Health and Kinesiology | Page 11 | College of Applied Health Sciences

MS-HT’s Class of 2021: Marlene Robles Granda

Feb. 11, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

The first graduates of the Master of Science in Health Technology program in the College of Applied Health Sciences all landed jobs within four months. We spoke to some of them about why they picked MS-HT, how MS-HT helped them decide on their career, and what they most enjoyed about the program. This time we speak with Marlene Robles Granda.

*Class of 2021: From left to right: Neva Manalil, Gabrielle Choo-Kang, Amrutha Kumaran, Marlene Robles Granda, Asif Huq, and Tia King.*

Q: What attracted you to the University of Illinois?

A: One of the things I am passionate about is continuously learning. I was looking for an option that allows me to learn from knowledgeable professors in the field I was diving into, and networking with people with different backgrounds. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I found a niche, because it has a high academic reputation and has one of the largest academic populations. I came to UIUC because I want to be in a place that could open the door to gain and reinforce my skills and where I could meet great people whom I could trust and call friends.

Q: Why did you pick the MS-HT program?

A: As a computer scientist, I love technology and how this can improve people’s lives, enhancing their independence, communication, and health. I am passionate to design and build solutions that have a broader social impact. I think we can use technology as a bridge to reduce gaps of people affected by social factors. I found the MS-HT a very exciting opportunity because it is an intensive one-year program with a curriculum very attractive to me. It conveys knowledge of user’s behaviors towards technology use, user-centered design, human factors, software, and hardware among others, focused on health. Those topics and the skills needed to succeed in this program train professionals that stand out among others. This is an advantage in the U.S. job market, which is very competitive.

Q: Did the MS-HT program help you decide a career path?

A: MS-HT helped me to decide my career path. It really did. Before the MS-HT, I worked as a software engineer to positively impact people’s lives either by automating manual processes to help people in their daily activities, introducing new tools for decision-making, or improving the quality of the computer services for communication purposes. After I graduated, I could achieve my goal to blend my previous skills and knowledge with the knowledge of health technology. Now, I know what factors influence people to use technology and how to design health tech according to the needs of people. My skills developed in the MS-HT allowed me to get into the healthcare system. Right now, I’m applying my knowledge and skills to my new position as a data scientist at OSF Healthcare, collaborating in the Digital Health Innovation team.

Q: What did you learn that you immediately applied in your new job?

A: What I learned from the MS-HT that I immediately applied in my new job (was) the health data analysis and technical communication skills. Right now I am a member of a multidisciplinary team focused on digital health innovation. I am working on research projects, ideating and designing solutions based on data-driven analysis to mitigate the challenges that patients face. Thus, communication is a key component of a team to achieve shared goals and transmit results to stakeholders. Also, problem-solving and management skills help me to do important contributions and be up-to-date in my activities as a member of my team.

Q: Did your new employer mention your MS-HT program as a reason you were hired?

A: They haven’t told me directly about that, but every time they introduced me to a new peer, they say, “Marlene graduated (from) the new master’s degree MS-HT that UIUC offers.” I strongly believe that MSHT is the reason I was hired for this job.

Q: What was your favorite part of the MS-HT program?

A: My favorite part of the MS-HT program was the capstone project experience. It helped me to improve my software development, data science, communication, organizational, problem-solving, and time-management skills. Furthermore, it allowed me to expand my professional network and work in a similar scenario as the industry is. Sharing with collaborators and facing challenges as in a real-world scenario, was fascinating to me. It gave me a boost in my professional career.

Q: What one thing did you take away from MS-HT that you feel was most important to your career?

A: The master’s degree opened my eyes to know how health technologies should be designed and created to satisfy users’ needs. It was through the MS-HT program that I realized how important it is to consider the users’ needs first for ideating and designing solutions. Also, I enjoyed all the activities throughout this awesome experience: the lectures, the assignments, the finals, the team projects, the course meetings, the capstone project. Everything I learned and experienced in my journey as a student of the MS-HT was immensely satisfying. Even the constraints that I faced helped me to be patient, resourceful, and develop strengths I didn’t experience before. I am grateful to have met awesome professors and fellow students who I trust and appreciate.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Share on social

Tags: Amrutha Kumaran, Asif Huq, Gabrielle Choo-Kang, Marlene Robles Granda, Neva Manalil, Tia King

Alumni Spotlight—Ariana Mazza Bensyl

Dec. 09, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Alumni of the College of Applied Health Sciences have myriad career options thanks to the tremendous diversity of programs. We periodically will put the spotlight on an alum to find out what they’re doing now, what experiences they had and what AHS means to them. This week, we talk to Ariana Mazza Bensyl, a KCH alum who now works as a Physical Therapist in Northbrook School District 28.

