Connecting Bonner with Research and Capstones

Connecting Bonner with Research and Capstones

April Backus, Siena College; Marisa Charley, Washington & Lee University; and Ariane Hoy, Bonner Foundation

• Goals

• Introductions

• Washington & Lee: Research Component

• Siena College: Capstone Component

• Discussion of Common Practices and Challenges

• Planning Time

What We’ll Cover

• Delve into the stages, steps, and “molding” that programs take to link research and course-based capstones to Bonner

• Explore how to gradually and intentionally build capacity and pathways

• Understand how staff oversight and management can support and empower

• Share common elements (i.e., best practices) & challenges - & work on strategies

IntroductionsName

Institution Why here

Washington & Lee UniversityMarisa Charley

The Big Picture• Wanted to create impactful

capstone project for students AND partners

• Bonner situated in Shepherd Program, Academic Affairs

•Position oversees CARA and Bonner

• 10 Students, 7 Partners

Link to developmental experience...

• Introduced during recruitment

• Developmental direction through class meetings and one-on-ones

• Junior year panel and meeting with VISTA; some students begin work

• Summer Project Proposal

Steps and Stages

• Evaluation of capacity on and off campus

• Use of VISTA Member

• Started with option, evolved into requirement

for Success

• Community partner interest •Student conversations with supervisors •Community Partner Focus Group

• Staff member, full-time VISTA member got programming off the ground

• Professors from various disciplines supporting CBR work

• Lack of faculty incentive- who can participate?

• New level of partnership development

• Moving from independent study to course integration

• Building momentum year-to-year

• Explore possibilities around diffusing responsibility and support

• Explore faculty and partner incentives

Overcoming

Siena CollegeApril Backus

The Big Picture

•Culmination of the Bonner experience, linked to academic and career interests

•Center for Academic Community Engagement- Academic Affairs

•10 students/10 partners/10 faculty members

•2015-2016 (8 students/faculty/partners)

Link to developmental experience...

• Conversation begins day one during recruitment of high school seniors

• Continuous conversation happens during one on ones each year

• Linked to Certificate in Community Development

Steps and Stages

• Evaluation of student interests, passions, career goals and partner needs

• Partners are trained to expect students to complete capstone in senior year- partners as co-educators conversation

• Students do the work in terms of making asks with example emails, pitches and questions

for Success

• Center staff are trained to identify ‘trigger’ points during one on ones to embark on research topic conversation

• Student accountability- honors structure

• Clearly articulated faculty mentor role & faculty mentor check ins

• Institution understands as a part of COMD capstone (academic requirement)

• Explanation/introduction as similar to honors

• Partners understand as benefiting to their research/organizational needs

• Introduction to the students- why? what is in it for them?

• Engaging tenured faculty-avoiding campus politics

• Aligning student research interests with faculty research interests and partner issue area

Overcoming

Group Work...

• What are the common practices you notice? Let’s go deeper...

• What are the common challenges? Let’s solve these...

Tips...• Introduce during recruitment; build

each year

• Link with advising

• Ongoing planning with partners

• Intentional preparation

• Can include wide array of faculty

• Paper or project required

Fighting for Equality: The Bolivian Health Care System

Methodology

This research will be using a qualitative method. The qualitative method used is ethnographic observation data from a Bolivian clinical facility that had been conducted during the summer of 2014. The data was observed and collected on the medical and health system in Bolivia. This ethnographic data was collected in a rural medical setting where I was interning for 5 weeks with the supervision of an experienced doctor, two intern nurses and one registered experienced nurse in the department of La Paz. The data collected was gathered from observations made in the clinic, interactions of patients and doctor or nurse contact and community visits.

1. History

Bolivia is known as the second poorest country in Latin America. Bolivia began reforming the health care system in the 1990s in order to better serve its population (WHO 2006). Since 1996, the Bolivian health system began the process of decentralizing itself and implemented national systems that cover health for children, the elderly, as well as maternal health (WHO 2006). The total population as, of 2008, was 10,027,600 (Ledo & Soria 2011). At the time, there were about 5.3 million people in Bolivia living in poverty.

The poor, the elderly, and the indigenous groups in Bolivia are less likely to use the system and are also more likely to have a catastrophic medical expense than the rest of the population (WHO 2006). There is very large disparity between the poor and the wealthy in regards to accessing and receiving quality care for more specialized health services.

Outside of the national insurance for children and mothers, about 2,900,000 million people in the country were under the national Social Security health plan in 2009 (Lado & Soria 2011). Under the Social Security plan, only those that are employed are eligible for to receive any benefits (WHO 2006). Another 1,452,273 million people in Bolivia are covered under some other form of private insurance in the country (Lado & Soria 2011). Bolivia continues to have over 5,948,264 millions of people have no access to insurance plans in the country.

Findings and Analysis

Having the opportunity to learn alongside other health workers and interact with patients from all walks of life, I was able to observe and process the impact the healthcare system has on the patients living in the local level. Patients were affected by three major factors: the doctor/patient relationship, accessibility, and culture sensitivity.

