I have a job! Yay!
Today was my first day as a research assistant for the MInT (Motivation Interviewing in Treatment) study. Not only is it a relief to finally have $ coming in, but I'm also excited to work with the families.
The children in the study are overweight. Some families will receive "special" treatment by a multidisciplinary team to help create behavior changes to improve weight status. Basically, I book 12- and 24- month follow-up health checks. During the checks, children between the ages of 4-8 come to have anthropometric measurements. These include height, weight and waist circumference. Then I plot their measurements on a chart to give to their parent/guardian and go over the results with the parent/guardian. The goal is to compare weight outcomes of children in the special treatment group to the "usual" care group.
I shadowed the other research assistant for the first appointment. When we plotted the child's measurements we noticed that they fell in the "normal" range - this is an improvement from 6 months ago. The next child I measured by myself and my hands were freezing... the poor kid had to endure the cold measuring tape and my cold hands while I measured waist circumference. Brr! When I plotted the measurements they ended up being off the chart. I was reluctant to go over such results with the parent, but my mentor assured me that it'd be okay. And, it was. I go back on Friday to schedule appointments and continue doing more measurements.
I finally feel like I'm starting to get a routine - it feels great!
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