Q: Why did you pick AHS?

A: Being active in sports growing up fostered my interest in exercise and how the body works. I knew going into college that I wanted to be a Physical Therapist. When I was looking into colleges, I was looking for one that provided me the opportunity to get a great education and prepare me for PT school. The College of Applied Health Sciences offered Kinesiology as a program of study, which fit my PT path. I was confident the curriculum would prepare me for getting into PT school, as well as the academic demands of PT school.

Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?

A: One person that most impacted me was my academic advisor, Amy O’Neill. She encouraged me to challenge myself and work hard to attain my goals throughout my time at the University of Illinois. Amy also brought the idea of completing the Physical Education Teacher Licensure program to my attention. I completed the Pedagogy track within Kinesiology and I really enjoyed it. Dr. Amy Woods was one of my professors who saw a lot of potential in me and pushed me to be a better teacher. Another professor that had an impact on me was Mary Carlton. She had such passion and excitement for what she was teaching that it made learning exciting!

Q: What course did you most enjoy?

A: I really enjoyed my Injuries in Sport class. Learning about injuries, how to tape an ankle, preventative care and emergency care was cool! Especially for a kid who had her ankles taped throughout her high school sports career. I also really enjoyed Psychophysiology in Exercise & Sport.

Q: Did you enter AHS knowing your career path, or did AHS help you decide?

A: I did enter AHS knowing my career path. I knew I wanted to go to PT school, but I thought I wanted to work in the sports world of physical therapy. When I was doing my student teaching, I learned that physical therapists could also work in the school environment. This opened my eyes to a different path within physical therapy that was interesting to me and has actually taken me to my current job.

Q: Did your AHS experience lead to your current job?

A: Yes, it did lead me to my current job. My time in AHS prepared me to get into and be successful in PT school. I have received my doctorate of Physical Therapy from Northwestern University (’14) and am currently a PT in Northbrook School District 28. I have been able to combine the love of education and teaching that I learned from my time in AHS with my passion for physical therapy.

Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?

A: I was part of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority during my time on campus. Creating so many memories and lifelong friendships with my sorority sisters really made for many favorite on-campus experiences. Not necessarily an on-campus experience, but an experience related to my time in AHS, was meeting my husband. A colleague I met while doing my student teaching introduced me to him. He is a fellow AHS ’11 graduate! We have talked about how we were probably in some of the same intro KIN classes our freshmen year but didn’t know it!

Q: What does AHS mean to you?

A: The University of Illinois is such a big university and being part of AHS made it feel smaller. The professors and academic advisors in AHS really created an environment where I felt they wanted me to succeed. AHS means being part of a community that truly cares about their students.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Tags: alumni, Alumni Spotlight

McKechnie Family LIFE Home opening a milestone for Wendy Rogers

Oct. 08, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

The McKechnie Family LIFE Home is a cutting-edge research center focused on innovations in home environments

*Jim and Karen McKechnie are the primary donors for the McKechnie Family LIFE Home*

Even for someone as accomplished as Kinesiology and Community Health Professor Wendy Rogers, the night of Oct. 7 represented a milestone.

Rogers has so many appointments and affiliations—she is a Khan Professor of Applied Health Sciences; she directs the Collaborations in Health, Aging, Research, and Technology, or CHART, initiative in AHS; the Health Technology Education Program, which offers a one-of-a-kind master’s degree in health technology; and the Human Factors and Aging Laboratory—that during her introduction for the dedication of the McKechnie Family LIFE Home on Oct. 7, College of Applied Health Sciences Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell had to pause and catch her breath.

But with all the federal funding Rogers has received and the collaborations she’s sparked, the McKechnie Family LIFE Home holds a special and unique place for her.

The McKechnie Family LIFE Home is a cutting-edge research center focused on innovations in home environments. This facility mimics existing home dwellings as well as provides space for the development of next generation smart homes that would allow people of all ages and abilities to live fuller, healthier, and autonomous lives.

“I am delighted that the name of the facility is the Family LIFE Home because that is what home is all about—family,” Rogers said during the dedication ceremony. “Family has always been at the heart of my life and my work. I am the youngest of six children. I grew up in a small house in Massachusetts—we had eight people in a three-bedroom home with one bathroom—imagine that. We had no choice but to be close.”

Rogers said that of her inspiration for creating a facility such as the LIFE Home is that because of the support of her and her siblings, her parents were able to continue living until their final days in the family home.

“I remember when my Dad was near the end of his life (back in 2005) and we were all coordinating his care, he said to me, “We need more of that smart technology of yours,”’ Rogers told attendees of the dedication ceremony, which included University of Illinois Chancellor Robert Jones and Jim and Karen McKechnie, the primary donors of the LIFE Home.

