Summer Research Student with ENRRICH – Chloé Janse van Rensburg
My name is Chloé Janse van Rensburg, and I am a science student at the University of Manitoba! I started working as a student research assistant with Dr. Kristy Wittmeier and Ms. Carrie Costello in the summer of 2021, continued throughout the school year, and am lucky enough to work with them again this summer. When I started university, the only research experience I had was as a participant. I have lived with a chronic condition for most of my life, and I have always felt like I had more to contribute to studies than just data. When I found out about the Undergraduate Research Award (URA) through the University of Manitoba, I thought that this could finally be my chance to get more involved. This was when I came across Kristy’s work around patient engagement – something that I’d never heard of and was immediately interested in. I reached out to her for an interview and was fortunate enough to receive the award to work with her, Carrie, and the rest of the team in the summer of 2021. This year I am supported by a Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba’s (CHRIM) Undergraduate Summer Studentship award to continue working on this project.
What is your summer 2022 project*
The project that I am currently working on is titled “Determining the benefits and drawbacks of parents using their personal and social networks for recruitment in research projects”. The team I am working with is Carrie Costello - Parent Co-Lead., Laesa Kim - Parent Co-Lead., Micheal Golding, MA., Jennifer L Protudjer, PhD MSc., and Kristy Wittmeier, BMRPT MSc PhD.
In our project, parent partner refers to parents of children with chronic conditions, who are members of a research team, making sure the research is relevant and important for families. Researchers often ask their parent partners to help recruit participants by sharing recruitment materials with their networks. Parents can do this in a variety of ways, but it usually involves their personal networks, including through social media – for example sharing recruitment materials on a Facebook group. We know that parent partnership does increase participant recruitment, but we do not know much about how parents feel doing this. Our parent partners, Carrie and Laesa, realized through conversation that they had different opinions and experiences related to sharing information through personal networks and thought it would be important to hear from other parents about how they feel. A study team was formed, and this is the team I am part of today.
What is your current role on the research team?
My role on the team in the summer of 2021 was to attend the interviews and focus groups conducted by Carrie and Laesa, transcribe them, and help with data analysis. This summer, my role is focused on Knowledge Translation (KT). When projects are completed, the results are usually compiled into a manuscript and shared in a journal, and may never be seen by the people who can use the knowledge that is being shared. My job this summer is to apply KT principles and methods to attempt to communicate our results more effectively with our audiences (including parent partners, researchers, and the public).
There are many different approaches to KT, from making infographics to putting together a dance performance. One of my hobbies is painting, so I decided to merge this artistic part of my life with the scientific one – taking an arts-based approach to KT. We identified three main themes during data analysis, and I thought it could be interesting to make an artistic representation for each of these themes in the form of acrylic paintings. I am also aiming to create a lay summary for the project and an “artist statement” to accompany each painting. Once I’d come up with some rough drafts, I had the opportunity for a shadowing day with the Centre for Healthcare Innovation’s KT platform, who provided me with some great feedback for my KT tools and many additional things to consider. This left me with a lot of inspiration for this “KT package”, and I am currently in the process of creating it, receiving feedback, and continuing to improve it.
Another one of my roles this summer is to evaluate our research team’s partnership practices. To do this, I helped to modify the Public and Patient Engagement Evaluation Tool (PPEET) to be relevant to our team, and it was administered anonymously to team members. Once everyone completed it, I was responsible for summarizing the results and we will meet as a team to discuss the findings together.
What are the implications of your student project on the overall research project?
Creating this set of KT tools (consisting of the paintings, artist summaries, and lay summary) will hopefully help us to share our results in an engaging manner directly with our audiences. Prior to sharing the package with the public, we are going to reach out to past participants for feedback on the tools. This will ensure that the tools reflect the participant’s perspectives and will help us identify any ways that we can improve the tools or sharing methods.
What have been your major goals for summer 2022 working within CHRIM and ENRRICH?
One of my goals for this summer is to firstly complete the KT tools, send them to past participants for feedback, and use this feedback to improve them. Communicating the results of a study is a crucial step in the research process, and prior to my summer placement I had many questions about what KT was. I have learned a lot through this process.
Another goal of mine was to learn how to effectively evaluate a research team’s partnership practices. Learning how to modify the PPEET for our study and analyzing the results will help increase my understanding of what an authentic partnership looks like.
And of course manuscript writing is still part of KT. One of my final goals is to learn about the writing and publication process for the manuscript.
How has this Research Award helped in your career goals? What skills will you have obtained because of it?
The research awards were a great opportunity to introduce me to new career opportunities and how I can bring my unique talents into research. With my experience merging art and science in the development of the KT tools, I have found that you can bring many of the things you enjoy together some way or another.
The skills that I have gained from my summer research experiences seem endless. I have learned so much about the research process, patient engagement, and working as part of a team. In particular, I have improved my communication and critical thinking skills. I am less afraid to ask questions or seek clarification if needed, and I’m more comfortable sharing my thoughts and ideas with the team.
Lessons Learned
One of my biggest takeaways from my student research experiences would be to just go for it, try your best, and be willing to learn! Applying for research positions may seem daunting, and you may not feel like you have the skills required to apply – but that’s the whole purpose of the experience. You are there to learn, and the people around you want to support you and help you expand your knowledge. When I was first applying, I felt a lot of doubt and fear - I didn’t think that I had the abilities that were required. Once I started working with my team though, I realized that I didn’t have to figure everything out on my own. My team members wanted to support my learning. From taking that initial leap, I’ve been able to meet wonderful people, learn valuable skills and lessons, and now have experiences that I’ll never forget. If you want to know more about the world of research, I encourage you to reach out to investigators whose research interests you – it is truly a rewarding learning experience.
*Funding - In addition to the studentships, this work and additional summer studentship trainee opportunities have been supported through a Mentorship Grant provided by the CHILDBRIGHT SPOR Network. They also supported additional training opportunities that Chloe participated in over the summer. The project has also been supported by the Dr. John M. Bowman Chair in Pediatrics and Child Health (held by K.Wittmeier).
About the author
Chloé Janse van Rensburg is a third-year student at the University of Manitoba pursuing a degree in microbiology. She is interested in a career in healthcare and began her placement with Dr. Kristy Wittmeier as a student research assistant in the summer of 2021. Chloé loves to paint and go fishing, and she is motivated to contribute to research due to her lived experience with a chronic condition.