By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Data analysis from a Washington State University Tri-Cities psychology statistics course will be used to help , a camp for children with serious medical conditions, improve recruitment strategies and further refine camp programming to meet the needs of the children and families it serves amid COVID-19 and beyond.

The ���سԹ� course, titled “Statistics in Psychology,” which is taught by associate psychology professor Janet Peters, partners each semester with a regional nonprofit to analyze data and turn it into useable sets of information. The opportunity not only allows students to use their developed knowledge of statistics, but also to learn more about the vast areas in which they can apply a career in psychology to help people and regional organizations, Peters said.

“When I first started doing service learning in my classes, the first question I asked was ‘How do I help students understand the power of the skills they are learning?’ ” she said. “The power of those skills become so much more apparent when you are helping somebody. That is what truly changes their perspective. They are learning for a purpose. When they see the benefits to their community, it changes the culture of the classroom.”

Peters was connected with Camp Korey through Academic Program. The center works closely with faculty and instructors to integrate service learning into numerous courses across the WSU system, partnering for more than 1,500 opportunities.

“We see ourselves as a way to get students connected with off-campus engagement,” said Jessica Perone, faculty consultant with the WSU Center for Civic Engagement. “Janet participated in the 2017 Center for Civic Engagement Faculty Fellows program. Camp Korey was looking for some support with data analysis, and we were able to establish a great partnership with her ���سԹ� class.”

Changes amid COVID-19

Camp Korey provides year-round camp programs for children with life-altering medical conditions free of charge. It offers traditional summer camp activities, which are modified to meet their specific condition or circumstances. It also offers a year-round hospital outreach program known as “Camp to You,” which brings camp activities to children while they receive treatment in the hospital setting.

Kimberly Puhrmann, director of marketing and community engagement for Camp Korey, said in

a normal year, summer camp participants have the opportunity to partake in onsite activities ranging from horseback riding, to arts and crafts, to a special event called “Silly Olympics” where kids can fling paint, throw food and generally enjoy being a kid.

“This year, we had to creatively and quickly pivot our programming to a remote, virtual experience for campers and for our volunteers,” she said. “While we normally think of camp as an analog activity, in 2020, we found ways to blend analog fun in a digital experience as we strived to stay connected with our campers and community.”

From data to community action – all virtually

In groups, ���سԹ� students collaboratively worked virtually to analyze data for a variety of factors, ranging from identifying camp participant sense of belonging, feelings of isolation, confidence levels, as well as general demographics. All factors were compared using data from before and amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The students used Google Docs, Zoom and other digital platforms to communicate back and forth, keep track of their project progress, as well as complete their final reports detailing their analysis.

“Thankfully, we have technology that allows us to communicate,” psychology student Angelica Mendoza said. “We had to hold each other accountable and regularly have conversations about our work and progress.”

Analysis revealed that the camp was doing a great job in a variety of areas. For example, camp participants did not report feeling any more isolated in 2019 as compared to 2020 amid the pandemic, despite the switch to virtual offerings.

Analysis from other components revealed areas that could be further fine-tuned in their programming and supports. For example, female camp participants saw a decrease in continued participation from year to year after the age of 10, whereas male camp participants saw peak participation in their mid-teens. Stemming from research, the students indicated that one reason for the difference could be that male participants tend to participate more in outdoor activities than female participants for that age range.

“The data analysis and impactful insights provided by Dr. Peters and the psychology students will be instrumental when making future key decisions in the strategic planning of our camper programming, mission development and community outreach initiatives,” Puhrmann said.

She said the data will help the camp moving forward in identifying how they can best recruit and reach families with children with serious medical conditions, in validation for some of the things they are doing well, and for enhancing some of the programs and activities they provide to children and their families. It will also help them pursue further fundraising efforts and in the sharing of their brand and mission, she said.

“Our medical and program team will be using this, especially in looking at the social and emotional aspects of our programming,” she said.

Rewards of applying course learning to community

Many ���سԹ� students in the class said the opportunity to work with Camp Korey provided them with an extensive insight into the possibilities with psychology, gave meaning to their coursework, and made a course that can be intimidating much more approachable.