“After he died and my mom, was alone we certainly relied on technology tools to remain connected with her and to provide the support she needed,” Rogers said.

That is Rogers’ goal for the McKechnie Family LIFE Home.

“Our vision is to develop technologies that can support quality of life in the home for everyone, people of all ages and abilities. We want to think about all of the activities that occur in the home from fundamental activities of daily living such as bathing, eating, mobility through to the enhanced activities of daily living such as social engagement, community participation, and lifelong learning.”

For Chancellor Jones, the opening of the facility was the culmination of what the university sought in bringing Rogers aboard.

“Professor Rogers, in some ways, today marks the completion of a full circle for the two of us,” Jones said. “I had the honor of speaking at your investiture ceremony just a few months after I came here to Illinois. You were recruited here under one of the initiatives laid out in the university’s Visioning Future Excellence strategic plan. And now, just four years later, we can draw a bright and clear line from that starting point to today’s dedication of the McKechnie Family LIFE Home.”

To an observer, the LIFE Home looks like someone’s home: it has two bedrooms, a bathroom, an open-concept kitchen—we all know, thanks to HGTV how popular that is these days—a living room, dining room and even some green space outside. But the LIFE Home is foremost a research facility. The site is available for use by researchers from within and outside the university, or for collabortions with companies who want to use the facility to conduct research and test new products.

You can find more information about the McKechnie Family LIFE Home here.

“It is a space in which researchers from across the campus, industry partners, healthcare providers, and community stakeholders can come together to develop and test technologies that support all dimensions of healthy, socially connected, independent living,” Dean Hanley-Maxwell said.

Chancellor Jones praised the McKechnies for their generosity and said, “I don’t think there are any more visible examples of the impact of private investment in public universities. These gifts are direct investments in ideas and in human potential. They are feeding the true heart of this college and this university.”

And as much as the dedication ceremony of the facility proved to be a key step, Rogers said there was much still to do.

“It really has been a labor of love –we are all passionate about improving people’s quality of life and believe in the potential of this space to support that mission. This is only the beginning.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Share on social

Tags: McKechnie Family Life Home, Wendy Rogers

McCristal Lecture Focuses on Robots

August 18, 2021 | AHS Staff

Dr. Wendy Rogers spoke about designing robots that support successful aging

*Wendy Rogers at the 2021 McCristal Lecture.*

Living independently requires the ability to perform what are called Activities of Daily Living, or ADLs. Fundamental ADLs include things such as bathing, eating, getting dressed, and so on. Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, or IADLs, include more complex activities such as paying bills, preparing meals, managing medications, and the like. In 1998, Dr. Wendy Rogers, Khan Professor of Applied Health Sciences, defined a third level of Activities of Daily Living that she called Enhanced Activities of Daily Living, or EADLs. Activities such as volunteering, taking part in community activities and engaging in hobbies enhance the quality of our lives.

Dr. Rogers, the 2021 King McCristal Distinguished Scholar in the College of Applied Health Sciences, focused her McCristal Lecture on designing robots that support successful aging related to the different kinds of activities. The lecture took place at the Fall College Meeting on August 17.

A world renowned scholar in the area of human factors and aging, Dr. Rogers has been collaborating on research related to human-robot interaction for more than 10 years, going back to her days as a professor of psychology and a principal investigator in the NIH-funded Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since joining AHS in 2017, she has conducted research under the auspices of the Collaborations in Health, Aging, Research, and Technology, or CHART, initiative, and also directs the recently opened McKechnie Family LIFE Home, where much of the research on health and wellness robots takes place.

When designing robots for successful aging, she said, it is important to consider the entire system. “We need to consider the characteristics of the human—their demographics, abilities, attitudes, and experiences,” she said. “We also need to think about the characteristics of the robot. What does it look like? Does it have a personality? What are its capabilities and functionalities? To what degree is it autonomous or being controlled?”

Developers also need to consider the characteristics of the task the robot and human are trying to do together, things such as how critical the task is, and whether it requires the robot and human to be co-located. Finally, the context of the interaction must be considered, whether the task is home-based or in a public setting, for example.

“We also need to think about the characteristics of the robot. What does it look like? Does it have a personality? What are its capabilities and functionalities? To what degree is it autonomous or being controlled?”

Wendy Rogers

2021 King McCristal Distinguished Scholar in the College of Applied Health Sciences

Dr. Rogers and her colleagues currently are investigating usability and other issues related to a robot developed by Hello Robot called Stretch. “We’ve been doing task analyses and prototyping different types of devices that Stretch could have at the end of its arm to perform different tasks, and comparing different types of control interfaces and control by different users,” she said. University of Illinois students soon will have the opportunity to participate in a competition in which they generate ideas for using Stretch to help people aging with long-term disabilities. The prize will be time with Stretch in the LIFE Home to further develop their ideas, guided by the LIFE Home’s expert staff.

