My name is
Ashley Plaster and I am an undergraduate senior majoring in Neuroscience, and
minoring in public health and biology. My project currently is investigating
the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors George Mason undergraduates have
towards Zika virus. I was eager partake in this project because it pertains to
infectious disease epidemiology, a field I am determined to go into after
graduating.
What interests
me the most about epidemiology is that I am able to help many communities at
one time, in comparison to individualized patient care. In 2015, I was referred
to Dr. Julia Painter, an assistant professor at George Mason. She is a
hard-working, and kind faculty member for George Mason’s Global and Community
Health department. She currently partakes in many side projects at the
university, including the Zika virus project. Together, we developed a survey, and
are now currently working on interpreting the findings.
Each answer per
question was given a statistical percentage using SPSS, and then categorized
into two groups, health majors and non-health majors. Unfortunately, the survey
displayed a disproportional participation rate of women and Health majors to
its comparison. To combat this, a standardization is being created using excel.
By doing this, the data set will mathematically predict the results that would
have been shown if the survey was taken by all undergraduates at the University
in Fairfax, spring 2016. During this term, I have discovered that there is a
significant difference in knowledge and perceived threat between Health majors
and non-health majors towards Zika virus. I look forward to dissecting these
findings in more depth as the semester continues.
I hope that with
the information provided from this survey intervention programs can possibly be
instituted at George Mason, as well as encourage other universities to do the
same.
