Curling focus of rural‑life study

Draws to the button. Guarding the house. Sweepers hurrying, hard.

Ask non-Canadians what these phrases mean and there’s a good chance you’d get some strange looks in return. But if hockey is the sport most associated with Canada, curling may be even more definitively “Canadian,” with a language that we seem to understand better than any other country.

Though she doesn’t hit the ice very often these days, Donna Meagher-Stewart is well-versed in the dialect.

Curling research

“I curled quite a bit when I lived in Toronto and was getting settled there,” explains the associate professor in Dalhousie’s School of Nursing. “It was a way to meet people, to feel part of a community.”

Today, curling has found its way back into her life, this time in her research. She’s part of a three-year study funded by Sport Canada investigating the role of curling in promoting the mental, physical,emotional and social health of women in rural communities.

Led by Bev Leipert at the University of Western Ontario, the team of researchers will focus on eight communities across the country and highlight the experiences of 50-60 women. Dr. Meagher-Stewart and her research assistant Melanie Moore—an MSc candidate in the School of Human Communication Disorders—are researching women curlers in Windsor and Pugwash, Nova Scotia.

Rock of communities

“This hasn’t been studied before, to our knowledge,” says Dr. Meagher-Stewart. “Sixty per cent of curling clubs are in rural communities with fewer than 10,000 people in them. We hear them called the ‘rock’ of these communities. What does that mean for women to get engaged in such a way in their community?”

The study involves visiting each community for focus groups and conversations with women curlers. The researchers provide them with a camera to take photos of what curling and the curling club means to them—a technique known as “photo voice”—and  each curler keeps a log book documenting their thoughts and reflections.

“What we hear from women in these curling clubs is that they do everything,” says Dr. Meagher-Stewart. "It’s all volunteers. They’re behind the bar. They’re cleaning the ice. And what’s more, it’s intergenerational: you see older and younger curlers forming community together. They all come from different walks of life, but that’s left at the door.”

When the study is complete, the researchers will be making recommendations to Sport Canada on ways to bolster curling in small communities, paving the way for future generations of women to reap the benefits of the sport.