CDIS 350W: Interprofessional Practice and Research

In the Spring of 2022, I took CDIS 350W Interprofessional Practice and Research. This course was designed for students in my field of communication disorders to learn more about the research process and collaborating with other professionals in related fields. Throughout this course, I had three main assignments: writing a book report, reading and analyzing literature reviews, and creating a research proposal.  

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For the book report, I chose to read a book by Johann Hari called Lost Connections. The main topic of this book was depression, and I chose to stick with this topic moving into my literature review. As I was thinking about more specific topics for my literature review, I was really interested in researching depression among Hispanic populations. However, this subject was too broad. There are many different factors that can contribute to depression within this population, so I decided to narrow down my topic to focus on depression among Hispanic immigrants. Selecting a narrower topic would help me create defined themes throughout the literature review. To begin my research process, I began looking for scholarly articles on our school's search engine called Mavscholar. This database contains numerous peer-reviewed articles available to all students. In the class, I learned about the importance of using these articles. They are credible because they have been assessed by scholars and experts in the field to which they pertain. After being assessed, they were published in scholarly journals. The authors of each article followed a certain protocol to ensure that the findings of their research were valid. We discussed that it was important to use resources such as these to create a credible literature review. Learning how to find credible sources will help me as I continue to perform research throughout the rest of my undergraduate studies and graduate school. I will be sure to find sources that have been validated and reviewed. As I perform my own research, I will seek out professors and scholars to review my work. 

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After acquiring my list of sources, the next stage of writing the literature review was analyzing my sources and selecting relevant information. One helpful piece of advice that my professor gave me was that it is not necessary to read every single part of each article. This saved me a lot of time and energy because many of the articles are very lengthy and include details that may not be relevant for my situation. Instead, I learned to skim over the articles and pay close attention to sections that include information for which I was looking. For example, I found one article about Latin American history and how historical trauma can contribute to depression among this population. I already had a foundation of knowledge about Latin American history from my Spanish classes, so instead of reading through this entire section, I skimmed it over. I found that much of what I had already learned aligned with the history described in this section. I focused more on the findings of the study which related to the association between trauma and depression. 

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When writing the literature review, I learned how to assess and synthesize credible sources, even ones that contradict one another. In an article, I found that one of the main struggles that Hispanic immigrants face is acculturation. Acculturation is basically the process of adapting to a new culture. The study found that the faster immigrants were able to acculturate, the less likely they were to become depressed. At first, I was really surprised to learn this. In contrast, in my Latin American history class, we talked quite a bit about acculturation. In the class, I learned that because many immigrants feel uncomfortable being in a completely new culture, they try to maintain practices of their own culture to reduce anxiety and depression. They avoid conforming to the new culture because their normal routines often bring them comfort. As I continued analyzing the article, I found that it was mainly referring to practical changes such as learning the common language, in this case, English. Knowing the common language was linked to a decrease in depression because it would result in less stress and anxiety that would have been caused by a language barrier. I knew that the article I found was credible because it was a scholarly reviewed article. I also knew that the information I learned in my class was credible because it came from valid textbooks and a professor who had studied these subjects for many years. Through further analysis of my sources, I found that the two could not only co-exist, but even complement one another. I want to keep this in mind moving forward in my research. There may be another occurrence where I find sources that contradict one another’s findings. This will lead me to further analyze each source and see if one may be more credible than the other or if the two can in fact coexist. Beyond learning about the research process, reading all the research articles led me to gain a greater understanding of what it is like to move to another country as an immigrant. There are many challenges that immigrants face of which I was not fully aware. I think this will help me as I work and interact with all people, but especially those from different cultures.  

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Finally, I moved on to my research proposal. This assignment was designed to be a continuation of the literature review, so I already knew I wanted to focus on depression among Hispanic immigrants. Now that I had a base of information, I had to take what I learned and apply it. The purpose of the research proposal was to identify a need for further research, the steps to take, and how it would impact the population. My goal was to find ways to decrease depression among this population, so I focused on one of the main issues, which was the language barrier. The studies showed that those who were able to speak English were less likely to experience depression due to a language barrier. Part of my inspiration for my research focus came from experiences that my mom told me from being an elementary school teacher. She told me of a few instances where her students had to be the translator at their own parent-teacher conferences. This made me wonder about the resources available to Spanish speakers who have recently immigrated to the U.S. If more of these individuals had the resources to learn English, I hypothesized that depressive symptoms would decrease. In my proposed study, I would interview Hispanic students who had immigrated and their guardians about the acculturation process. The goals of the interview would be to gain a better understanding of the resources available to them and to discover practical ways to help ease this process. 

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My biggest takeaway from this project was discovering misconceptions that I had about depression and reforming my thoughts about it. I think this really helped me to see how struggles that immigrants face can increase their risk of depression, and it made me realize the importance of providing support as people adapt to a whole new culture. This will be very applicable as I work with Hispanic clients in the future as a speech-language pathologist (SLP). It will be important for me to consider each of their backgrounds before working with them. I do not want to assume any client’s background, so it will be important for me to ask questions to get to know them better. Having this knowledge will help me create a more welcoming environment for each client. Rather than treating each client equally, I want to demonstrate equity. My goal is to provide each client with what they need to succeed. This does not just apply to my work as an SLP; it also applies to life. I want to treat all people fairly based on their individual needs rather than assuming everyone needs to be treated in the same way. 

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Throughout this process, I learned some basic principles of research. I learned about the importance of finding research articles that have been reviewed and are credible. I was informed about the process of gathering these articles and analyzing them. It can be a lengthy process because these articles often have extensive information, but it is an important step in the research process. I learned that throughout this process, it is important to be curious and ask questions. These questions could lead to further research and even form a new research proposal. I also learned about how to create a research proposal and the components of a proposal. This experience of learning about the research process has expanded my knowledge, and it will be useful as I prepare for the future. I will use the information I have learned about research as a member of an undergraduate research team in the Fall of 2022. I will then further this project into the Spring semester and present our findings at the Undergraduate Research Symposium and the Minnesota Speech Hearing Association.