Final Showcase

Introducing the Lab 

I interned at the Healthy Sleep for Kids research laboratory with Dr. Sarah Honaker and Dr. Maureen McQuillan this year. Healthy Sleep for Kids focuses on community-based research to identify and treat children with various sleep problems. I was specifically drawn to the lab because of its emphasis on work with underserved populations.  

I worked as a research assistant on two primary studies: Sleeping, feeding and obesity risk during infancy in African American and Latinx families (SHH 2.0) and the Childhood Sleep Apnea Education project.  

SHH 2.0 & Me

Since the SHH 2.0 study has been in the beginning stages for most of my internship, I have had the opportunity to work on the recruitment aspects of the study and a more technical side of reviewing the translation of research materials from English to Spanish to check for accuracy and readability.  

The study aims to recruit 100 mothers of AA or LX infants aged 4-6 months who receive healthcare at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Health system. To assist with these efforts, I have been involved in the preparation and distribution of postcards that are sent out to eligible families every month. Through this process, I became more familiar with the REDCap database, which I used to identify eligible participants in a given month, and I learned a few new skills on Word to help me with the creation of the mailing labels. 

Once an eligible participant is recruited and officially enrolled, they receive a REDCap survey link to answer questions about race and ethnicity, family resources, stress, parenting behaviors, perinatal risk, and family schedules. Since one of the main target populations is Latinx children, I was able to apply my bilingual skills to the verification of these surveys in Spanish. Specifically, my job was to extract a survey from the REDCap database and edit it using the program Excel. I ensured that the Spanish versions of the surveys matched the English versions as closely as possible. The process seemed overwhelming at first, but it helped me reinforce my REDCap knowledge and polish my Excel skills. 

Childhood Sleep Apnea Education Project & Me

When I joined the K23 project, the interviews with the stakeholders were already completed and the health message was finalized, so I had the chance to learn more about the overall process of qualitative research and once again apply my bilingual skills to the work. More specifically, I helped to review and refine transcripts from the interviews with the stakeholders.   

For this project, the aforementioned stakeholders included three categories: parents of children with OSA, primary care providers, and sleep medicine providers. Interviews on zoom were conducted about a year before I started my internship, and there were transcripts that needed to be verified for the finalization of the study. During this process, I learned how to use a new tool, the Otter Transcription Service, and I was able to put my Word skills into action once again.  

Overall, fixing up the transcripts was not very difficult, but it could be a lengthy process because I’d have to rewind the audio from interviews quite often to make sure it matched with the transcript. Several of the transcripts I polished were from interviews with Spanish-speaking people who provided feedback on the Spanish version of the health communication message. For these transcripts, my familiarity with Spanish and my translation skills were crucial because the Otter service often could not comprehend what was being said in Spanish. However, I enjoyed working on these transcripts the most because I learned more about different Spanish dialects. 

Interning at the Healthy Sleep for Kids research laboratory was my first opportunity to work in a field related to my career. I worked with wonderful people throughout the year, and I am happy to say I will continue to develop my skills at the lab through a different program next year.