Kaylee Misener
PhD Candidate
Department of Psychology
University of British Columbia
Applied (Clinical and Engineering Applications)
Kaylee Misener is a Ph.D. candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) supervised by Dr. Maya Libben. She has been conducting research in the areas of eating disorders and body image for 8 years. Her undergraduate honours thesis, completed at UBCO, investigated whether an implicit measure of disordered eating could be used to assess cognitive distortions among individuals who exhibit eating disordered symptoms as compared with post-symptomatic and control groups. Her Master's research investigated the relationship between attentional biases and body dissatisfaction, using novel eye-tracking technology. Further, it provided a cross-cultural replication and expansion to facilitate the comparison of body image issues across cultures. Her Doctoral research continues to investigate body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and cognitive psychology. Her dissertation explores the potential of a novel body dissatisfaction prevention program for youth which incorporates self-compassion, mindfulness, and yoga. Kaylee has had the joy of designing and teaching a 3rd year psychology course on the Psychology of Body Image for several years at UBCO. Kaylee is also a passionate mental health advocate and served as the president of the graduate student-led Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Club (MHAAC) at UBCO.
