Two GEHLab Interns Present at Faculty of Health URSA Conference

On Tuesday August 13, two Global and Environmental Health Lab members attended the Faculty of Health’s Undergraduate Summer Research Conference. Ann Kwarteng and Hafsa Ugas were selected for two Faculty of Health SSHRC-URSA and CIHR-URSA Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA).

Ann Kwarteng gave an oral presentation on Intergenerational Beliefs of Policing and Mental Health and its Implications for Mental Health Care among Black Youth. Following her presentation, Ann Kwarteng received questions on the project’s methodology, specifically on researcher bias and the sampling strategy.

The first question was addressed by explaining that biweekly meetings that took place during data analysis where members of the larger project, “Retooling Black Anxiety”, met together to discuss their perceptions of the data to maintain rigour. The second question was addressed by explaining the community-based action participatory research nature of the project and the participant recruitment criteria which included living in a neighbour where there was high police presence. Additionally, there was interest in the experiences of female participants recruited in the study, as they were in the minority. Ann Kwarteng answered this question by explaining that while some female participants had direct experiences with the police, others had vicarious experiences with police.

Hafsa presented the effects of housing insecurity on respiratory symptomatology in people living with HIV (PLHIV), in Kenya. According to her findings, there is an association between housing insecurity and respiratory illness among PLHIV. She explained the policy implications of housing insecurity in Kenya and the need for multidisciplinary solutions in this context. She was asked about obtaining the proportions of key outcome variables such as cough and shortness of breath and how that affects the findings. She explained that the study relied on self-reported symptoms and cross-sectional data, and future longitudinal studies are needed to establish causality.  

Hafsa and Ann were happy to be representing the Global and Environmental Health Lab. They had the opportunity to listen to other undergraduate research presentations from Kinesiology, Health Sciences and Psychology. This was quite interesting, as their presentations focused primarily on clinical research, which was quite different from their projects. Ann Kwarteng and Hafsa Ugas also had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Sergio’s and two graduate student’s pathways into research.

“Words cannot describe how appreciative I am to have had the opportunity to conduct research during the summer through my SSHRC-URSA and present my findings. I have learned so much and gained so many skills. I am truly in awe of all who were part of this research, from the participants, community partners, funders, and researchers. This experience has truly been the highlight of my undergraduate degree. I look forward to being part of more community-based research projects” – Ann Kwarteng.

“This experience exposed me to my interest in research and academia in general, and I am grateful to the NSERC-USRA to have had the chance to explore important issues in global health. I have gained many insights on the inner workings of the scientific process, and I am eager and excited to learn more and hopefully become a member of this community”– Hafsa Ugas. 

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