The Many Faces of Data: Qualitative and Quantitative Perspectives during My Internship at ICH

By Sami Hamdan

As an intern at the Institute for Community Health (ICH), I had the opportunity to study several different aspects of public health that fascinate me. However, my work at ICH also gave me the opportunity to explore health care and health reform through a lens that I had not previously considered: qualitative and quantitative data for evaluation.

As a Health Policy and Management concentrator at Boston University School of Public Health, I have been particularly interested in health reform and improving the delivery of care. I had taken many public health classes during my time as an undergraduate, and so I began my first full MPH year with a basic understanding of public health. As my classes continued to delve more deeply into health policy and management, I became very interested in gaining more practical experience with the health care system. Because the health care system is so complex, I wanted to gain deeper insight into the daily work of researching and supporting healthcare interventions. Because of this, I became interested in ICH’s work.

During my time at ICH, I worked as an intern for the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and Patient-Centered Medical Home Transformation (PCMH) projects with the Cambridge Health Alliance, primarily with the results from a two year Workforce Survey. I assisted with quantitative and qualitative data analysis, report development, and several other small tasks that make a large project work. I became very familiar with Excel, especially the little short cuts that make long and complex data entry more efficient and accurate. I also learned how to use Excel for qualitative work and how to do basic qualitative coding. I realized that qualitative data offers a fascinating insight into people’s ideas and can give life and perspective to quantitative data and survey answers. I also learned that developing reports is not just about the information, but also about making a clean and engaging presentation (especially for graphs and charts) and using concise language. I was also able to attend several meetings with site leadership at the various Cambridge Health Alliance sites; learning how to present data back to clients was a very useful and important skill.

During my time at ICH, I had a wonderful experience working with very dedicated and supportive team members. I learned the value of working with a strong team, especially when reporting an immense amount of data concisely but accurately. I also learned the value of different perspectives in data: the quantitative and the qualitative. Because I spent so much time with the qualitative data on this project, I learned how powerful it can be, particularly when it is combined with quantitative data. Qualitative data provides nuanced feedback and gives a voice to the numbers, which are useful and incredibly important, but sometimes unclear. As is the case with so much else in health care, it takes multiple perspectives to form a clear picture.

Learn about the ICH Internship Program

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The views expressed on the Institute for Community Health blog page are solely those of the blog post author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICH, the author’s employer or other organizations with which the author is associated.

Learning About My Community Through Data: Reflections on My Summer at ICH

By Grace Chan

Tufts University MS in Nutrition/MPH Candidate

My summer as the Data Analyst Intern at the Institute of Community Health (ICH) has been an enriching experience. ICH has provided me insight into the world of quantitative data as well as taught me more about the communities surrounding metro-Boston – both aspects I wanted in a summer internship.

Before joining ICH in May, I finished my first year of graduate school at Tufts University.  As a MS Nutrition/MPH student, my goal is to gain more knowledge about the role of nutrition interventions in preventing chronic diseases. I want to gain skills in epidemiology and biostatistics in order to understand the complex interactions between nutrition, environmental exposures, and health behaviors that lead to various health outcomes. Having lived in Boston for less than a year, I decided to stay here to complete my summer internship rather than go home to California, in order to learn more about the community I am now a part of.

I first heard about ICH through a course at Tufts.  I was intrigued by the work ICH does in collaboration with local communities, and was excited to see a data analyst internship position available for the summer.  At ICH, I have had the pleasure of working on the Everett Data Book Project with Lisa Arsenault, Blessing Dube, Kelly Washburn, and Reann Gibson.  We worked with the Everett community representatives, Jean Granick, Bob Marra, and Jamie Stein, to compile a health assessment data book, detailing the health of the community’s adult and youth populations. Once completed, the data book can be used to inform the development of community programs and promote policy change.

During the internship, I learned to access data from various sources, such as MassCHIP, the Massachusetts Department of Education, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Furthermore, I learned to analyze surveys such as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).  I gathered data of interest to the community members from these sources, organized and cleaned the data, and created charts that display the information in usable and meaningful ways.  Additionally, I participated in meetings with the Everett community representatives and made further improvements to the charts based on their feedback.  My team gave me a lot of support and guidance, plus the independence to explore the data and create charts from information I believed the community would find important.  They also offered me opportunities to present the data, most notably, to the larger work group in Everett that represents various sectors in the community.

As I reflect on my time at ICH, I know that I’ve gained valuable knowledge and skills that I will use in my future endeavors.  For example, I am more comfortable working with (and less intimidated by) large data sets.  Also, I developed a keener eye for detail and gained lots of experience working in Microsoft Excel.  Most importantly, I experienced collaborating with community members whose insights give more meaning to the data.  Overall, I am glad to have spent my summer with the wonderful members of my team.  I enjoyed getting to know my ICH team members and the Everett community.  It has been rewarding to be able to contribute to the process of creating the data book, and I cannot wait to see the final product!

Learn about the ICH Internship Program

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The views expressed on the Institute for Community Health blog page are solely those of the blog post author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICH, the author’s employer or other organizations with which the author is associated.

