BHLP INTERNSHIP PROJECTS

Under the direction of the Boston Healing Landscape Project, this internship initiative provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate-level students to:

• Conduct interdisciplinary research, scholarship, and education on religion, culture, and health,
• Integrate research and scholarship into medical curriculum and healthcare practice, with an emphasis on the diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural minority communities of Boston, and
• Explore the role of diverse faith traditions in promoting health and well being and coping strategies in the face of illness, and the ways in which these traditions interface with Western healthcare approaches.

Students receive acknowledgment for original research and publishing credit for scholarly resources posted on our website [www.bu.edu/bhlp].

Students participate in the following projects:

Resources Development

• News-Media Watch: Media review for news related to religion, healing & medicine, providing concise summaries for posting on the BHLP website.
• Research Summaries of current topics, such as religion and healthcare
• Multicultural Country Guide: Continue to develop online modules for the guide
• Reviews of cultural and religious healing traditions
• Bibliographies related to topics involving cross-cultural religion and healing
• Related Links, including best-practice links related to cross-cultural practice
• Image Databank: Expanding the BHLP image bank available on our website
• Mapping Project: Updating and expanding Boston community mapping

Research

• Ethnographic studies involving local sites and practitioners, the results to be integrated into Education & Training resources
• Boston-focused community studies and statistics
• Studies related to the needs of newer immigrant and refugee communities
• Oral history projects with traditional healers
• Projects with policy implications, such as CAM use in minority communities, cross-cultural medicine, and immigrant and refugee health

Development of Educational and Training Materials

• Curricular materials for medical students, residents, fellows and faculty related to BHLP resources and research: Working with BHLP staff to help develop materials
• Developing materials for teaching cases with cross-cultural focus and issues related to religious pluralism
• Cross-cultural communication training materials
• Video series of lectures by invited speakers and of neighborhood tours

Publications

• BHLP Online Newsletter: Writing summaries and articles
• Links to recommended publications: Helping to locate publications and provide links
• Book reviews: Reading and learning to write reviews
• BHLP research summaries: Working with project staff to help assemble summaries

Development of Clinical Practice Guidelines

• Best Practice Guidelines for clinicians: Summarizing and enhancing existing resources
• Patient Information to help patients understand the biomedical system and improve health literacy: Drafting and editing resources