Other Illinois research related to health and wellness robots includes designing socially assistive robots, robots with soft rather than rigid arms for telehealth applications, and robots that provide wayfinding assistance to individuals with visual impairments.

“We have made huge advancements in robotics in the last decade,” Dr. Rogers said, “but there’s still a lot more to be done.” And, she concluded, the McKechnie Family LIFE Home positions scholars at the University of Illinois really well to explore some of those questions.

Tags: McCristal Lecture, Wendy Rogers

I-Health student Cecilia Kattan discusses her internship

July 26, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Students in the College of Applied Health Sciences have the opportunity to do their internships in a variety of fields. Today, we speak with Cecilia Kattan, a student in the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences program in KCH, about her internship.

*Cecilia Kattan, left, aspires to be a physician’s assistant*

Q: Where did you complete your internship and what was your experience?

A: I completed my internship at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health Department in partnership with the maternal & child health department and community nutrition initiatives. My role at my internship was a hybrid of administration and observation. Some examples of projects I completed are: social media management, breastfeeding incentive program with the peer lactation consultant, coordinating with sponsors for the Mommy and Baby Expo, created an employer breastfeeding friendly certification toolkit, and led a grant proposal and presentation for the Carle HealthMaker Lab. I was also given the opportunity to shadow WIC consultations.

Q: How did you apply for the internship?

A: I applied via the C-UPHD internship website, followed by an interview with the director of the department, Valerie Koress.

Q: What did you learn from the internship?

A: I was given insight on how public health departments operate and allocate resources efficiently. In addition, I got an up-close look into the racial disparities experienced in our community and aided in the progression of initiatives to fill those healthcare gaps.

Q: What was your biggest takeaway from the experience?

A: My biggest takeaway was realizing the different levels of organizations that contribute to community health and the discrepancy in funding.

Q: Is this internship closely related to the field you are hoping to work in?

A: My internship gave me valuable experience working in maternal and child health, since women’s health is an interest of mine. As a future Physician Assistant I will be able to understand the value of non-clinical grassroots initiatives. In addition, community service is one of my intrinsic pillars. Therefore, I hope to participate in some of these initiatives in my future career.

Q: Would you like to share any other information that might be helpful for future I-Health students?

A: You get out what you put into your internship. My role was not clearly defined for me since I was the first intern since the arrival of the new director. Hence, I made it a point to do weekly check-ins with my preceptor, Valerie, to ensure I was being helpful. Remember to use your voice and advocate for yourself to ensure you have a valuable experience.

Share on social

Tags: Cecilia Kattan, I-Health

I-Health senior Falguni Deshpande discusses COVID and the class of 2021

May 28, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Students are attending college in a unique environment, and that includes students in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. The AHS communications staff spoke with AHS seniors about online classes, truncated courses and how COVID-19 changed their expectations. Today, we speak with Falguni Deshpande, who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences.

Q: Why did you pick I-Health?

A: I was unhappy in my previous major and my sister told me to meet with her previous advisor Beth (Frasca). I met up with Beth on the first day of my sophomore year and saw how welcoming the college of Applied Health Sciences is, which made me realize I wanted to transfer into this college. I knew about I-Health because my sister had majored in it, and I decided on majoring in I-Health because I was interested in expanding my knowledge about health and the ways in which our society and environment influence our health and wellbeing.

Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?

A: The (person) that had the most impact on me was my advisor Beth (Frasca). She has always been so supportive of me ever since I transferred into I-Health, and has helped me so much with figuring out my college life and also my future! She is the reason why I was able to make the switch into I-Health and is also the one who encouraged me to apply for the Health Technology master’s program at our university.

Q: What course did you most enjoy?

A: 3. CHLH 470: Technology, Health, and Aging—this class is what made me interested in the field of health technology! The professor Dr. (Tim) Hale was super amazing and I really enjoyed getting to work with a group on a project where we created a health technology product to solve a health issue.

Q: Did you enter I-Health knowing your career path, or did KCH help you decide?

A: 4. When I transferred into I-Health, my original plan was to go to medical school, but my time in I-Health made me realize how interested I was in helping serve diverse populations and also health technology! After talking with my advisor Beth and other people in I-Health, I decided that I wanted to work in the health care field for a few years before going straight to medical school.

Q: What do you hope to do after you graduate?

