Project Mentor
Dr. Carrie Eaton
Department: Nursing
Research Project Overview:
Dr. Eaton has four ongoing projects that a research apprentice can be a part of.
Research Project 1:
The purpose of this study is to examine nurses’ reaction on Twitter to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and abortion bans. In 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that the decision relating to whether or not to continue a pregnancy or terminate it was the choice of the individual, not the government. Throughout history, Roe v. Wade has had a profound effect on society representing women’s rights to reproductive autonomy. In overturning Roe v. Wade, an individual’s rights to choose or abortion is no longer protected by the constitution of the United States. The ramifications of this decision will likely cause women to delay prenatal care and/or seek unsafe abortions. There are an estimated 39,000 women who die each year from unsafe abortions, according to the World Health Organization (2022), and this number is likely to be underestimated due to inaccurate statistical reporting in many countries. Perinatal nurses will invariably be required to provide mental health and social services to women who have lost the ability to make their own health and personal decisions regarding reproduction. To better understand how nurses can best support women, Dr. Eaton is developing a research study to examine nurses’ responses to the over-turning of Roe v. Wade and abortion bans.
World Health Organization (WHO). Abortion care guideline. Geneva, Switzerland; 2022. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240039483
Research Project 2:
This project will focus on a secondary qualitative data analysis of patient evaluations of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) Post-Birth Warning Signs Save Your Life Handout. This research is being done to better understand the perspectives of individuals who have received postpartum education with the Post-Birth Warning Signs – Save Your Life handout in order to help healthcare professionals provide focused postpartum discharge education on the post-birth warning signs. The Post-Birth Warning Signs – Save Your Life handout is part of discharge education on the warning signs of postpartum complications. The nine warning signs highlighted in the handout are spelled out using the terms POST BIRTH and include: 1) Pain in chest, 2) Obstructed breathing or shortness of breath, 3) Seizures, 4) Thoughts of hurting yourself or your baby, 5) Bleeding, soaking through one pad/hour, or blood clots the size of an egg or bigger, 6) Incision that is not healing, 7) Red or swollen leg, that is painful or warm to touch, 8) Temperature of 100.4 °F or higher, and 9) Headache that does not get better, even after taking medicine, or bad headache with vision changes. Dr. Eaton will be done conducting research with participants by the time this apprenticeship begins. The apprentice will focus on a secondary qualitative data analysis.
Research Project 3:
The student would work with Dr. Eaton on a case study using Robert Yin’s method (Yin, & Campbell, D. T. (2018). Case study research and applications : design and methods (Sixth edition.). SAGE Publications, Inc.). The topic is antiphospholipid syndrome in pregnancy. A systemic autoimmune disorder known as antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is characterized by venous or arterial thrombosis and/or pregnancy loss associated with the persistent expression of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL). The research apprentice will have the opportunity to interview an individual diagnosed with APS who had an adverse outcome during pregnancy. Yin’s (2018) revelatory case will used because it is appropriate when phenomenon has not been accessible and on which little research has been conducted.
Research Project 4:
The purpose of this project is to describe women’s experiences of body image in pregnancy with a history of an eating disorder as written in social media and blogs. This will be a qualitative descriptive study examining social media and blogs identified using Google search engine. Krippendorff’s thematic content analysis method for qualitative data will be used (Krippendorff, K. (2019). Content Analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage.).
Role of a SHARE Summer Apprentice:
Research Project 1:
The research apprentice will conduct a literature search with Dr. Eaton and a UConn librarian. The research apprentice will assist Dr. Eaton in ongoing updates to the Roe v. Wade content on the website for a national organization (Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses; AWHONN). The research apprentice will assist in developing the Twitter extraction protocol using Twitter API for Academic Research. Twitter is public domain and access to the data does not require IRB approval, but the apprentice will be expected to complete components of CITI Training with a focus on responsible conduct in research. The research apprentice will meet with Dr. Eaton to learn how to use a computer assisted data analysis program (ATLAS.ti) for content analysis of the Twitter data. .
By working on this project, the research apprentice will learn about the use of social media as a rich data source, responsible conduct of research through CITI training, how utilize online programs to extract Twitter data, and how to complete a content analysis using computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (ATLAS.ti).
Research Project 2:
The research apprentice will conduct a literature search with Dr. Eaton and a UConn librarian. The research apprentice will be expected to complete CITI training for human subjects research. The research apprentice will meet with Dr. Eaton to learn how to use a computer assisted data analysis program (ATLAS.ti) for content analysis of the participant transcripts.
By working on this project, the research apprentice will learn about patient evaluations research with an emphasis on maternal morbidity and mortality, responsible conduct of research through CITI training, use of secondary qualitative data analysis (Beck. (2019). Secondary qualitative data analysis in the health and social sciences. Routledge), and how to complete a content analysis using computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (ATLAS.ti).
Research Project 3:
The research apprentice will conduct a literature search with Dr. Eaton and a UConn librarian. The apprentice will be expected to complete components of CITI Training with a focus on responsible conduct in research. The research apprentice will meet with Dr. Eaton to learn how to use a computer assisted data analysis program (ATLAS.ti) for content analysis.
By working on this project, the research apprentice will learn about developing a line of questions for interviewing a human subject on a complex medical topic. The research apprentice will learn the responsible conduct of research through CITI training, and how to complete a content analysis using computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (ATLAS.ti).
Research Project 4:
The research apprentice will conduct a literature search with Dr. Eaton and a UConn librarian. The summer apprentice will develop a research trail and code the data using Krippendorff’s thematic analysis. Clustering will be done to identify data that can be groups together as a theme followed by the creation of dendograms (tree like diagrams) that assist in visualizing the data.
Since the narratives within social media are public domain, the research apprentice will not require approval from the University’s Institutional Review Board. However, the research apprentice will be expected to complete components of CITI Training with a focus on responsible conduct in research. The research apprentice will meet with Dr. Eaton to learn how to use a computer assisted data analysis program (ATLAS.ti) for content analysis.
Summer Schedule/Time Commitment:
The apprentice will be expected to devote about 10 hours per week for nine weeks to the project with flexibility in the work hours to account for personal commitments and/or planned summer vacation. The hours are expected to spread across the period of the apprenticeship. The apprentice is expected to meet with Dr. Eaton at a consistent scheduled time once per week. Work will begin the week after final exams and extend for 9 weeks excluding June 14 – June 21 to accommodate Dr. Eaton’s AWHONN conference commitment.
The research apprentice will have the option to establish working hours that are independent of direct contact time with Dr. Eaton.
Preferred Qualifications:
These projects are well suited for a nursing student or a student with a health related/public health major. The apprentice does not need to have extensive knowledge of the research project topic, but should be open to learning. Ideally the student will have completed some related coursework (such as biology or introductory level nursing courses such as Clinical Science and/or Health Assessment, depending on the project) but this is not a mandatory requirement.
To Apply:
The application is closed.