“I never would have expected to have had such an amazing experience in a statistics course, of all things,” Mendoza said. “(Peters) made me passionate about statistics because of the dedication she demonstrated to the material and to her students. The project only emphasized the importance of statistics to me and I wanted to show my newfound interest and appreciation for it through my work.”

Mendoza said working on the project with Camp Korey was one of the most rewarding experiences of her college career because of the service-based, real-world connection to what she was learning.

“Knowing that we were analyzing data for an organization like Camp Korey motivated us to stay dedicated to learning the material and produce quality work to be able to share with our community partners,” she said. “I personally felt so inspired by Camp Korey’s mission. This organization is devoted to allowing kids with serious medical conditions experience childhood. I am very grateful for this opportunity in collaborating with such an amazing cause.

Psychology student Jocelyn Martinez said it helped open her eyes to the world of research in psychology and the impact that it can have, regionally.

“My favorite aspects were analyzing their data and creating the final presentation,” she said. “It did open my eyes to research psychology, since I was leaning toward a career in clinical psychology. It helped me see that with research, I could learn more about different ways of treatment … It was very meaningful because a lot of times, you don’t have a lot of chances to work with nonprofits. It also helped me learn the material way better than I expected.”

The ���سԹ� class will continue to work with Camp Korey this spring semester to analyze some alternative sets of data. The class is now examining data as it applies to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“The next wave of data will help guide and inform how we engage the process of recruitment for staff, volunteers and especially our campers and camp families,” Puhrmann said.

Holistic support from WSU

Peters’ class was one of several WSU classes and groups of students working to provide direct support for Camp Korey. One group created friendship bracelets for the campers. Other groups helped with creation of camper kits that were shipped out to camps participants, encouraging letters and painting rocks for use in beautifying the grounds.

“Being a WSU alumna, myself, this partnership has been incredibly rewarding,” Puhrmann said. “While this has been a challenging time for everyone, it is simply through the grit and determination of our community that Camp Korey continues to thrive. We are beyond grateful to WSU, the Center for Civic Engagement, Dr. Peters and the students for this opportunity and impactful partnership.”

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Eyes were opened and hearts touched as students in a Washington State University Tri-Cities psychology statistics course recently worked with homeless people at Tri-City Union Gospel Mission.

Each semester, Janet Peters, clinical assistant professor of psychology, has her students work with a local service-based organization to provide them with real-world experience.

“These types of opportunities provide students with a practical look into how they can use statistics in psychology,” Peters said. “They’re also providing a service to a local organization who may not have the time to dig deep into their data and do this type of analysis.”

The students spent the semester analyzing data from the facility determining factors that influence or relate to homelessness.��, in turn, can use the data to demonstrate to donors the need for its services and educate the community.

The class also spent a day volunteering at the homeless shelter — cleaning bathrooms, organizing the food pantry, scrubbing floors, folding laundry and decorating their sidewalks with sidewalk chalk, among other tasks.

For some students, the opportunity proved deeply personal.

“Having been homeless several times, it was humbling being able to serve and give back to resources that have such a large impact in our community,” said senior student Jacob Hafen. “As we demonstrated with our projects, homelessness isn’t necessarily centered around addiction or a mental disorder, although sure we do see homeless people who are suffering in either of those instances.”

Surprising factors contribute to homelessness

The students aimed to identify a relationship between how long an individual might be homeless and variety of influencing factors, including:

• Employment status
• Education level
• Drug use
• Number of children
• And a variety of other issues

Approximately 34 percent of the residents at the mission had been living with friends or family and, for whatever reason, it didn’t work out. Approximately 21 percent of the residents had been kicked out of their home. Approximately 14 percent of the residents had suffered from domestic violence.

The average amount of days stayed at the facility over the course of three years was just over a month (37 days) – a surprise to many of the students. And the leading cause for longer stays in the shelter was eviction, followed by domestic violence.

Drug use wasn’t as high of a determining of a factor as many of the students initially predicted. In their analysis, they found that a history of addiction was not related to how long the women stayed at the shelter.

Level of education, many said, was also surprising when determining if that had an impact on length of stay. High school graduates typically stayed slightly longer – 43 days, as compared to non-high school grads, who stayed for an average of 29 days.

While all the information was self-reported and dependent on the individual’s honesty, it proved to break stereotypes on homelessness for many of the students.

