معرفی
John-Tyler Binfet is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan School of Education, where he serves as Director of Graduate Programs and Director of the Building Academic Retention through K9's (B.A.R.K.) program. He also directs the Centre for Mindful Engagement, a role he assumed in 2021. His dual research focus centers on children's conceptualizations of kindness in educational settings and the impact of canine-assisted interventions on university student well-being.
Binfet earned his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Calgary (1987), followed by a Bachelor of Education (1991), Master of Arts in Measurement (1993), and PhD in Educational Psychology (2000), all from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His educational background has provided a strong foundation for his interdisciplinary research that bridges psychology, education, and human-animal interaction studies.
His research on kindness explores how children and adolescents understand and enact kindness within school contexts, resulting in the development of the School Kindness Scale. His canine-assisted intervention research, particularly through the B.A.R.K. program founded in 2012, investigates how interactions with therapy dogs reduce stress and enhance well-being among university students. This work has expanded to include virtual canine comfort modules and cross-population applications.
Binfet's publications reveal a strong trend toward methodological sophistication in animal-assisted intervention research, with increasing attention to diverse student populations, gender considerations, and the mechanisms through which human-animal interactions affect wellbeing. His work spans theoretical frameworks in social psychology, practical applications in educational settings, and rigorous methodological approaches including randomized controlled trials and mixed-methods designs.
- Outstanding Instructor Award (2024)
- Multiple SSHRC Partnership Engage Grants
- Central Okanagan Foundation funding for kindness research
- TELUS funding for canine therapy initiatives
Binfet actively supervises graduate students in M.Ed., M.A., and Ph.D. programs, with expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. His leadership extends to the B.A.R.K. program, which routinely brings 60+ therapy dogs to campus, and the Centre for Mindful Engagement. Current research directions include virtual canine comfort interventions, cross-cultural validation of kindness assessment tools, and expanding the application of canine-assisted interventions to diverse populations including veterans and law enforcement personnel.
