(Missing) The Comforts of Home

My, my. I had two pretty craptastic days here in New Zealand.  One small wrong/bad thing after another kept happening.  Yesterday, I woke up for a 5 a.m. webinar featuring James Prochaska, PhD and William Miller, PhD discussing the transtheoretical model and motivational interviewing as they relate to health promotion.  As soon as it was over I went back to sleep and this messed up my alertness for the rest of the day.  In fact, I ended up walking back and forth from Abbey College to various points on campus four times because I kept forgetting things.  I was not a happy camper.

The real icing on the cake was when I was at MInT booking appointments.  It was my first time calling families to set up 12- and 24-month appointments.  There's a lot of detail to remember when calling the families: parent's name, child's name, which appointment I'm calling for, checking if a DXA scan needs to be booked, asking if the child would be okay wearing an accelerometer for a week, setting up mailing an online questionnaire, double-checking mailing addresses, asking if they'd like a text reminder the day before...the list goes on and on.  Well, my first call was to book a DXA scan for a child in the study and the sibling who was "green" but we still needed a DXA scan.  To do this, I have to have the MInT calendar open to view my available time slots and I have to have a Google calendar to view the available DXA scan time slots.  I didn't juggle the calendars, the information, and trying to personify a super friendly research assistant very well when I was talking to the father.  So, I apologized and handed the phone over to Bonnie to finish booking the appointment.  Oh dear.

When I read that paragraph back to myself it doesn't sound like a big deal, but finding ways to cope with stress can be a challenge.  Now, I understand why graduate students drink! J 


For the most part, a few deep breaths is all it takes for me to simmer down.  But, what I crave most on stressful days is the comfort of what was familiar.  Sometimes, I just want to sit in a comfy pair of sweatpants on my own couch with my family/friends/dog from home (maybe with a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, too).  I've been fortunate enough that a handful of these people are on Skype or Facebook at the same time that I am, so I can chit chat and whatnot.  But, these moments are too few and too far between.

So, to family and friends out there - shoot me an email, message me on Facebook or set up a Skype date!  I'd certainly appreciate it.

~~~

The only thing constant in life is change. - Rochefoucauld

Christmas Comes Early - Survey Style

Thursday is replacement questionnaire mail out day.

Uuuuugh!

Today, our team spent hours writing in women's names and signing our own (it's strange how my signature changes after writing it 700 times!) on cover letters, blu tacking pens to the cover letters, and matching cover letter ID numbers to replacement surveys.  This way, anyone who hasn't returned a survey gets a second chance.  For some reason, this was mind numbing work today - usually it doesn't bother me much.

Eventually, we decided to take a break to check the mail and see if we had any returned surveys.  There were 42. Yay!  So, just to give you an idea of what it's like to be a graduate student collecting returned surveys... there's the initial excitement that we received them and then we get to open them.  I'm pretty sure our eyes light up when we open them, just like it's Christmas day.

Today we had one survey that a woman stuck a Post-it note to.  It said, "Sorry about the delay with returning this questionnaire, have been on holiday." It's sort of sweet that she wrote the note!

I have decided that opening returned surveys is like opening a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get.  Sometimes everything is complete.  Sometimes answers are missing.  Sometimes people answer questions and put an asterisk next to their response with an explanation at the bottom of the page.

My favorite part about checking surveys is looking for comments on the last page.  We've read all sorts of interesting comments.  For example, one woman who received a $5 note explained that it should be a higher denomination.  Some women simply thank us for including them in the sample.  Others write paragraphs about their own weight-related struggles.

Here's what one woman wrote to us today:

Since last time (the previous survey) I was challenged to reflect on my health and weight and realised I'd definitely done the "middle-age spread."  Joined WeightWatchers online (no time to go to meetings!) and lost 10kg in 7 months.  Have managed to keep it off for 6 months by upping the "walking" exercise.  Would now like to try to budge the last 5kg.  Thanks to this survey, I've taken some positive steps to improve my health outcomes.  Yay!

It's moments like this where I am so happy and thankful that I've found a field that I love!  Weight management research is definitely going to keep me busy for a long, long time.

Penny for Your Thoughts

1,300+ surveys out. Just over 400 surveys back. Folks, we're in the midst of collecting data here!

Yesterday (Saturday, mind you), Heidi and I met to make phone calls to women who sent back incomplete surveys.  Basically, a lot of women accidentally missed a question here or there, but the biggie was unreported weight.  This is kind of a big deal for our research!  I played detective and used our database to call home numbers, cell phone numbers, and alternate contact numbers.  Every woman I talked to was super nice!

Since we're following these women over several years, I feel like there's some sort of "connection" with them.  So, when I was on the phone with one woman yesterday I was sad to hear the reason why we didn't have her correct mailing address is because she had to move after the Christ Church earthquake.  Another woman's sister explained that the participant we were trying to reach could not participate in the survey because she has terminal cancer.  I felt so terrible for the participant and her family.

On the bright side, we hear from women that they enjoy our survey and are happy to participate. Yay!  They even write us notes of encouragement on the survey or the return envelope, like this one here:

Needless to say, I'm just thrilled that I am here doing this research.  I get a warm and fuzzy feeling opening each and every returned envelope with a completed survey inside - it gets me one step closer to having data to analyze to get us one step closer to a kick a$$ weight gain prevention intervention.

How Sweet it Is

Chocolate is the elixir of love. - Casanova

~~~

Sometimes when I think of a chocolate factory, I envision oompa loompas and rivers flowing with milk chocolate.  In New Zealand, one would even expect hobbits making chocolate, at the very least.  This wasn't entirely the case at Cadbury World (there was a chocolate waterfall).  But, it was still a grand time.