For junior psychology major Rocio Marquez, it was surprising to find that employed individuals didn’t seem to have an easier path. Employed individuals, she said, might stay just as long as non-employed individuals.

“You would think that because they’re employed, they will get back on their feet much faster, and they don’t,” she said.

Profound impact��

Junior Sarah Wright said the project has allowed her and her classmates to better understand the Tri-Cities community as a whole.

“Homelessness is much closer to home than we realize,” she said. “This could be your brother, your sister, your mother. It doesn’t take much.”

With former experience being homeless, himself, Hafen said often times, there are no easy explanations or answers to the issue of homelessness ― a concept that many of the students said they came to realize.

“Homelessness is really an ugly truth, and it’s good for people to realize that this is part of some peoples’ lives,” Hafen said. “We have the stereotype of ‘this is what homelessness is.’ Giving our time with this project helps debunk that.”

 

 

 

Media contacts:

• Janet Peters, clinical assistant professor of psychology,��509-372-7431,��janet.peters@wsu.edu
• Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – An elementary statistics in psychology course at Washington State University Tri-Cities partnered with Grace Clinic, a free health clinic in the Tri-Cities, to assess the mental health of its diabetic patients. The clinic now plans to use the data to maintain and improve its methods in meeting patient resources and health needs.

Throughout the fall semester course, the students analyzed the clinic’s diabetic patient A1C score data, which indicates the degree to which patients have their diabetes under control, and used a range of statistical assessments to determine the mental health of patients based on several potential barriers to treatment – some of which include age, race, language spoken and gender. They presented their results this month to Mark Brault, Grace Clinic’s chief executive officer, and clinic director Avonte Jackson.

The experience proved beneficial to both the clinic and the students.

“I believe that the students gained a lot of insight from this project – ��into themselves, the field and their community,” said Janet Peters, clinical assistant professor of psychology and instructor of the course. “The project also gave them a very marketable skillset related to quantitative literacy, social responsibility and communication skills.”

For the Grace Clinic, the main benefit is that the data provides support for some of the patterns they had been informally observing and the leg work to accomplish the analysis of that data, Peters said.

“Larger health organizations have people to do this kind of thing,” Brault said. “We have limited resources for this kind of in-depth analysis. We plan to use this data as we move forward.”

Student findings

Through their analysis, the students found that the clinic was doing an excellent job of creating access to health care. They determined that there was no definitive statistical differences in the observed mental health of their patients based on potential barriers to treatment such as primary language spoken and race.

The students did find, however, that there was a slight negative correlation between age and mental health, meaning that older patients reported slightly lower levels of mental health than younger patients, overall.

During her presentation, student Lindsay Bernesky recommended that the clinic leaders dedicate additional time to educating patients about the mental health services offered.

Impact on Grace Clinic

Both Brault and Jackson said the student presentations were informative and confirmed many of the things that their staff had suspected, but hadn’t had the time to dive into and assess.

“It is nice to have some statistical analysis to confirm many of these things,” Jackson said.

She also said the clinic plans to follow up on the mental health gap for their elderly patients, and that it has already started to introduce some additional services for that population.

“One of the gaps we recently discovered is that there is limited access to mental health services for Medicare patients,” she told the students. “We recently added patients with Medicare to our mental health area,” which affirms some of the student findings.

Brault said the clinic also is adding additional safety nets and services to support patient mental health throughout their clinic. In addition to seeing a physician, a scheduled health visit might also include seeing a mental health professional.

“It was good to hear that a lot of what we’re doing is working, and that a lot of what we’re putting in place will serve the needs of our patients,” Brault said.

Real-world benefit to students

Many of the students said they enjoyed the real-world aspect of the course and that it provided a greater understanding of statistical analysis in psychology research.

“I can read through a case study and understand all of the terminology and be able to fully understand the results,” student Nagat Deng said.

“To know that we took a burden off of them and that we are giving back in that way is amazing,” student Caitlyn Carroll said.

Student Martha Herrera said she appreciated that the real-world experience was interwoven with regular course material, which allowed students to work as a team.

“Dr. Peters gave us this opportunity to do something that would be beneficial for the community,” she said. “I think it is awesome that we have that opportunity here at WSU.”