A: After I graduate, I will be spending another year at the University of Illinois pursuing a Master of Science in Health Technology. After that, I plan on finding a job in the health care field (hopefully related to health technology) and eventually apply for medical school!

Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?

A: My favorite on-campus experiences are probably when I would go and explore new parts of campus that I had never been to before! As a freshman I lived in Snyder Hall on Peabody Dr, and one time I decided to walk with some friends down the road and I saw the Krannert Art Museum! I would definitely recommend going there, along with Japan House at the Arboretum!

Q: What do you miss most because of the pandemic?

A: I miss attending in-person classes and the walk to/between classes. I loved getting to know new people and saying hi to them if I see them on the quad. I also miss getting to hang out with my friends and doing in-person volunteering through my service organization.

Q: What are the biggest changes on campus, pre and during COVID?

A: The biggest change I noticed was the culture of campus. Before COVID, you would always see so many people hanging out outside on the quad, whether it be chilling with friends, playing sports, or studying. Now, many people tend to stay inside because most of their classes are online. During my entire senior year, I only had one in-person class, which was IHLT 475!

Q: What would you say to recommend I-Health to a prospective student?

A: I would tell a prospective student that the I-Health major really gives you a holistic view of health and helps expand your understanding of what health is and how it incorporates the different social determinants of health. If you plan on pursuing a career in the field of health and health care, I-Health is the perfect major for you!

Share on social

Tags: Falguni Deshpande, I-Health

Public health training gives chaplain a different perspective

Jan. 19, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Systematic reviews have found that religion is associated with decreases in depression, faster recovery from depression, less drug dependence, less drug abuse, better physical health, longer life, and an increased sense of purpose, well-being, hope and optimism

Kristin Godlin is an ordained Presbyterian minister and a chaplain at Carle and OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana. She’s also a PhD candidate in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois.

That confluence gives Godlin a unique perspective in her role, but one she hopes doesn’t remain unique for long. Godlin’s research looks at the connection between religiosity and public health. Godlin, an alum of the Master of Public Health in AHS, said, “From a health standpoint, religion functions primarily as a means of helping people to cope with stress.”

Chaplains provide spiritual and emotional support to patients and their families. While most chaplains are themselves religious, they care for people of all faiths, as well as people who are not religious. Within the context of hospital emergency departments, chaplains additionally serve as a kind of go-between for staff members, patients, and their families. They also facilitate meetings between families and physicians.

But the public health portion of the job is one that is still quite new, even for Godlin. At the time she was board certified as a chaplain, there was an announcement made at the Association of Professional Chaplains’ annual conference that the Templeton Foundation had provided a group of chaplaincy leaders called Transforming Chaplaincy a grant of $4.5 million for the purposes of helping to train chaplains to become more research literate. The idea, Godlin said, was that if chaplains were more research literate, they would be better able to guide and evaluate and advocate for their profession.

The money could be used to encourage chaplaincy training programs to include in their curricula courses and lessons in research methodology and statistics, or how to read and understand research, Godlin said. But also, a significant part of the grant was to enable 16 board-certified chaplains the opportunity to pursue Master of Public Health degrees or Master of Science degrees for the purposes of learning how to not only read research but to generate research to support chaplaincy.

“I didn’t know hardly anything about public health when I started,” Godlin said. “I was a blank slate coming in. I think, particularly now that we have been going through the pandemic, I have a much greater understanding of what public health is all about and why they are approaching things the way they did than I ever would have before. And I really do think that’s an extraordinarily important part of the training, which I didn’t realize at the time I was getting it.”

The connection of religion and public health is particularly timely, Godlin said, because of COVID-19. Godlin recently came across a study which found that religiosity was negatively associated with intention to be vaccinated. “It was a sad commentary on how people who are more religious are less likely to take protective health measures,’ she said. “It caused me to think about how important it is for religious leaders to have an understanding of what public health is all about.

“And the National Association for the Advancement of Science has recently started made a significant effort to try to introduce science into the core curricula of divinity schools and seminaries across America. I can see, especially during the pandemic, how important that is for religious leaders to understand how science works and why public health professionals are making the recommendations that they are.”

Godlin, who grew up in Champaign-Urbana, earned two masters’ degrees from Yale Divinity School after doing her undergrad at Northwestern. But she returned to the area and trained as a chaplain and that’s when she got the research grant. At that point, she reached out to KCH assistant professor Robyn Gobin, because of Gobin’s interest in religion and spirituality and its effect on mental health.

“Dr. Gobin,” Godlin said, “has been an extraordinarily helpful mentor and partner along the way.”

