Graduate Student Internship Program

2008 Catalog of Internship Opportunities

This internship has been filled.

Local Analysis of PRAMS Data

Program: Parent Child Health, Epidemiology, Planning & Evaluation
Public Health – Seattle & King County, Seattle, WA
Skill Area: Data Analysis and Monitoring

Agency Information

Public Health-Seattle & King County's Parent/Child Health Program and Epidemiology, Planning and Evaluation Unit (EPE) will jointly house the internship project. These programs work collaboratively to identify and monitor trends and disparities in key indicators of maternal and child health. Rates of infant mortality in the African American and American Indian/Alaska Native communities of King County remain 2-3 times higher than the rate for whites. Staff from both programs participate in community-based efforts to reduce these disparities by analyzing and presenting data and encouraging communication about how to expand our thinking and develop strategies to eliminate these troubling disparities.

Purpose, goals, and objectives of internship

Recent data analyses show that it is important to focus on women’s mental and physical health prior to pregnancy and in the interconception period in order to eliminate disparities in infant health. King County PRAMS data includes an oversample of African American and American Indian/Alaska Native mothers and provides a wealth of data that can be analyzed and used to focus intervention efforts. The internship will involve analysis of local PRAMS data to identify and analyze indicators to monitor that will provide more information on disparities and inform intervention/prevention efforts in King County. We are particularly interested in having the intern use the PRAMS data to investigate the level and types of preconception screening women in King County have received, look at factors that influence maternal infant bonding such as breastfeeding and maternal depression, and update analyses examining disparities in maternal risk including exposure to stressful events and level of social support.

Data or analytic tasks and activities

The project will involve becoming familiar with and analyzing the local PRAMS data with respect to the factors listed above. Once the data have been analyzed, the internship will involve generating reports and presentations that will summarize and illustrate the results.

Data or analytic skills required

The internship requires the applicant to be comfortable and versatile in analyzing data and understand the mechanics of working with large datasets. The analytic software to be used would most likely include one of the following depending on the preference of the intern: STATA, SPSS or SAS, as well as Excel and PowerPoint.

Supervisors

Susan Barkan, PhD, Epidemiologist, Epidemiology, Planning and Evaluation, Public Health - Seattle & King County will be the primary supervisor of the intern. Dr. Barkan received her PhD in epidemiology in 1989 from Yale University’s Epidemiology and Public Health program and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in family violence at Children’s Hospital in Boston in 1992. Concentrating on how social forces give rise to disparities in illness, Dr. Barkan’s work has focused on HIV/AIDS in women, racial and socioeconomic disparities in infant morbidity and mortality, early child development and school readiness. Working with Public Health - Seattle & King County since 1997, she currently works in the department's Epidemiology, Planning and Evaluation Unit monitoring and reporting on trends in child and family health indicators. She also collaborates with community based efforts aimed at eliminating disparities in infant mortality and conducts evaluation of local programs focused on strengthening early learning.

Kathy Carson, RN, BSN, Administrator of Public Health’s Parent/Child Health program will function as a secondary supervisor of the intern.

Internship begins

May or June, 2008 – as soon as the intern was available and wanted to begin.

Housing

Summer sublets in apartments or shared housing would be available. We would be happy to provide guidance to the intern in finding a place to live during the 12 weeks.

Transportation

The worksite is located in downtown Seattle and is easily accessible via public transportation from many different locations.