Student Poster Presentations

Correlations Between Area of Deprivation and Semantic Verbal Fluency

Darby Watford

Socioeconomic disadvantage is considered an adverse social determinant of health (SDOH), thus potentially influencing health outcomes such as decline in cognitive abilities. Semantic verbal fluency (SVF), the ability to produce nouns that belong to a particular category, is a reliable indicator of overall cognitive ability, particularly in older adulthood and adults with low educational attainment (da Silva et al., 2004; Santos Nogueira et al., 2016). However, the link between disadvantage and SVF has not been extensively studied and could provide insight into disadvantage as a moderator of age-related cognitive decline. The purpose of this research was to investigate the correlation between a recently developed measure of socioeconomic disadvantage, the Area of Deprivation Index (ADI), and performance on a SVF task using data from an observational longitudinal study of cognitive aging. The ADI uses participants’ current residential addresses to rank their neighborhood according to relative deprivation at the state and national levels. For the SVF task, participants were asked to name as many animals and vegetables as they could within one minute for each category. We hypothesized that greater disadvantage (ie. higher ADI scores) would be associated with lower SVF scores. Using Pearson’s correlation (SPSS v27), we found no correlation between SVF scores and the ADI scores. These results suggest that current indicators of disadvantage may not be meaningful indicators of cognitive function. Other SDOH that reflect disadvantage through the lifespan, such as educational attainment, may have a greater impact on verbal fluency and cognitive aging.

Narrative Assessment of Transition Readiness for Pediatric Sickle Cell Clinic Patients

Avery Ofoje 

Transitioning from pediatric to adult care can be a complex and vulnerable experience, particularly for young adults with chronic illnesses. There are many tools available to support transitions of care, yet subjective experiences often reflect disorganization, fear, and disengagement. In the Pediatric Sickle Cell Clinic at MUSC, six patients were interviewed to better understand transition readiness and barriers. Consistent themes of knowledge deficits, illness-related social stressors, financial barriers, and poor perceptions of adult care defined these conversations. These qualitative data points can better prepare students and providers for encounters with patients before and after their transitions of care.

Proposed Study of a College Wellness Checklist (CWC) to Improve Practices of Positive Lifestyle Behaviors Amongst Students

Ananya Rao, Natalie Dimeo, Erin Scherder and Kathleen Head

The well-being of individuals, including college students, is of utmost priority. College students often do not prioritize their well-being or know how to implement wellness strategies. In partnership with MUSC’s Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness, students at the College of Charleston have created a College Wellness Checklist (CWC) to help improve the overall well-being of all college students.The strategies are focused on the undergraduate population; however, all can benefit from utilizing the checklist. Our goal is to present a poster that discusses evidence-based strategies that all individuals can implement across counties, states, and countries.

Medication Literacy: Let's Learn

Sophia Baden

The purpose of my poster, “Medication Literacy: Let’s Learn”, is to raise awareness and reduce adverse health events caused by medication. This topic is important to me because I’ve seen the effects of low medication literacy first-hand. My Nana was an educated and well-read woman who made a medication error that ended up costing her life. This showed me that no matter your background, education, or lifestyle, you may not possess the skills to take medication safely– you may not even have the opportunity to be educated on the matter.  Assisted by a team of health professionals, I have worked to develop an informative poster that is easily comprehensible for the general public. The information on the poster summarizes how to reduce drug name confusion. In addition to developing the poster, I’ve attended several Roper Saint Francis Healthcare community events where I had the opportunity to educate the community. I’ve spoken to upwards of 100 people, and they were surprised and unaware of the information I had to share. Currently, I have three posters displayed in public community locations such as the library and my high school’s nurse’s office. In addition to those posters, my handouts are dispersed at Roper Saint Francis-sponsored community health events. I’ve had so many experiences that I’m grateful for. One that I’m especially grateful for was in St. George during a food drive. On that day, I was to hand out posters with RSF and their Mobile Health clinic while the community lined up for a food drive. However, due to the weather, Roper was not able to participate. Nonetheless, my family and I decided to disperse the rest of the handouts we had in our possession. In this line, I met a man who would change the goal of my project. This man, his name of which I’ve sadly forgotten, talked to us about the lack of healthcare in his St. George community. He told us that his daughter had passed away because of the lack of urgent care clinics in the area; when she needed help, it wasn’t available to her solely because of her location. I saw the effects of health inequity in his eyes and they were falling at an equal pace with one another. This encounter further drove the health equity and “ease of accessibility” aspects of my project. Furthermore, with the health of Roper Saint Francis Nurse Educator, Kelly Earwood, I edited the information included on a handout to be a middle school reading level so a wider range of people will be able to understand and apply the information. Because of her help, I can say that my poster truly promotes the equity of medication literacy in the community.This project has gone far beyond what I had originally envisioned but I’m forever grateful for the events that have carried me to this point. Through this poster, I hope to aid in health equity but I also hope to make a lasting, positive impact on my community.

For Accepted presenters:

please review the poster guidelines here.