Participation in the Access, Wellness, and Relational Determinants of Student Success: Publishing, Policy, Practice, Leadership, and Life-long Learning for Underrepresented Students (AWARDSS-PLUS) Fellowship Program has been nothing short of transformational.
As a Fellow, I conducted over 300 hours of self-directed research in a project titled “Misinformation and Public Health: A Framework to Address Issues and Challenges” where I worked alongside Dr. Jill Castek and Dr. Kacey Ernst, experts in digital literacy and epidemiology, respectively. Primarily, the research seeks to improve our current understanding of how misinformation impacts public health by using qualitative methods (e.g., focus group, thematic analysis) to solicit health experts’ opinions and subsequently develop a new theoretical framework based on the eHealth Literacy Lily Model.
Currently, I am working on finalizing the focus group design and receiving IRB approval such that I can implement the experiment and collect data. There have been no shortage of challenges I have had to navigate to get to this point. All the same, I am immensely proud of my work and am hopeful that my continuing misinformation research will hold a significant impact in public health.
