BOB JACKSON FOR PRESIDENT issued the following announcement on May 28.
A team of international researchers, including Dr. Esther Malm, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Murray State University, has been awarded a grant to study community healthcare practices used for children with developmental disabilities in the western African country of Ghana.
The grant was awarded by the Oakland University School of Health Sciences to a team of five multidisciplinary collaborators: Dr. Kwame Sakyi from Oakland University (Michigan); Maria Hartley, a public health nurse with the Center for Learning and Childhood Development in Ghana; Dr. Emily Hurley from the University of Missouri at Kansas City; Dr. Adote Anum of the University of Ghana; and Malm.
The team will study the effectiveness of a structured process called “Our Peer Empowerment and Navigations Support” (OP-ENS), which helps individuals with disabilities to navigate barriers. The grant will support the first steps of harnessing the feedback of parents, their children and other stakeholders in adapting the navigation system into a culturally acceptable and effective tool for Ghanian children with developmental disabilities.
We believe the customized peer navigation support will empower the users to overcome barriers to healthcare and build self-esteem and self-efficacy in their abilities to reach daily goals by themselves,” Malm said. “We also believe it will directly and indirectly improve caregiver and parent well-being as they build confidence that their children can navigate their world without continued assistance and supervision from them.”
Malm’s role in the study is to provide culturally-specific knowledge of parent-child engagement in Ghana and familial environments that produce an impactful outcome. She will support the community advisory board to create parent and nurturing care-based content for the project.
Due to regulations regarding the coronavirus pandemic, data collection for the study will be delayed until Ghana approves freedom of movement. Once it resumes, team members will meet once a month via Skype to discuss their progress.
Malm has been with Murray State’s Department of Psychology since 2017, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. Her research focuses on examining parent factors, the parenting process and their effects on child and adolescent well-being.
Original source here.
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