Principal Investigator
B.Sc. [Psychology] (University of Toronto)
Ph.D. [Kinesiology] (University of Waterloo)
Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, University of British Columbia Okanagan
Director, SCI Action Canada
Principal Investigator, Canadian Disability Participation Project
Fellow, National Academy of Kinesiology
Recipient, Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship
Research Interests
community-based research; physical activity behaviour change; physical activity outcomes; psychosocial outcomes; social participationDr. Kathleen Martin Ginis’s research program focuses on understanding and changing physical activity behaviour. She has a particular interest in physical activity among people with spinal cord injury and other types of physical disabilities. Dr. Martin Ginis often collaborates with multi-disciplinary teams to study various health-related outcomes associated with physical activity participation (e.g., weight loss, cardiovascular disease risk, pain).
Dr. Martin Ginis is the Director of SCI Action Canada, a Professor in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences at UBC Okanagan, and an ICORD Principal Investigator. She is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology and a recipient of the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship.
Dr. Martin Ginis has a profound commitment to knowledge translation, specifically the development and implementation of evidence-based best practices to improve health and well-being among people with disabilities. Examples of best practices developed by her team, include the formulation of the first evidence-based physical activity guidelines for people with spinal cord injury; implementation of a nationwide service to provide telephone-based physical activity counselling to adults with physical disabilities; and creation of an online physical activity resource centre to serve the international spinal cord injury communities.
Currently recruiting for:
Recent collaborations
Dr. Martin Ginis collaborates with numerous ICORD researchers, including Dr. Andrei Krassioukov on the CHOICES Project to improve the cardiovascular health of people with SCI, and with Dr. Christopher West on an RHI-funded project to improve measurement of physical activity in people with SCI and to develop tools to assist physiotherapists in prescribing exercise to those clients. She is also the Principal Investigator for the Canadian Disability Participation Project (CDPP) with ICORD co-investigators, Drs. Gary Birch, Jaimie Borisoff, Janice Eng, Susan Forwell, William Miller, and Ben Mortenson. This is an alliance of private, public, and governmental institutions and community-based organizations to advance research and knowledge translation projects to promote physical activity and other types of social participation among Canadians with disabilities.
Major Findings
- 50% of people with SCI do not participate in any leisure time physical activity whatsoever.
- For adults with SCI, physical activity must be performed at a moderate intensity or higher in order to achieve significant health or fitness benefits.
- Two 20-minute bouts of aerobic exercise per week, and strength-training twice per week, results in significant fitness improvements among adults with SCI.
- Telephone-based physical activity counselling that includes action planning, can nearly double the amount of physical activity performed by people with SCI.
- Peer-delivered physical activity interventions are just as effective as professional-delivered physical activity interventions.
- Among people with physical disabilities, the subjective experience of participation includes perceptions of autonomy, belongingness, challenge, engagement, mastery, and meaning.
- Google Scholar most cited works.
Techniques Employed in the Lab
- Integrated Knowledge Translation
- Community-engaged research methods
- Physical activity measurement
- Psychosocial assessments
- Fitness assessments
- Telephone-based and online survey methods
- Behaviour change counselling
- Systematic reviews, meta-analysis
- Advanced multivariate modelling
Affiliations with Organizations
- Director, SCI Action Canada
- Member, International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS)
- Member, Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS)
- Member, North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA)
- International Fellow, National Academy of Kinesiology
Awards
- Gail Beach Scholar Lectureship (University of Miami, Miami Cure for Paralysis, 2023)
- Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) Fellow (2022)
- University of British Columbia Distinguished University Scholar (renewed 2022-2027)
- SSHRC Impact Awards: Connection Award National Finalist (Top 3) (SSHRC, 2020)
- Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Academic Compliments and Sustained Excellence (2017-2020)
- John Gibbons Counsell Award for contributions to advancing the cause of people with SCI (Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, 2015)
- Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship for exceptional long-term efforts and contributions to the well-being of the community (2015)
- Research Award, First Prize (Student Category [Supervisor]); Fourth Prize, Research Category; (National Spinal Cord Injury Conference, 2014)
- Poster Award (Research) (National Spinal Cord Injury Conference, 2012)
- Multiple Health Behavior Change Special Interest Group Research Award (Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2012)
- International Fellow (National Academy of Kinesiology, 2011)
- The President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision (McMaster University, 2010)
Current Lab Members
| Undergraduate Students | Masters Students | Ph.D. Students | Postdoctoral Fellows | Research Staff |
| Ken Namai | Aleksandra Jevdjevic | Dr. Femke Hoekstra | Adrienne Sinden | |
| Haley Berrisford | Rob Buren | Dr. Cameron Gee | Kenedy Olsen | |
| Ava Neely | Nathan Adams | Dr. Matt Stork | Bobo Tong | |
| Dr. Sarah Lawrason | ||||
| Dr. Robert Shaw | ||||
| Dr. Matteo Ponzano |
Trainee Awards
| Year | Name | Award |
| 2022 | Dr. Sarah Lawrason | Outstanding Student Paper Award, North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity |
Recent publications
- Adams, NT et al.. 2024. A Scoping Review of Acute Sedentary Behaviour Studies of People with Spinal Cord Injury.. Int J Environ Res Public Health. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21101380.
- Sweet, SN et al.. 2024. The spinal cord injury (SCI) peer support evaluation tool: the development of a tool to assess outcomes of peer support programs within SCI community-based organizations.. Spinal Cord. doi: 10.1038/s41393-024-01033-1.
- Lawrason, SVC et al.. 2024. Using mixed methods and partnership to develop a program evaluation toolkit for organizations that provide physical activity programs for persons with disabilities.. Res Involv Engagem. doi: 10.1186/s40900-024-00618-7.
- Waller, M, Lexell, J, Martin Ginis, KA, Jörgensen, S. 2024. Leisure time physical activity in middle-aged and older adults aging with long-term spinal cord injury: Changes over six years.. Disabil Health J. doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2024.101648.
- Hoekstra, F et al.. 2024. The co-development and evaluation of an e-learning course on spinal cord injury physical activity counselling: a randomized controlled trial.. BMC Med Educ. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05141-7.
