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College of Nursing

Biography

Dr. Jodie Bigalky is an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan College of Nursing with extensive background in perinatal and women’s health. She has worked in a variety of roles at the College of Nursing since 2004 and has taught across all years of the BSN program.

Dr. Bigalky’s program of research seeks to improve the health equity of women and gender diverse people. Her recent work has explored perinatal substance use, menstrual equity, obstetric fistula, and intimate partner violence at provincial, national, and international levels.

Dr. Bigalky obtained her undergraduate and Master’s degrees in nursing from the University of Saskatchewan and her PhD from the University of Regina. Her dissertation research was a narrative inquiry that explored the storied experiences of pregnant women with substance use disorders. She holds current certification in perinatal nursing through the Canadian Nurses Association and is an active member of the Canadian Association of Perinatal and Women's Health Nurses. In her spare time, Dr. Bigalky maintains a clinical practice on the Labour and Birth unit at the Regina General Hospital.

Research Interests

  • Health equity
  • Women’s health
  • Global health
  • Perinatal
  • Substance use
  • Menstrual equity
  • Obstetric fistula

Methodology

  • Qualitative

Courses

  • NURS 370: Perinatal and Family Centered Nursing Practice
  • NURS 450.9 Practice Integration
  • NURS 812.3 Leadership in Nursing

Publications

Grants

Bigalky, J., Petrucka, P.,  Mackey, A. (2026). Perinatal Substance Use in Saskatchewan: Building Foundations for Community-Informed Research and Care, $10000.00, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, Align Grant.
Bigalky J., Racette, J., Petrucka, P., Mackey, A., McNab, L. (2025). Co-Creating Culturally Safe Perinatal Substance Use Care: Engagement with Indigenous Communities, $14089.00, SK-NEIHR Centre.
Schuster-Wallace, C., Petrucka, P., Bigalky. J., et al. (2025). Developing, Testing, and Evaluating a Maternal Well-Being Measure for Indigenous Communities in Canada and East Africa, $1377000.00, Canadian Institute of Health Research, Project Grant.
Bigalky, J., Gomes-Sponholz, F., Mackey, A., Petrucka, P., & Gonçalves Barbosa, N. (2025). Unveiling Menstrual Experiences: A Collaborative Study to Address and Advocate for Menstrual Equity in São Paulo, Brazil, $10000.00, College of Nursing Global Engagement Fund.
Bigalky, J., Namathanga, A., Mackey, A., Petrucka, P., Moyo, M., & Chipungu, E. (2024). Developing an International Collaborative Research Team to Address Obstetric Fistula in Girls and Young Women in Malawi, Africa, $17008.00, Global Community Service Fund, University of Saskatchewan.
Bigalky, J. (2023). Building Evidence to Leverage Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors (BELIEF) for Postpartum Women with Substance Use Disorders, $40000.00, Faculty Recruitment and Retention Fund, University of Saskatchewan
Petrucka, P, Mackey, A, & Bigalky, J. (2023). Saskatchewan Awareness, Advocacy, and Knowledge Strategies (Sask-A2SKS): Addressing IPV amongst Queer Women in Saskatchewan’s 2SLBGTQ+ Communities, $9996.00, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation Align Grant.
Abbass-Dick, J., Semenic, S., Bigalky, J., Brockway, M., Campbell, S., Chaput, K., Dennis, C., Edwards, R., Francis, J., McQueen, K., Montelpare, W., Scime, N., Sellen, D., Twells, L., & Whitfield, K. (2022-2023). Forming a Canadian Research Group for Breastfeeding Protection, Promotion and Support, $9997.00, Canadian Institute of Health Research Planning and Dissemination Grant.
Petrucka, P., Crawford, J., Martin, S., Bigalky, J., & Mackey, A. (2021). Gender and Rights in Menstrual Hygiene Management in Regina, Saskatchewan, $7000.00, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Explore Grant.

External Committees

  • Planned Parenthood Regina, Member Clinical Advisory Committee (2025-present)
  • Canadian Association of Perinatal and Women’s Health Nurses, President Elect (2025-2026)
  • Canadian Association of Perinatal and Women’s Health Nurses, Co-Chair Advocacy and Health Policy Committee (2023-present)

Honours

  • Provost’s College Award for Outstanding Teaching, University of Saskatchewan (2025)