On the Road with the Photovoice Show: An Intern’s Reflections

By Alice Chan, ICH Summer Intern

Tufts University Psychology Student Class of 2015

How do a crossword puzzle, a tennis racket, and food relate to mental health? According to eight Asian American teens, these items symbolize what they perceive to be the strongest influences on mental health and well-being: self care, the social environment, and family. For one teen, something seemingly as mundane as a tennis racket is significant for mental health: “tennis is a huge stress reliever for the workload I get from school.”

From January to April 2013, these eight teens developed their perspective, or “voice,” on mental health and wellness using Photovoice, a participatory visual method that utilizes photography to promote social change.  Developed by Caroline C. Wang and Mary Anne Burris in 1994, the Photovoice initiative helps youth explore and expand their understanding of a social issue through story-telling and photography (PhotoVoice, 2013). With support from Institute for Community Health’s (ICH’s) Dr. Shalini Tendulkar, the Chinese Culture Connection (CCC), and the Asian American Civic Association (AACA) - eight Malden teens used Photovoice to search within their communities and themselves to answer the following: “As an Asian American teenager, I think mental wellness is…”   

The results of their hard work—24 vibrant images and detailed reflections—were recognized state-wide. In April, The Families for Depression Awareness, a national non-profit organization, awarded the youth and the project partners the 2013 Distinguished Service in Mental Health Advocacy Award. Following this honor, the teens’ photos were presented in a series of public exhibitions, ranging from the 4^th Annual Asian Pacific Islander Mental Health Forum to a special showcase at Malden City Hall. For the teens, most of whom are Malden residents, the opportunity to connect with their community through photography was ineffably meaningful:

“Photovoice made me think more about my own mental health, and the ways I could improve it. There are many factors that can badly influence our mental health, and with a different mindset we can change the way we live starting with our daily routines and experiencing new settings.”

All together, the photos held powerful messages reflecting what mental health and wellness mean to these teens as Asian Americans growing up in 2013.

As an undergraduate intern at ICH and an Asian American, I was amazed by the depth of the teens’ introspections on mental health in their diverse photos and original writings. At the end of this yearlong project, the teens invited the world to see mental health through their eyes, and academics, city officials, and community members alike were deeply touched by their stories.  It is clear that this traveling photo show made true lasting impressions on the community members of Malden and Boston, the project personnel, and me. I am so proud to have been involved with this project with Dr. Tendulkar, CCC, AACA, and, most importantly, our youth. What an incredible and unforgettable experience!

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PhotoVoice. "Background to the Field: PhotoVoice, Photovoice Methodology and Participatory Photography." PhotoVoice, 2013. Web. 27 Aug. 2013. <http://www.photovoice.org/whatwedo/info/background-to-the-field>. 

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 The views expressed on the Institute for Community Health blog page are solely those of the blog post author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICH, the author’s employer or other organizations with which the author is associated.

Redefining Research

By Nicole Updegrove, ICH Summer Intern

Wesleyan University Psychology Student Class of 2014

Before my internship at the Institute for Community Health (ICH) this summer, when asked whether I planned to pursue a health research career or direct clinical work with patients, I chose patients every time. Clinical work provides visible, short-term help with long-term impact. In contrast, at my university, even research in applied fields such as psychology and sociology often felt utterly removed from the people it sought to help; the concept of the “ivory tower” seemed to ring true.

Throughout my undergraduate career, I’ve worked on a handful of research initiatives, including studying the link between family religion and depression and how nicotine addiction operates. This type of research is incredibly valuable, and will probably lead to big changes ten years down the line. However, the road to change is often paved with academic papers, which are published and (maybe) found and implemented years later by policy reform committees or dedicated individuals. Often, community volunteers who participated in experiments or filled out surveys will never experience the results of the research.

As a student striving to "make a difference" in my community, it seemed that research just wasn't for me.

Despite these misgivings (and somewhat unexpectedly), I ended up working for the summer at ICH as an intern with a job description that sounded suspiciously like research. I combed through the previously scorned academic literature, looking for ways to measure an adolescent’s sense of control over his or her circumstances. I attended meetings with community partners to discuss the ways that trauma affects kids in Cambridge, and how to better help these kids in and outside the classroom. I worked to devise new ways of gauging the situational safety and emotional recovery of young girls involved in the sex trade. And even though I sat behind a computer most of the day, it felt a lot like I was helping people. The work I was involved in had community partners’ input and explicitly sought to improve services for the populations using them.

ICH was my first encounter with what is called “community-based participatory research,” an approach to research that is critical to ICH’s mission.  In CBPR, community partners (and their clients) who participate in research activities benefit directly from the work, often in real time rather than five or ten years later. During the short time I was at ICH, I got to see how participatory research approaches help community partners better utilize funding, time, and energy to serve the populations they work with. I saw firsthand how bridging statistics or  data analysis  with community interests and needs can improve people’s lives in visible, measurable ways. The sex trade survivor mentorship program, for example, should be able to use our tools to gain more funding to hire and train more mentors, as well as better identify needs among the girls that could be better suited. Advancements like these advance the health of an entire community.

As I wrap up my work at ICH and think about my career and continued studies after graduation, my parents and peers again ask – Will you research? Or will you work with patients? After my work with community partners here, I’ve started to realize that perhaps my answer really can be “both.”

Learn about the ICH Internship Program

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The views expressed on the Institute for Community Health blog page are solely those of the blog post author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICH, the author’s employer or other organizations with which the author is associated.