“I shifted into the MPH-PhD program to focus more on research,” Godlin said. “Over the past few years, the focus of my research has been on the use of religion in coping with domestic violence. Studies find that up to 97% of women who experience domestic violence turn to God for help; so particularly for that population, religion is exceptionally important. My goal is to help religious leaders, chaplains, counselors, and therapists to strengthen their spiritual support for survivors, to help survivors to use their religion more effectively, and ultimately to improve survivors’ physical and mental health outcomes.”

Overall, Godlin believes the marriage of religion and public health through chaplaincy can help close the gap on misinformation.

“For the vast majority of people who have a religious background, when you say you are a chaplain, it opens doors that do not open for other people. And so people share things that they would not—patients share things and family members share things that they would not ordinarily share with other people.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Share on social

Tags: alumni, Robyn Gobin

MPH student Faith Washington talks about her contact tracing work

Dec. 10, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Students in the Master of Public Health program in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois have been asked by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health Dept. to apply the skills they are learning as contact tracers. Periodically, we will speak with them about how they are doing in these roles. Today, we speak with Faith Washington.

Q: Is the work you’re doing for CUPHD different than what you were trained for in the MPH program?

A: In the MPH program, I am studying health behavior and promotion, so there are a few parallels regarding convincing people to do what is in their own best interest and the public’s best interest. I think the main difference is the turnaround time. For the health behaviors I study and would like to ultimately work to promote, the effects may not be seen as quickly as the impact of my advice regarding COVID-19 would be. For example, encouraging people to get screened for prostate cancer would potentially decrease the disease’s mortality rates because more cases are caught in the early stages. Still, that data wouldn’t be evident for quite a while, whereas encouraging people to isolate and quarantine has an almost immediate impact on the spread and identification of COVID-19 cases in the community.

Q: What field/industry were you hoping to work in upon graduation?

A: I hope to work in either public health program research, implementation, and evaluation at a state or federal level or to work as a health journalist. I am very passionate about improving the general public’s health literacy so that people can better advocate for themselves and their needs in medical settings and ultimately lead healthier happier lives.

Q: What kinds of questions do you ask in the work you’re currently doing?

A: As a contact tracer, I ask COVID-positive people how they feel, what symptoms they are experiencing if they require any resources like masks or food, and with whom they have recently interacted. At CUPHD, there is an emphasis on ensuring that everyone has what they need to safely and adequately quarantine or isolate. Hence, all of these questions are really important. I have found that giving out CUPHD contact information also reassures people that if they have a need that they don’t disclose during the interview, that is OK. We will still be prepared to assist them.

Q: Do you find people are willing to respond truthfully?

A: For the most part, people are willing to answer truthfully. It becomes relatively easy to tell when people are being dishonest. The one question that seems to get the most pushback is, “Do you have any close contacts?” Generally, people do not want to give out the personal information of their friends and family. Still, once I explain that we protect and respect everyone’s privacy and confidentiality and that we are only asking so that we may reach out to their close contacts and provide them with proper guidance and assistance regarding quarantine, people become more willing to disclose that information.

Q: Any frustrations that people are not listening to the health guidelines?

A: I become very frustrated when I see people not adhering to health guidelines because I see the negative impacts this virus has had on so many people and their families. It is hard to have one conversation with someone severely ill and potentially dying and then call another person who has mild symptoms or is asymptomatic and refuses to isolate and could be spreading this virus to others, who may then be my next severely ill call.

Q: Do people you know ask you for COVID advice?

A: My family doesn’t ask me for COVID advice because I always offer it before they have a chance. I am always in contact with my parents and brother to ensure that they are not succumbing to quarantine fatigue and they are continuing to follow all health guidelines. Fortunately, my family has been taking this very seriously, and my parents and brother are all able to work and learn from home right now. My friends sometimes ask me for COVID advice or ask me general questions if they don’t understand the reasoning behind something that public health officials are asking everyone to do right now. However, for the most part, my friends are also all still staying home and not really physically interacting with the world right now.

Q: What are you missing out on because of the pandemic, in terms of working face-to-face with people?

A: I think what I am most missing out on are the benefits of in-person classes. This is my first semester as an MPH grad student, but I studied communication with a concentration in health for my undergraduate degree here at UIUC, and there is such a stark difference between learning on Zoom and learning in a classroom. Mainly because there is so much collaboration necessary in public health courses. I am concerned that the connections I am making with my cohort are not as strong as they would have been had the semester been typical, but a lot of MPH students also work at CUPHD right now, so I do have more interaction with them through work, which I value a lot.

Q: What ways has COVID-19 affected you? Have you traveled? Have you been able to go home, see family?

