Deinera Exner-Cortens

Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens is an Assistant Professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair (Childhood Health Promotion) in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, and is jointly appointed to the Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary.  Dr. Exner-Cortens is also a full member in the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), the O’Brien Institute for Public Health, and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education. She is also the scientific co-director of PREVNet, Canada’s healthy relationships hub. She holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology and a Master of Public Health. 

Dr. Exner-Cortens' research focuses on 1) evaluating healthy relationships resources in school and community settings, 2) developing and evaluating implementation support tools for school-based mental health service delivery;and 3) prevention of adolescent dating violence. In her work, Dr. Exner-Cortens collaborates with a number of community and research partners both provincially and nationally. 

Dr. Exner-Cortens will likely accept one new MSc student for fall 2022. 

*denotes trainee, ^denotes community partner

Exner-Cortens, D., Schwartz, K. D., McMorris, C., & Makarenko, E. (in press). Stress among Asian youth during COVID-19: Moderation by educational, spiritual and cultural sources of belonging. Journal of Adolescent Health. 

Nutter, S., Saunders, J. F., *Brun, I., Exner-Cortens, D., & Russell-Mayhew, S. (in press). Changes in pre-service teacher personal and professional attitudes following a comprehensive school health course. Canadian Journal of Education.  

Exner-Cortens, D., *Claussen, C., ^Lewis, S., *Orukpe, A. M., & ^Coupland, K. (2021). Friendship quality and ethnocultural boys: An exploratory evaluation of the WiseGuyz program. Psychology in the Schools. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22566

Exner-Cortens, D., Sitter, K. C., *Van Bavel, M., & *Wright, A. (2021). Photo-based evaluation: A method for participatory evaluation with adolescents. American Journal of Evaluation. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214020927785

Exner-Cortens, D., *Baker, E., *Gray, S., *Conde, C. F., *Rivera, R. R., *Van Bavel, M., *Vezina, E., ^Ambrose, A., ^Pawluk, C., Schwartz, K. D, & Arnold, P. D. (2021). School-based suicide risk assessment using eHealth for youth: Systematic scoping review. JMIR Mental Health, 8(9), e29454. https://doi.org/10.2196/29454

Exner-Cortens, D., *Wright, A., *Claussen, C., & *Truscott, E. (2021). A systematic review of adolescent masculinities and associations with internalizing behavior problems and social support. American Journal of Community Psychology, 68, 215-231. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12492  

Exner-Cortens, D., *Baker, E., & Craig, W. (2021). The national prevalence of adolescent dating violence in Canada. Journal of Adolescent Health, 69(3), 495-502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.01.032

Exner-Cortens, D., *Wright, A., *Van Bavel, M., Sitter, K., Hurlock, D., ^Carter, R., & ^Krause, P. (2021). “To be a guy is to be human”: Outcomes of the WiseGuyz program through photo-based evaluation. Health Promotion Practice, 22(5), 659-669. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839920976382

Schwartz, K. D., Exner-Cortens, D., McMorris, C., Makarenko, E., Arnold, P. D., *Van Bavel, M., Williams, S., & Canfield, R. (2021). COVID-19 and student well-being: Stress and mental health during return-to-school. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 36(2), 166-185. https://doi.org/10.1177/08295735211001653

Exner-Cortens, D., & ^Cummings, N. (2021). Bystander-based sexual violence prevention with college athletes: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(1-2), 188-211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517733279  

Exner-Cortens, D., Wells, L., Lee, L., & Spiric, V. (2021).  Building a culture of intimate partner violence prevention in Alberta, Canada through the promotion of healthy youth relationships. Prevention Science, 22(1), 40-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-019-01011-7

Saunders, J. F., Nutter, S., *Brun, I., Exner-Cortens, D., & Russell-Mayhew, S. (2020). The efficacy of a comprehensive school health course in changing pre-service teachers’ attitudes and reactions toward weight-related teasing. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 36(3), 235-243. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573520974916

*Baker, E., & Exner-Cortens, D. (2020). Adolescents’ interpersonal negotiation strategies: Does competence vary by context? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 30(4), 1039-1050. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12578

Exner-Cortens, D., Spiric, V., Crooks, C. V., *Syeda, M., & Wells, L. (2020). Predictors of youth healthy relationships program implementation quality in a sample of Canadian middle school teachers. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 35(2), 100-122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573519857422

Exner-Cortens, D., Wolfe, D. A., Crooks, C. V., & Chiodo, D. (2020). A preliminary randomized controlled evaluation of a universal healthy relationships program for youth. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 35(1), 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573518821508

Exner-Cortens, D., Hurlock, D., *Wright, A., ^Carter, R., & ^Krause, P. (2020). Preliminary evaluation of a gender-transformative healthy relationships program for adolescent boys. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 21(1), 168-175. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000204

Exner-Cortens, D., *Wright, A., Hurlock, D., ^Carter, R., ^Krause, P., & Crooks, C. V. (2019). Preventing adolescent dating violence: An outcomes protocol for evaluating a gender-transformative healthy relationships promotion program. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 16, 100484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conctc.2019.100484

Crooks, C. V., Jaffe, P. G., *Dunlop, C., *Kerry, A., & Exner-Cortens, D. (2019). Preventing gender-based violence among adolescents and young adults: Lessons from 25 years of program development and evaluation. Violence Against Women, 25(1), 29-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801218815778

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