Interested in contributing to a public health study with the chance of it being published and your name being listed as a contributing author?
Dear SPH students,
Hello! My name is Ruju and I am a 4th year medical student who is working on a public health study. I am looking for collaborators to join the project. Here’s what you need to know:
Description: Survey-based, cross-sectional study of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for cataract surgery by patients in Ghana
Our Advisers: Dr. Nafisa Halim, applied sociologist; Dr. Edward Feinberg, ophthalmologist; and Vidhya Balu, biostatistician
What you will do: Partner with me to clean/code the data and do statistical analysis (basic regression and sensitivity).
Preferred qualifications (but not required):
- Has access to and familiarity with a statistical package
- Courses: Introduction to epidemiology, biostatistics, SAS, etc
- Prior experience with public health research
Benefits to joining: You will get published as a contributing author! My goal is to submit a manuscript to a journal (likely Health Policy & Planning or Social Science & Medicine) by October or November of 2012.
Other specifics:
- Sample size: n=237
- Variables: Total of 46. In addition to demographics, the following broad categories were tested for their influence on WTP: financial situation, ocular health, overall health, education, beliefs/knowledge/exposure, expected uses of vision, and level of autonomy
- Hypothesis: Better welfare, awareness, and independence leads to higher WTP, so I predict that all of these factors should be directly proportional to WTP.
- Value: I feel that this study is valuable because data on WTP for eye care in Africa is limited; our results may help us move toward models with increased patient engagement in their own care and better long-term financial sustainability for eye care programs.
If you are interested, please email me at rurai@bu.edu with your name, concentration/class year, qualifications, and an updated CV. I look forward to hearing from you!
