In the spirit of service

I had an incredible trip to Wellington, New Zealand for the 2012 annual Public Health Association conference. The theme of the conference was 'Equity from the Start - Valuing Our Children'.  I am thankful for the financial support that the Otago/Southland branch gave me so that I could attend the conference; I would not have been there without their help.

We had the privilege of listening to Cindy Blackstock speak about the struggle for equal opportunities for First Nations children.  I listened intently as she described how she advocated for their housing/health/education rights.  Afterall, it is a pretty big deal when a "little guy" takes on a federal government to fight for funding that children need to thrive.

I loved Cindy's enthusiasm, passion, and wit.  Want to work with Government to solve a problem? Give them evidence-based solutions.  Is Government giving you the run around and taking too long? Try mosquito advocacy.  Simple enough.

The last hour or so of the conference was dedicated to taking action.  I was under the impression that each of us would have one goal in mind for reaching those 1 in 4 children unfairly affected by poverty that we heard about: the ones who are sick because their home isn't properly insulated, the ones whose parents waited overnight in fear for the child's ill-health because a clinic wasn't open, or the ones who are behind in school because they didn't have access to early childhood education.  I thought we'd take Cindy's words and put them into action...Unfortunately, when we broke off into small groups I stared blankly at the woman next to me and said, "I don't know what to do."  After two solid days of listening to public health workers and politicians and people in between, I didn't have any ideas for how little ol' me could make a dent in the problem at hand.  She asked me why this was the case and I replied, "I'm just a student."

That statement has been nagging me since the words slipped past my lips.  I'm just a student. When have I ever made an excuse for myself as lame as that? ARG!!!

I wasn't the only person making excuses.  The affect in the room was just plain flat.  I thought we'd all leave ready to change the world for 25% of New Zealand's children.  But no.  I assume that the people already working with children will keep on keeping on and, hopefully, the politicians have become fully aware that something needs to change now; children shouldn't have to wait for adults to do their government-y things that lead to change.

Ah, yes... change.

I said, "I'm just a student," but in reality what I was thinking sounded something like this: "I've only been in this fantastic country for six months and I don't know what goal is feasible for a new student... even if I did have an idea to bring back to Dunedin the bigger problem is that I'm in a research-only program.  If I needed extra sets of hands to accomplish anything the majority of the students in the program would say they don't have time.  In reality, if they'd just cut out 12 minutes/day of procrastinating on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc they would have a full hour each week for doing something productive that gives back." *sigh*

After the conference, I reflected on my experience as a PhD student...  I'm happy doing research. I love doing research.  But, something is missing.  My education has a gap that could be filled with getting out into the community that this university sits in and doing something to make it better.  Public health students should be driven to serve.  We're not just collecting data and analyzing it for kicks.  In my case, I whole-heartedly believe there are unsolved mysteries to women's eating behavior that contribute to obesity yet to be discovered.  Once I synthesize something from my research I can distribute that new knowledge for others to use as they wish - hopefully, to tackle the problem of obesity.  In the mean time, students at the University of Otago could volunteer and improve lives of those who live in and around Dunedin, but it's not the culture here.  *sad face*  Doesn't it seem odd that the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine doesn't have a group of students doing stuff to, you know, prevent things?  Why wait three years to turn in a pile of paper just to say Ta da! Here's my contribution! Shouldn't we gain experience serving the public now?

I have to report my conference experience to the PHA Otago/Southland branch in the near future.  Maybe they'll have ideas for action that students at the University of Otago can take to help level the playing field for disadvantaged New Zealand children/families.

Maybe I'll carve out 12 minutes/day to dedicate to doing something about the things I've just vented about.

We'll see!

Now that I got all that off my chest, I'll be able to post something more upbeat next time - with pictures!

Enjoy Your Flight

Yesterday, I flew to Wellington for a conference.  I swear the young child in front of me was the victim of an exorcism gone horribly wrong (or, maybe horribly right, depending on how you take it):

Here's hoping the flight back to Dunedin is a little more peaceful!

Graduate Research Highland Fling Gala Ball

The University of Otago dedicated August to postgraduate students.  One event, the Gala Ball, was a great night out: we ate, drank, and danced the night away at Larnach Castle.

The night would not have been complete without a pre-dinner haggis ceremony!

Prior to the Ball, a handful of us took Ceroc dance lessons.  On the night of the Ball we put our new skills to the test.  So many people ended up on the dance floor that those tables in the front of the picture had to get moved to make room!

A good time was had by all!

Research articles: I eat this stuff right up!

Two friends were teasing me yesterday because I don't use the Internet as I should.  I don't spend free time (wait, should I even have free time these days?!) searching meme-things or scrolling through that other site... what's it called? Tumblr??  Instead, I read research.  Yes! Throw an article on the latest and greatest randomized controlled trial in my direction and I'll be happy as a clam to sit down and read it line by line, making little notations in the margin.  Don't believe me? Refer to the post on how I spent my birthday!