I purchased a GrabOne voucher for $10 and went with a lovely Abbey College group last Saturday.  Since it was the weekend, we didn't see anything on the production side of things, just videos of the production process at various stages of the tour.  This was fine by me because the videos were interesting... or, maybe it was the fact that Carol, our guide, had pockets full of candy that she handed out to us just before she was about to snap on a video or break into a monologue on chocolate making.

We weren't allowed to bring cameras on the tour, but I'm sure you're okay with not knowing what chocolate crumb looks like.  The walk around the factory was nice - people who have difficulties with stairs probably wouldn't appreciate the short climb to the tower where we saw the chocolate waterfall, though.  I learned about Cadbury's history (the first bar of Cadbury chocolate made in New Zealand was here in Dunedin in 1930) and some other facts that aren't coming to mind at the moment.  Within 45 minutes we were back at the start.  So, it was a nice way to get out and see something without devoting an entire day to it.

I'm looking forward to the Chocolate Carnival in July, particularly the Jaffa Race!

Green Light for Green Man Brewery

M'mm. I love beer. And, I love brewery tours.  Thankfully, Dunedin is home to Green Man Brewery!   I purchased a GrabOne voucher a little while ago: $32 for two tours, two pint glasses, and three beers to crack open and drink on the tour.  This weekend was the perfect opportunity to check out what they have to offer.

The brewery is really close to Abbey College, about a 20 minute walk towards the city center. It's definitely on the quant side as far as breweries go (at least out of the ones I've been to).  In fact, it's size made it a little hard to find at first because it blended in with the student flats on Grange Street (luckily, the Green Man mural on the outside gave it away).

Green Man prides itself on running a sustainable business.  Their efforts to be "green" are commendable, but I think their real pride and joy should be their tequila beer.  It's deeeelicious! 

I will spare you the details of beer making.  But, I will share with you a photo of me looking into the container that holds a beautiful mess that ultimately has the mush removed and eventually gets bottled. 

Beer lovers should definitely plan a stop here.  "Joe" was a friendly, chatty tour guide that entertained us with his out of control hand gestures and enthusiasm for Green Man Brewery.  Aside from the tequila beer, I tried a stout and a pilsner.  I liked the pilsner better, but I think it's only because my tummy was still recovering from the vino the night before and so it didn't really want stout - it actually only really wanted something fried to the point of not being considered food anymore.  

Hence, a trip to the Flying Squid was in order (thank you, Mandy, for the recommendation!).  

This little fish 'n' chips stop is known for having the best (cheap!) fries in Dunedin.  But, I didn't stop there. Ohhhhh, no siree!  I got a vegetarian burger and I was not let down.  Typically, I avoid white bread and fried brown patties of "stuff"... but there was something about those ingredients plus a slice of tomato, a few shreds of lettuce, a slice of cheese and a fried egg (yes, a fried egg) that made my day complete!

  

Tea Time

Upon waking from a wine-induced slumber I thought to myself... I need a cup of tea.

On the surface, this ain't no big thing.  But, when I thought about it, I came to the realization that I have officially begun assimilating myself into the norm of my surroundings (there is a lot of tea drinking that goes on in New Zealand). That's pretty cool.

This also got me thinking about the differences between studying abroad here and the first time I studied abroad in England nearly 10 years ago.  It seemed like a semester in Oxford was a long time to spend away from home and now, after three months, I couldn't imagine packing up and leaving for New York (yet).  Despite what I now realize was a blip in time, I'm still amazed (and thankful) that I was able to make such great friends back then.  The Oxford Girls, as I affectionately call them, were my posse of party/travel buddies.  To some degree they still are - we've managed to meet up in Vegas, Phoenix, New Orleans, Chicago, and even my little hometown to reminisce about the good old days and celebrate (we've traded in dancing on table tops at bars and clubs for busting a move on the dance floor at weddings).

Last night, some girls from Abbey College and I had a night out on the town.  The five of us got gussied up and headed down George Street to the Octagon for a glass of vino and some dancing.  It was a blast!  Yes, there are stories that we'll be talking about for ages to come, but nothing that was bad enough to land someone in jail.  I think it's the beginning of friendships that will endure time and distance, just like the ones I formed in Oxford.

I'm looking forward to more times out with them, even if the morning after starts off a little rough.

M'mm MInT-y!

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!