The clinic was fairly equipped to treat moderate cases and take care of mothers who were ready to give birth. Rural areas attempted to work with supplies they received from the government. The clinic served multiple towns that were moderately distanced from the clinic making it difficult for patients to visit the clinic. Patients had little to no reliable transportations.

Health workers were limited in the community. Many of the health workers were interns and, after completion of their internship, eventually moved to the city for work. This was a problem among rural communities and older patients. The community valued trust, and once they trusted doctors and interns in the clinic, many health workers moved away into the cities.

Health workers in rural communities were more sensitive to different cultures. Large populations of rural patients in the Carmen Pampa area identified as members of a indigenous group. The indigenous group had their own language and alternative medicine. Health staff in the rural clinic were more accepting and did not disrespect indigenous population by comparing them to their urban counterparts.

The Rural Perspective on Accessibility, Culture, Doctor and Patient Relationship

Siena College Bonner Service Leader Senior Capstone By: Adderlin Taveras

Faculty Mentor: Duane Matcha, Ph.D

Abstract

This capstone project is a culmination of my summer serving as a Global Service Intern in Carmen Pampa, Bolivia. During my time as an intern, I had the opportunity to explore and understand the the Bolivian health care system at a local rural level. This project outlines the history of the system and how it has changed over time. Moreover, it examines how the system impacts accessibility, patient and doctor relationship and cultural barriers. The project also begins efforts to improve the process for individuals going into the system as a healthcare workers in the community.

Recommendations

Having received the opportunity to examine the health system in the local level from both critical and sociological lenses, I make the following recommendations to take into consideration in order to improve rural health system:

• More residents in rural communities should be trained to become health workers in order to improve quality, trust and quantity of health worker willing to stay in the community.

• Increase funding to rural communities in order to provide more care to patients. • Accessibility to roads and transportation must be improved. • Understand and integrate patients cultural values and traditions with westernize

medicine in order improve relationships between health care workers and patients.

Bridging the Gap: How Undergraduates Can Aid Nonprofits in the Effective Utilization of Public Policy

Steps to Success

Siena College Bonner Service Leader Senior Capstone By: Ann Ward

Faculty Mentors: Laurie Naranch Ph.D. Duane Matcha Ph.D. & Mathew Johnson Ph.D.

As the relationship between public policy and nonprofit organizations gravitates closer to the forefront of many academic discussions, it is increasingly apparent that already strapped nonprofits do not currently have the capacity to partake in the process without outside help. A collaboration among these nonprofits, undergraduate researchers, and universities can be a solution to this problem. While the relationship between nonprofits and undergraduate policy researchers must be strengthened and more effective support systems need to be built, both parties have already begun playing a role in the policy sphere. Through interviews and assessment of undergraduate programs- The Bonner Foundation and Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network- it becomes clear that in order for this relationship to be effectively utilized, a few steps must be taken. After evaluating and assessing two programs that facilitate this process, it is clear that undergraduate policy research and nonprofits can come together to form a mutually beneficial pairing when both partners have the structural supports to develop a sustainable policy understanding.

1. It is vital to give the students an understanding of the complexities of the policy sphere by using various tools, like policy field mapping and analysis, to clarify who is involved in each individual policy field. It is also important to find methods of incentivizing students to participate in this type of research.

In 2004, The Roosevelt Institute started a program titled Campus Networks with the aim of teaching students how to use public policy as a tool for community change. In order to tackle the challenge of educating undergraduate students on some complex policy issues, a curriculum was developed called Roosevelt|Thinks, which introduces students to the basics of policy development and implementation. This step is instrumental to the success of the program, creating both student buy in and simplifying the complexities of the policy process. Their vision statement is based off of the understanding that the policy process, or the way the rules that govern our lives develop, becomes a powerful tool for young people to develop, advance, and advocate for sustainable solutions that take on some of the most intractable problems.

A program that is taking steps to encourage undergraduate policy research in order to increase nonprofits use of public policy is the Bonner Foundation. Currently, there is a website that is an offshoot project from the Bonner Foundation called PolicyOptions that creates a space for this undergraduate involvement in public policy. PolicyOptions is a website where nonprofit organizations can go to get the most up to date policy news among various other useful pieces of information. Their mission is to establish a network of local "community information hubs" that will make policy information, news, and research available on websites, weekly email news digests, and policy analysis. The local PolicyOptions.org bureaus feature local PolicyOptions Issue Briefs on topics of local interest that draw upon policies and program models

2. Developing a network for students to utilize and connect with each other through the policy process is also a key factor in the successful participation of undergraduate students in policy research.

3.Understanding the specific needs of the nonprofit and the community also plays a critical role in ensuring that the relationship remains mutually beneficial and reciprocal.

Campus Network

Abstract

PolicyOptions(Sandfort and Stone 2009)

Contact Information•April Backus- Siena College

–[email protected]

• Marisa Charley- Washington & Lee University

–[email protected]