Category: Enioluwaduroti

Hi! The practicum really flew by!

I am so glad and grateful to have spent the summer working with the University of North Carolina at Gillings Zambia Hub and Dr Stephanie Martin. The practicum focused on analyzing and disseminating data from a formative research project focused on infant care and feeding practices among families affected by Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Zambia.

The project had conducted qualitative research to examine the feasibility and acceptability of engaging male partners, grandmothers, and other family members to support HIV-positive mothers in Lusaka to practice recommended infant care and feeding practices, and women for continued antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. The practicum was a wonderful experience that combined my interest in maternal health, child health and Sub- Saharan Africa.

My role involved conducting quantitative analysis of the transcripts of the interviews conducted in Lusaka last summer. I worked using ATLAS.ti software to code the transcripts and create thematic summaries. Though I did not conduct the interviews, it was extremely rewarding to read the impact the education on ART adherence, infant feeding and care had on the study participants. There was marked improvements by the participants in infant health and increased confidence in their ability to care for their infants. Through the summaries, as a team we have been able to identify acceptable and feasible intervention components that will increase ART adherence of people living with HIV and family support with infant feeding and care. I also collaborated with the team to use the organization network analysis software to create descriptive data summaries of the demographics of the interview participants. My preceptor and team members were incredibly supportive in coaching and guiding me on how to use the various analysis software and they helped me work through the challenges of my learning process. This practicum provided me the opportunity to develop tangible skills and work in an interprofessional setting putting to practical use things I have learnt in class.

Before securing a practicum in the spring semester, I was very anxious about finding one and if it will be a good fit. I must say, I am happy with my practicum experience. There is still analysis to do, papers to write and dissemination to undertake on this research, this is a project I would like to be a part of till its completion. Because of this, I have decided to continue my practicum project as an independent study elective during the fall semester.

I genuinely appreciate my preceptors Dr Stephanie Martin and Tulani Matenga and the entire team for their support through out my practicum. I look forward to continuing work with them and providing positive impact in the lives of women living with HIV and HIV exposed-uninfected infants in Zambia and beyond.

– Eni

My name is Enioluwaduroti Johnson, I am a second-year MPH student in the maternal, child and family health concentration. As a medical doctor and an aspiring pediatrician from Nigeria, I knew that I wanted a practicum that was globally focused to low- and middle-income countries. My practicum is at the University Of North Carolina, Gillings Zambia Hub. This is an organization with a mission to partner with Zambia to address urgent global health challenges.

My practicum organization is working on analyzing and disseminating data from a formative research project focused on infant care and feeding practices among families affected by HIV. The project has conducted qualitative research to examine the feasibility and acceptability of engaging male partners, grandmothers, and other family members to support HIV-positive mothers in Lusaka to practice recommended infant care and feeding practices, and women for continued antiretroviral therapy adherence.

My practicum project involves participating in qualitative data analysis and preparing findings to share with key stakeholders in Zambia. I am working with the team on using qualitative analysis software ATLAS.TI to code the responses from the interviews that took place in Lusaka. I will also be creating dissemination materials with research findings for different audiences.

For my practicum, I wanted to work somewhere that focused on work involving mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa. This was in accordance with my career goals of improving the lives of people in that population and in that region. My goals for my practicum included learning a skill, which I am doing by learning and using the ATLAS.TI software for my research analysis and coding. Another goal I had was to do something out of my comfort zone, I wanted to be stretched mentally and academically and I believe that this practicum is going to provide me with that experience.

My practicum has been amazing so far!!! My preceptor and teammates have been welcoming and helpful. I look forward to our weekly meetings where I learn so much from everyone. I am also looking forward to learning how to use the organizational network analysis software after coding the transcripts. It has been an interesting learning experience and I am excited to see it unfold.

Thank you for reading.

Have great summer!

-Enioluwaduroti