For those looking for something to whet their appetite for more posts related to my research, I'll share an abstract from a review that just hit my inbox.  It's written by Simone A. French, Leonard H. Epstein, Robert W. Jeffery, John E. Blundell and Jane Wardle from Appetite (supposed I should tell you volume  59 and pages 541-549, too, huh?):

But, *geek alert* you know what really excited me about this review? I KNEW WHO THOSE AUTHORS ARE! I was giddy that I've been reading their stuff for years (okay, some of them I've only probably been reading since 2008-ish when I was gearing up for the intervention for my master's thesis, but still...).  It's Oh! moments like this that reinforce my decision to be in research. Wahoo!

The purpose of this review is to spark integrative thinking in the area of eating behaviors by critically examining research on exemplary constructs in this area. The eating behaviors food responsiveness, enjoyment of eating, satiety responsiveness, eating in the absence of hunger, reinforcing value of food, eating disinhibition and impulsivity/self-control are reviewed in relation to energy intake, body mass index and weight gain over time. Each of these constructs has been developed independently, and little research has explored the extent to which they overlap or whether they differentially predict food choices, energy intake and weight gain in the naturalistic environment. Most available data show positive cross-sectional associations with body mass index, but fewer studies report associations with energy intake or food choices. Little prospective data are available to link measures of eating behaviors with weight gain. Disinhibition has the largest and most consistent body of empirical data that link it prospectively with weight gain. An overarching conceptual model to integrate the conceptual and empirical research base for the role of eating behavior dimensions in the field of obesity research would highlight potential patterns of interaction between individual differences in eating behaviors, specific aspects of the individual's food environment and individual variation in state levels of hunger and satiety.

So, some good things to think about.

Twitter Conference 2012 #OUTweCon

Signing up for "stuff" often encourages me to get my rear in gear and do work.  So, when something about a Twitter conference landed in my e-mail inbox I jumped on the opportunity.  I spend most of my life in front of my computer, so this seemed easy and fun.  All we had to do was send out six tweets to explain our thesis.  Cheesy easy.


I've been "tweeting" for months.  When I first set up this blog I did some fancy schmancy maneuvering to link it to Twitter so that as soon as I hit "Publish" an update would pop up automatically.  Generally, though, I don't engage in some sort of conversation on Twitter.  Once I got the hang of following #OUTwCon for our conversation and @OtagoGRS for the introductions it dawned on me how cool it all was.  

I was set to present at 2:30pm.  Even though I pre-wrote my tweets they were still too long to post, so there was some tweaking to my tweets that had to be done.  Ideally, I would have posted them quickly and then I would have answered any questions people had.  I took nearly all of my allotted 15 minutes to get those tweets out! Oh well, I've learned for next year.

1. Modifiable Factors Assoc. w Weight Gain Prevention Among Mid-Age NZ Women to be Targeted by a Wt Gain Prevention Intervention.

1. Obesity = major public health issue. But, people who lose weight often gain it back in 3-5 years. Perhaps prevention is key.

1. We are collecting data on lifestyle, eating habits and well-being from mid-age New Zealand women through a mailed survey. 

1. I'll look at experiential avoidance, mindfulness, psychological inflexibility and BMI - will they relate to wt maintenance?

1. If so, an intervention will teach women how these psych factors can help them make small changes that lead to dietary changes.

1. Hopefully, the changes will be effective and sustainable for maintaining weight! I just want us all to be happy and healthy. =)

So, here are my tweets from yesterday's Twitter conference: 
The nice thing about this conference was being able to follow other people's tweets throughout the day.  I didn't feel like I entirely missed out when I couldn't be in front of the computer to watch the conversations.  The whole conference can be viewed here. 

OUTweCon 2012

It's a last minute post, but check out the Otago Graduate Research Services Facebook Page for information about today's Twitter conference.  In just a few hours I'll tweet my thesis.  I'm still figuring out what this all entails, but it should be interesting nonetheless!

Mud Sweat & Tears 5k

Moats filled mud, tunnels filled mud, runners covered head to toe in mud: welcome to my Sunday!

This was the first year of Mud Sweat & Tears in Dunedin at the Wingatui Race Course.  The 5k course started out easily enough with a few hay bales to jump over, but then the fun began when we had to wade through waist-high muddy water.  The slippery obstacles proved to be more challenging than I expected, but the average participant would have been able to conquer them all.  I particularly enjoyed bum-sliding down a hill just before I arrived at a monstrous slide which sent me right into more mud.  

Our handsome reward for completing the race? A nice cold can of Tui! Yum! There were also mugs of hot soup waiting for us as well.  The pumpkin soup was delish!

More pictures can be found on the Dunedin Mud Sweat & Tears Facebook page. I definitely recommend doing the race; I'll plan on the 10k next year.