Sadie Valente is an International Development student and a McGill Global Health Scholar supported by the John Locke Churchill Scholar award. This past summer, Sadie worked with Prof. Grace Marquis on Assessing the acceptability and feasibility of a participatory video nutrition intervention for Ghanaian adolescent girls.
"I am currently working with Prof. Marquis and doctoral candidate Mona Ghadirian on analyzing the acceptability and feasibility of a participatory video intervention targeting Ghanaian adolescent girls. My role on this project has been to conduct an analysis of focus group discussions with various stakeholders involved in this intervention using a qualitative data analysis software (MAXQDA 2022). Through this analysis, we found that stakeholders perceived this program to be successful and gained valuable insight into challenges and suggested improvements that could make the intervention more feasible. Using these findings, I have been able to help with and learn about the process of writing an academic paper for publication in a journal.
So far, the most exciting part of the internship has been the opportunity to learn about my own research interests, under the guidance of such accomplished researchers. In the beginning of my internship, I took a course on the prevalence of anæmia in adolescent girls in the Global South. This initial interest motivated me to learn more about anæmia through understanding the dynamics behind implementing an iron-folate supplementation program. I had the opportunity to analyze focus group discussions of stakeholder’s in an iron-folate supplementation program that was implemented in Ghana at the same time as the initial nutrition intervention. Through analyzing these focus group discussions, I was able to better understand the stakeholder’s perspectives on the challenges adolescent girls faced in adhering to this program. It has been really exciting to see this initial research interest evolve and turn into an academic paper and poster. It has been an amazing opportunity to be able to pursue this research and learn so much from such supportive advisors! "
Learn more about the McGill Global Health Scholars Undergraduate Program.