A: I generally count myself as lucky because, while COVID has affected me a lot, it could have been much worse. Like many other class of 2020 students, I didn’t get a formal graduation, which was upsetting. I also have not been able to see my friends from high school for a very long time. We usually all congregate when we are home in Chicago, but due to the pandemic, we haven’t been home, and we haven’t been willing to potentially risk the health of our families by being together. I also have not traveled, which is rare for me. I usually travel to see friends or just take a trip to some landmark or interesting spot in the country, but most things are closed, and I am also not willing to get on a plane right now. While all of these things have been less than ideal, I count myself as fortunate because I do not personally know anyone who has died from COVID, and I was the only member of my immediate family and friend group to ever catch the virus, which I recovered from.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Share on social

Tags: COVID-19, MPH

AHS researchers adapt iPALS for the COVID-19 world

Nov. 11, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Nothing in 2020 has gone according to anyone’s expectations, because of the pandemic. But thanks to some adaptation and innovation from College of Applied Health Sciences researchers and their cross-campus collaborators, Champaign County schoolchildren are learning some new life skills.

The Illinois Physical Activity and Life Skills Wellness Program, or iPALS for short, engages children in kindergarten through fifth grade in both physical activity and nutrition instruction. But according to KCH assistant professor K. Andrew R. Richards, iPALS was forced to undergo a COVID-related makeover.

“What we’re doing now is not what we had intended to do,” he said. “We’d been funded on an Illinois State Board of Education grant to run a summer program, an in-person, face-to-face summer camp style program in collaboration with (Champaign) Unit 4 (schools) that was going to be hosted at one of the local elementary schools. And we’d have about 150 kids that would come and spend the day with us for five consecutive weeks. And so that was the original plan, but then COVID happened. And all of that went out the window.”

With summer programming canceled by the University of Illinois and the school district, Richards and his collaborators were faced with a choice of having to spend the money by the end of this semester or having to return it to the state.

“And so that kind of left us with this decision, do we want to return the money?,” he said, “Or do we want to find some way to do some good with this in the local community to help children and family in the time of this pandemic, when health, and nutrition, and wellness are perhaps even more important than they ever have been?”

That’s where some of Richards’ collaborators come in, including fellow KCH assistant professor Naiman Khan, and graduate students in KCH and the Division of Nutritional Sciences. For example, Richards credits KCH doctoral student Shelby Ison for developing multiple options for a fall version of iPALS that included some face-to-face elements as well as virtual and asynchronous plans.

Richards and Khan then worked with Champaign Unit 4 Schools Director of Student, Family & Community Engagement, Katina Wilcher, about opportunities to engage more with the community.

“We brainstormed schools that might benefit most, developed a framework, the two agencies co-wrote a grant, and here we are,” Wilcher said in an email. “Of course, we had to adjust due to COVID, but the University did an outstanding job coming up with an alternative virtual program that is going well.”

IPALS has existed at UIUC in some form since the 1950s, Richards said, and at one point was called the Sport Fitness Program. It was once a multi-activity sport program, but Richards et al recognized iPALS needed to be more responsive to wellness in a broader sense. So, while there continues to be a physical activity component, they’ve added a social and emotional learning component, and a nutrition and wellness component.

Annabelle Shaffer, a master’s student in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, helped craft the nutrition element, part of which involves videos.

“They’ll get a video … basically just why you should hydrate,” she said. “What types of drinks are best for hydration, things like that. And then for their activity they’ll be provided cooking video that we’re making in collaboration with the ARC Instructional Kitchen, who has primarily dietetics and human nutrition undergrads teaching the courses. So they’ll create the cooking class video with the recipes given to them. And also we provide all the food for the kids with the socially distanced pickups.”

One-hundred and 10 children are participating in the program, which runs until Nov. 12. For the cooking program, they receive a set of child-safe knives, a spatula, their own mixing bowls, their own measuring spoons and cups.

“We wanted to be able to engage them in both physical activity and nutrition instruction,” Richards said. “But because we’re targeting primarily communities affected by poverty, we didn’t want to have to rely on them to have things that they were going to need.”

The researchers stressed that parents are involved in most aspects of the program, while still allowing their children to have creative freedom.

“Our current program is six weeks long, and each week students participate in three virtual activities through platforms such as Flipgrid and Edpuzzle. Each of the 3 activities have a different objective,” Ison said. “Activity 1 is designed to facilitate peer-to-peer social and emotional learning, Activity 2 is meant to educate children on physical activity and nutrition, and Activity 3 is the application of the learnings from Activity 2 where students work with their family members to complete a physical activity or nutrition activity or challenge.”

Khan, whose research interests focus in most part on nutrition, said one set of research outcomes would be “qualitative and getting an idea of the experience of the children participating in the program. We have an interest in our lab with physical health and mental and cognitive health in kids. So the Fitbits, for example, will be used to assess students’ physical activity.

