and health behaviors are associated with the emotional wellbeing of early adolescents is important because it can help pave the way for interventions and programs that support thriving.METHOD: The present study draws from data collected with the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI), a population-level self-report survey implemented annually in British Colombia. Survey data from grade 7 students (N = 28,172; 49.1% female), collected between 2014-2018, were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to investigate whether social relationships (with peers, adults in school and adults at home) and health behaviors (screen time, sleep) were associated with indicators of positive and negative emotional wellbeing, controlling for gender and English language background. RESULTS: Main findings were that lower levels of peer belonging and adult support at home and at school, higher levels of screen time, and poorer sleep quality were associated with high levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety, and lower levels of optimism and satisfaction with life. There was a significant interaction between screen time and gender in relation to the emotional wellbeing outcomes. Specifically, the association between more screen time and poorer emotional wellbeing outcomes was significantly larger for girls than for boys. CONCLUSION: The present study indicates that high levels of peer belonging, adult support, sleep quality and low levels of screen time are important for the emotional wellbeing of emerging adolescents. These findings highlight the various behavioral and social factors that can be actively nurtured to promote emotional wellbeing during the early adolescent years .

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