UMSN Student Encourages Others to Apply for Global Clinical Research Summer Program in Africa
Master’s student Belinda Fish spent more than two weeks in Kenya as part of a multidisciplinary team of U-M students.
“It was an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said Belinda Fish. A nursing
student, Fish was part of a team that included students from U-M schools of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy. They worked in groups of 4 doing community health surveys in Kenyan villages as part of the 2012 Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) Global Summer Research Program.
“I was really surprised how cooperative people were,” said Fish. “If you went around my neighborhood and told people you wanted to do a survey that would take half an hour, no one would say yes. But these people were excited when they heard we were coming and it was all word of mouth.”
The surveys covered topics including hygiene, dental concerns, maternity, trauma and chronic pain. “We know chronic pain is common, but it doesn’t affect people’s work the way you might expect. You’ll see a little old lady bent over picking tobacco. When pressed, she might say she has pain but that doesn’t stop her from doing her work. They really don’t want to admit it.”
The teams had a translator but Fish still expected some difficulties in trying to understand how the Kenyans would describe the frequency and intensity of an issue as complex as chronic pain. The students used graphs to show pain occurrences, scope and patterns, and Fish says she was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get clear information.
Fish is using her experience to assist the next group that will begin the 2013 Global Summer Research Program in June. “We want them to know what we learned, what we would do differently,” said Fish. “I’m really hoping to do that from a nursing perspective, and help develop some nursing questions, what nursing can contribute to it, uniquely in that group.”
“Interdisciplinary teams such as this are eager to include a nursing perspective; they really
value the contributions our students bring to their projects,” said Leslie Davis, Ph.D., UMSN’s Director of Global and Community Outreach. “The MICHR program also offers a stipend to pay for travel expenses (approximately $5200). All around, it’s an excellent opportunity to get research experience in the field and learn about another culture.”
Students must apply for the program by February 4th.