“We’ll use a survey approach for them to report their nutritional intake. There’s a survey also on nutrition literacy that we’ve concluded to get an idea of their knowledge of foods and healthy eating. And some additional surveys that we have in place for understanding the home environment, in terms of just commotion and chaos in the household, some demographic information.”

The researchers plan to replicate iPALS next summer, although they’re uncertain if they’ll be able to host children in person. But they certainly hope for bigger grants as they go forward.

“If we were able to use what we’re learning and down the road leverage that towards larger, perhaps federal grant structures, then that might be able to set us up so we’d have funding for consecutive years,” Richards said.

“I feel like we’re in a position now, having been through this, where we won’t be going into that blind and trying to create the wheel while we’re driving the car. We’ll have the car created. And we can just gas it up along the way.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Tags: iPALS, Kevin Richards, Naiman Khan

Study suggests that social engagement technology has the potential to broaden older adults’ social networks

Sept. 29, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

OneClick.chat is a web-based video chat platform that provides users with easy, accessible ways to connect with others

OneClick.chat, a video chat platform, announced positive outcomes in the study of older adults, with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI), who used their video chat technology to engage in social activities to meet new people of all ages with shared interests. Some of the participants’ favorite topics of conversation were books, health, family, and exercise. The results of this study were published in Gerontechnology, the official journal of the International Society for Gerontechnology.

OneClick.chat, a web-based video chat platform that provides users with easy, accessible ways to connect with others, partnered with Drs. Wendy Rogers and Raksha Mudar in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to conduct a three-phased study to examine experiences, attitudes, and preferences of video chat systems, particularly the OneClick video chat platform, among older adults with and without MCI. It also evaluated and optimized the OneClick.chat platform to accommodate the interests, abilities, and usability concerns of older adults. These objectives were accomplished in three phases:

Phase 1 examined older adults’ experiences with well-known video chat systems (e.g. Skype, Facetime), their attitudes toward video chat in general, and to OneClick.chat specifically, and their preferences on how they would like to use OneClick.chat.
Phase 2 worked to identify potential usability problems with the OneClick.chat platform through experiential evaluations conducted by experts with knowledge of human factors, aging, and MCI. The OneClick.chat platform was then optimized based on Phase 1 and Phase 2 findings.
Phase 3 participants interacted with the optimized OneClick.chat platform over a period of four weeks in their own homes. They gave feedback on their attitudes toward the improved system and their opinions about using the system for real conversations.

The study provided valuable and novel insights from participants about their experiences and preferences for using video chat systems, as well as understanding their perceived ease of use and technology acceptance. Overall, participants found the OneClick.chat platform useful and easy to use. This process also showcased how technology for older adults can be developed by engaging them in the iterative design process. Importantly, this study will provide insights, not only for the design of OneClick.chat, but more generally for the design of technology-based social engagement platforms for older adults with and without MCI.

“Older adults are at increased risk of social isolation and loneliness due to significant life changes, including retirement, restricted mobility – and now with the global pandemic putting older adults in isolation—we fear this will only further exacerbate the development of chronic health conditions,” said Dillon Myers, CEO of OneClick.chat. “The results of this study help us understand from research leaders in aging and technology, how to develop the best video chat and social engagement platform for older adults. Soon we will launch version 2.0 of our platform, which will include significant enhancement upgrades as a result of this study.”

OneClick.chat will launch version 2.0 next month which will include a new video chat interface designed to maximize usability for older adults, enhanced security and data privacy features, as well as curated classes and social events for residents of senior living organizations. The Company plans to build on this research through Phase II grant funding from The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). OneClick.chat will partner with home and community-based organizations (CBOs) to utilize the platform in their community outreach and demonstrate improved quality of life for older adults through social activities that use technology.

OneClick.chat will continue its study in partnership with Dr. Wendy Rogers, Director of the Human Factors and Aging Laboratory and Dr. Raksha Mudar, Director of the Aging and Neurocognition Laboratory.

“It’s critical that companies, like OneClick.chat, focus on the socialization needs of one of our most vulnerable populations,” Dr. Rogers said. “Many older adults are already at high risk of social isolation and the global pandemic continues to have a major impact on their ability to interact with family and friends or develop new social connections.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Share on social

Tags: OneClick, Raksha Mudar, Wendy Rogers

Q: What attracted you to the University of Illinois?

Q: Why did you pick the MS-HT program?

Q: Did the MS-HT program help you decide a career path?

Q: What did you learn that you immediately applied in your new job?

Q: Did your new employer mention your MS-HT program as a reason you were hired?

Q: What was your favorite part of the MS-HT program?

Q: What one thing did you take away from MS-HT that you feel was most important to your career?

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news