Posted: 5/5/2011
Tomorrow’s nursing leaders are receiving financial support today through the University’s Provost Undergraduate Research Award (PURA). Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing students Ashley Chappell, Trad. ’11 and Sarah Bristol, Trad. ’12 are both recipients of the awards funded through the Hodson Trust.
Chappell’s project focused on intimate partner violence among African-American women in the United States and Afro-Caribbean women in the U.S. Virgin Islands during pregnancy. She sought to describe preliminary pregnancy outcomes for women of African descent who have experienced IPV. While it is important to screen for domestic violence in all women, it may be most important during pregnancy. IPV can lead to complications in both the mothers health and the outcome of the pregnancy.
“This project was a real eye-opener about the dangers of IPV, especially in pregnant women,” said Chappell, a Fall 2010 PURA recipient. “With the financial help from the PURA grant, I was able to collect data that I hope will assist healthcare providers identify and prevent IPV.”
Bristol is a Summer 2011 recipient of the PURA and will conduct her research project, “Mothers’ Documentation of the Persistent Impact of War on Their Children and Family in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Photovoice Project,” in the coming months.
“The effects of war and violence pose a real threat to the population of the DRC,” said School of Nursing associate professor Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, who is serving as Bristol’s faculty advisor on this project. “Sarah’s research will observe wars impact from a mothers point of view, and thus raise awareness for the subsequent health effects.”
Through the support from the Hodson Trust, PURA has supported 809 student endeavors over the past 18 years. Mentored by faculty from across the university, students pursue a variety of research activities that relate to health, science, technology and the arts. The awards are an important part of the university’s mission and its commitment to research opportunities for undergraduates. In total, the Hodson Trust has contributed more than $3.5 million in both operating and endowment support to the PURA program.