ÐÓ°É´«Ã½

Dr. Shelly Birnie-Lefcovitch

Dr. Shelly Birnie-LefcovitchHonorary Research Professor


School of Social Work
St. John's College
ÐÓ°É´«Ã½ University
St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7
Email: slefcovi@mun.ca

Dr. Shelly Birnie-Lefcovitch completed a PhD (with distinction) at Wilfrid Laurier University in 1997, having previously earned an MSW at McGill University in 1971 and a BA at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) in 1969. He joined the ÐÓ°É´«Ã½ University faculty in 1998. Prior to that, he was the founding Co-Director of the Office of First Year Studies at the University of Guelph. He also served as Director of the School of Social Work at ÐÓ°É´«Ã½ from 2002 to 2009.

Dr. Birnie-Lefcovitch’s area of scholarly interest is in community mental health as it pertains to primary prevention with a focus on informal social support. He is particularly interested in strategies that promote successful adaptation during normative life transitions.

Dr. Birnie-Lefcovitch has been part of a national team of researchers who conducted two SSHRC-funded studies investigating student adjustment during the transition from high school to university. He also is principal investigator of another SSHRC-funded study examining rural-urban differences in the transition to university. These studies have been carried out in collaboration with colleagues in the Counselling Centre at ÐÓ°É´«Ã½.

Dr. Birnie-Lefcovitch has taught in the BSW, MSW and PhD programs, supervised graduate student research, and served as a thesis examiner for students in Social Work and other graduate disciplines at ÐÓ°É´«Ã½.

Recent Publications:

  • Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Oliver, E., Davis-Whalen, J., McConnell, S., & Mallard, C. (In progress). Group field instruction as a supplement to individual instruction: Conceptually and empirically informed design.

  • Birnie-Lefcovitch, S. (In progress). Toward the development of a comprehensive primary prevention model for helping new rural students adapt successfully to higher education (Monograph). St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador: ÐÓ°É´«Ã½ University, School of Social Work).

  • Wintre, M., Ames, M., Pancer, M., Pratt, M., Polivy, J., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Adams, G. (2014). Rural compared to urban home community settings as predictors of first-year students’ adjustment to university. Journal of College Student Development, 55(2), 208-215. (R)

  • Birnie-Lefcovitch, S. (2013). Group Field Instruction Evaluation. St. John’s, NL: ÐÓ°É´«Ã½ University, School of Social Work.

  • Girz, L., Polivy, J., Provencher, V., Wintre, M., Pratt, M., Pancer, M., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., & Adams, G. (2013). The four undergraduate years: Changes in weight, eating attitudes and depression. Appetite, 69, 145-150. (R)

  • Wintre, M., Ames, M., Pancer, M., Pratt, M., Polivy, J., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., & Adams, G. (2011). Parental divorce and first-year students’ transition to university: The need to include baseline data and gender. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 52(5), 326-343. (R)

  • Wintre, M., Dilouya, B., Pancer, M., Pratt, M., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Polivy, J., & Adams, G. (2011). Academic achievement in first-year university: Who maintains their high school average? Higher Education, 62, 467-481 (R).

  • Ames, M., Pratt, M., Pancer, M., Wintre, M., Polivy, J., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., & Adams, G. (2011). The moderating effects of attachment style on students' experience of a transition to university group intervention program. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 43(1), 1-12. (R)
  • Busseri, M., Rose-Krasnor, S., Pancer, M., Adams, G., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Polivy, J., Pratt, M.., Wintre, M. (2011). A longitudinal study of breadth and intensity of activity involvement and the transition to university. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(2), 512-518. (R)
  • Tieu, T-T., Pancer, M., Pratt, M., Wintre, M., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Polivy, J., & Adams, G. (2010). Helping out or hanging out: the features of involvement and how it relates to university adjustment. Higher Education, 60(3), 343-355. (R)
  • Wintre, M., Gates, S., Pancer, M., Pratt, M., Polivy, J., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., & Adams, G. (2009). The student perception of university support and structure scale: Development and validation. Journal of Youth Studies, 12(3), 289-306. (R)
  • Provencher, V., Polivy, J., Wintre, M., Pratt, M., Pancer, M., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Adams, G. (2009). Who gains or who loses weight? Psychosocial factors among first-year university students. Physiology and Behavior, 96, 135-141. (R)
  • Wintre, M., Knoll, G., Pancer, M., Pratt, M., Polivy, J., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., & Adams, G. (2008). The transition to university: The student-university match (SUM) questionnaire. Journal of Adolescent Research, 23(6), 745-769. (R)
  • Buote, V., Pancer, M., Pratt, M., Adams, G., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Polivy, J., & Wintre, M. (2007). The importance of friends: Friendship and adjustment among 1st-year university students. Journal of Adolescent Research, 22(6), 665-689. (R)
  • Armstrong, M., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., Ungar, M. & Friesen, B. (2005). Pathways between social support, family well being, quality of parenting, and child resilience: What we know. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14(2), 269-281. (R)