Ashdown-Franks, Dr Garcia

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Biography
My Latest
My Most Viewed

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Contact

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Name:

Ashdown-Franks, Dr Garcia

Email:

g.ashdownfranks@yorksj.ac.uk

Department:

Institute of Health and Care Improvement

Biography

Job title:

University Research Fellow

Biography:

I previously held an externally funded postdoctoral research position at Brunel University London. In 2024, I joined York St John University as a University Research Fellow in the Institute for Health and Care Improvement.

Qualifications:

I obtained a BSc in Kinesiology in 2015 and an MSc in Exercise Sciences in 2018 from the University of Toronto. I was awarded a PhD in Exercise Sciences in 2022 from the University of Toronto, and also spent time as a Visiting Researcher at King's College London, where my research focused on parkrun, mental health and social inclusion.

My Latest

Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, Atkinson, Michael and Sabiston, Catherine M. (2024) A Therapeutic Landscape for Some but Not for All: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Bethlem Royal Hospital Parkrun. Sociology of Sport Journal, 42 (1). pp. 77-86.
Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, Sabiston, Catherine M., Stubbs, Brendon, Atkinson, Michael, Quirk, Helen, Bullas, Alice and Haake, Steve (2023) parkrun participation, impact and perceived social inclusion among runners/walkers and volunteers with mental health conditions. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 28 (9). pp. 2621-2634.
Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, Michelle Sabiston, Catherine, Stubbs, Brendon, Atkinson, Michael and Stewart, Robert (2023) “Triggered by the sound of other runners”: An exploration of parkrun mentions in mental health hospital records in the UK. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 24 (10048).
Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, DeJonge, Melissa, Arbour-Nicitopoulos, Kelly P. and Sabiston, Catherine M. (2022) Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of a physical activity programme for individuals with serious mental illness: A case study. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 14 (6). pp. 933-955.
Lucibello, Kristen M., Vani, Madison F., Koulanova, Alyona, deJonge, Melissa L., Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171 and Sabiston, Catherine M. (2021) #quarantine15: A content analysis of Instagram posts during COVID-19. Body Image, 38. pp. 148-156.
Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171 and Joseph, Janelle (2021) ‘Mind Your Business and Leave My Rolls Alone’: A Case Study of Fat Black Women Runners’ Decolonial Resistance. Societies, 11 (3). p. 95.
Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, Sabiston, Catherine M., Koyanagi, Ai, Vancampfort, Davy, Firth, Joseph, Stewart, Robert and Stubbs, Brendon (2020) Predictors of physical activity recording in routine mental healthcare. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 18. p. 100329.
Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, Firth, Joseph, Carney, Rebekah, Carvalho, Andre F., Hallgren, Mats, Koyanagi, Ai, Rosenbaum, Simon, Schuch, Felipe B., Smith, Lee, Solmi, Marco, Vancampfort, Davy and Stubbs, Brendon (2019) Exercise as Medicine for Mental and Substance Use Disorders: A Meta-review of the Benefits for Neuropsychiatric and Cognitive Outcomes. Sports Medicine, 50 (1). pp. 151-170.
Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, Vancampfort, Davy, Firth, Joseph, Smith, Lee, Sabiston, Catherine M., Stubbs, Brendon and Koyanagi, Ai (2019) Association of leisure-time sedentary behavior with fast food and carbonated soft drink consumption among 133,555 adolescents aged 12–15 years in 44 low- and middle-income countries. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 16 (35).
Solmi, Marco, Basadonne, Ilaria, Bodini, Luca, Rosenbaum, Simon, Schuch, Felipe B, Smith, Lee, Stubbs, Brendon, Firth, Joseph, Vancampfort, Davy, Ashdown-Franks, Garcia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-0171, Carvalho, Andre F, Radua, Joaquim, Fusar-Poli, Laura, Correll, Christoph U and Fusar-Poli, Paolo (2025) Exercise as a transdiagnostic intervention for improving mental health: An umbrella review. Journal of psychiatric research, 184. pp. 91-101.

My Most Viewed

#	Item title
1	Physical activity and depression: Towards understanding the antidepressant mechanisms of physical activity.	69
2	A mixed methods systematic review on the effects of arts interventions for children and young people at-risk of offending, or who have offended on behavioural, psychosocial, cognitive and offending outcomes: A systematic review.	44	7
3	A meta-review of "lifestyle psychiatry": the role of exercise, smoking, diet and sleep in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders.	36	3
4	"Negative Things That Kids Should Never Have to Hear": Exploring Women's Histories of Weight Stigma in Physical Activity.	33
5	The efficacy of meditation-based mind-body interventions for mental disorders: A meta-review of 17 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials.	32
6	“Triggered by the sound of other runners”: An exploration of parkrun mentions in mental health hospital records in the UK	3
7	A Therapeutic Landscape for Some but Not for All: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Bethlem Royal Hospital Parkrun	2	1