I have officially been in Mexico for one month! The time has definitely flown by and I am starting to feel more at home every day. I really like my schedule here during the week – I wake up every day and go to ECOSUR, where I work on my research project. At 4:00 p.m., I take the ECOSUR bus back to the center of San Cristóbal and rest a little before salsa class. From 6:30 – 8:30 I go to Zirko (where salsa class is held). The first hour, we practice basic steps individually, and the second half of the class we learn new steps with a partner. I am usually exhausted by the time salsa is over, and I come home and eat dinner with Rahul. At night I do some more work before going to bed.
Last weekend, I was alone because Rahul went to a wedding in Texas. I spent a lot of time in a café with a beautiful view of the city working on my health systems paper. On Saturday night, I got pizza with Milton, one of the guys getting his nutrition license at ECOSUR. After we ate, we decided to burn off the calories and walk up the steps of the Cerrito de San Cristóbal (a church), which had a great view of the city. I swear there is a church on every other block here in San Cristóbal. Later that night, I went to a birthday party for one of the people in my salsa class. It was really fun and I met one girl who grew up in California. I am always amazed at how friendly everyone is, despite the fact that many people probably think I’m a tourist (there are backpackers walking around everywhere in San Cristóbal). I am not a tourist :-)
On Monday and Tuesday, I went to ECOSUR to work on my research proposal. I read a lot of articles about maternal mortality in Chiapas, which is the state with the second highest maternal mortality rate in Mexico. In Chiapas, the majority of women who die because of maternal causes speak an indigenous language and live in rural areas. Between 2004-2008, 31% of the women who died because of maternal causes in Chiapas died at home (many indigenous women prefer to give birth at home with an (untrained) midwife). The families of these women decided not to seek medical attention (for financial, social, or cultural reasons), or when they did decide to seek medical care, it was too late. In my reading, I have learned that the ability to recognize a problem is one of the factors that affects whether an individual decides seeks medical care. I am interested in learning more about the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of indigenous populations with respect to risk factors and complications during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. Hopefully, this study could help determine a baseline level of knowledge of risk and aid in the implementation of an intervention to increase the level of knowledge about risk factors and complications during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period.
On Wednesday, Rahul and I presented our research proposals (in Spanish) to Dr. Ochoa, Enrique Eroza, Rosario, Roberto Solís, and the other students from our research methodology class. After we had finished presenting our projects, we received some feedback. In addition to narrowing the objectives of our studies and figuring out the research design, we are also trying to determine the feasibility of doing the research. Hopefully I will have more information next week about the feasibility of my project.
On Thursday, I started to work on a draft of a quantitative survey for my project at ECOSUR. Next week, Esmerelda will be going to an indigenous community to do field work for a study on childhood obesity. Hopefully, I will be able to join her and pilot my quantitative survey in the community. After coming home from ECOSUR on Thursday, I went to salsa class and then had dinner with Rahul at a vegetarian restaurant. Although lots of people here look aghast when I tell them I am vegetarian, it has actually been incredibly easy to find vegetarian food here and all of the vegetarian sandwiches I have had have been incredible (although I do have to ask every time I order if it has meat!). On Friday, I finished a draft of my quantitative survey, which I will review with Rosario and Dr. Ochoa next week before going to the field. This weekend I am going to relax and hopefully do some exploring around Chiapas. There’s still so much I have to see!
Last weekend, I was alone because Rahul went to a wedding in Texas. I spent a lot of time in a café with a beautiful view of the city working on my health systems paper. On Saturday night, I got pizza with Milton, one of the guys getting his nutrition license at ECOSUR. After we ate, we decided to burn off the calories and walk up the steps of the Cerrito de San Cristóbal (a church), which had a great view of the city. I swear there is a church on every other block here in San Cristóbal. Later that night, I went to a birthday party for one of the people in my salsa class. It was really fun and I met one girl who grew up in California. I am always amazed at how friendly everyone is, despite the fact that many people probably think I’m a tourist (there are backpackers walking around everywhere in San Cristóbal). I am not a tourist :-)
Cerrito de San Cristóbal
On Monday and Tuesday, I went to ECOSUR to work on my research proposal. I read a lot of articles about maternal mortality in Chiapas, which is the state with the second highest maternal mortality rate in Mexico. In Chiapas, the majority of women who die because of maternal causes speak an indigenous language and live in rural areas. Between 2004-2008, 31% of the women who died because of maternal causes in Chiapas died at home (many indigenous women prefer to give birth at home with an (untrained) midwife). The families of these women decided not to seek medical attention (for financial, social, or cultural reasons), or when they did decide to seek medical care, it was too late. In my reading, I have learned that the ability to recognize a problem is one of the factors that affects whether an individual decides seeks medical care. I am interested in learning more about the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of indigenous populations with respect to risk factors and complications during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. Hopefully, this study could help determine a baseline level of knowledge of risk and aid in the implementation of an intervention to increase the level of knowledge about risk factors and complications during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period.
On Wednesday, Rahul and I presented our research proposals (in Spanish) to Dr. Ochoa, Enrique Eroza, Rosario, Roberto Solís, and the other students from our research methodology class. After we had finished presenting our projects, we received some feedback. In addition to narrowing the objectives of our studies and figuring out the research design, we are also trying to determine the feasibility of doing the research. Hopefully I will have more information next week about the feasibility of my project.
A poster relating to maternal health in one of the indigenous languages (I think this is 'tsotsil')
On Thursday, I started to work on a draft of a quantitative survey for my project at ECOSUR. Next week, Esmerelda will be going to an indigenous community to do field work for a study on childhood obesity. Hopefully, I will be able to join her and pilot my quantitative survey in the community. After coming home from ECOSUR on Thursday, I went to salsa class and then had dinner with Rahul at a vegetarian restaurant. Although lots of people here look aghast when I tell them I am vegetarian, it has actually been incredibly easy to find vegetarian food here and all of the vegetarian sandwiches I have had have been incredible (although I do have to ask every time I order if it has meat!). On Friday, I finished a draft of my quantitative survey, which I will review with Rosario and Dr. Ochoa next week before going to the field. This weekend I am going to relax and hopefully do some exploring around Chiapas. There’s still so much I have to see!
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario