Project Description
For my STEP Signature Project, I served as a research assistant on a 4-year long project aiming to create a web-based application, called MindUp!, to improve the wellbeing on homeless youth in Columbus. My role entailed completing various undergraduate social science research activities, focusing on the beginning stages of this project and development. I focused my efforts on conducting basic behavioral and social science research: defining key terms, reviewing similar trials, examining findings, gathering resources, and crafting Qualtrics surveys.
Transformation
While completing my STEP Signature Project, I worked with a vulnerable, at-risk population, which inevitably transformed my beliefs and assumptions about wellness and care. Prior to my project, I held a medical-focused view on wellbeing, meaning I believed obstacles or challenges preventing wellness result from an individual’s intrinsic state. For example, someone diagnosed with depression is told it results from a chemical imbalance within their body. This view directly impacts the care and treatment received. So, going back to the example, this person would most likely be prescribed chemicals to combat the imbalance, also known as anti-depressants.
Through my research, I was forced to ask and answer, “What happens when this person comes back reporting the various medications are not resolving their depression?” This means the chemical imbalance cannot be the root cause of the depression, which is the essence of the realization I had during my project, forcing me to change my beliefs. Wellbeing could no longer be described with a medical model, but it can and should be described with a holistic model. A holistic model of care examines all possible factors contributing to someone’s wellbeing, which I now believe is the necessary view for solving complex problems thanks to my STEP Project.
Key Aspects
The primary event that transformed my view was one not assigned, but rather one I completed for my personal understanding of the research project: defining wellness. Similar to my previous medical-based view, I thought wellness equivalated to physical health. The more I researched, however, I learned wellbeing is multidimensional, including not only physical health but mental and spiritual health too. I reviewed studies and read stories explaining common obstacles and struggles the homeless population faces in terms of wellness, and these studies and stories were not based on physical health.
As my research role expanded to addressing the root cause of homelessness in youth, it highlighted the flaws in the medical-model. First, I learned that each case and story is unique. Although it may seem people are homeless for similar reasons, their stories and experiences are different – it is crucial to avoid “blanketing” individuals. When you look at the population person by person, as a holistic model does, the unique experiences unfold. For example, one homeless youth battled drug addiction. Looking through the medical-model, it would be concluded that this individual’s brain circuits function improperly. This, however, is not the root cause. This youth’s mother was addicted and used drugs while pregnant and continued to expose the youth to them as they grew up. Additionally, the youth lived in an abusive home and claimed the drugs numbed their PTSD. Looking at this example, simply saying the youth’s brain circuits function abnormally does not address the root cause.
Although I previously explained the situation of one homeless youth, there are thousands of similar stories, which I saw firsthand working with this population. It is one thing to read these stories, but it is a whole new experience seeing and interacting with the people in these stories. These youth continue to live without optimal wellness because their situations are not looked at in their entirety and holistically. The root causes are not examined and are glossed over, resulting in no progress. Instead of diagnosing these individuals with dysfunctional brains and circuits, their living conditions and basic needs need to be looked at. How can someone be well if they do not know where their next meal is coming from or if they will have somewhere to sleep? Unfortunately, these are the troubles too many youth face, yet there is hope in helping these youth, which begins with a change in views.
Significance
This transformation from a medical-model to a holistic-model matters because it is the center to my thinking, which will reflect in my personal, academic, and professional work. First, it aids my personal development because I will be able to look at my own struggles with a holistic mindset, addressing all necessary and contributing factors. With the work I aspire to do, I need to be at my best, so truly understanding myself and experiences is a must. This mindset shift highlights where my studies should focus as well: on the whole person. The courses I select and projects I complete will now all focus on a holistic approach, something I have learned to be imperative in treatment. Furthermore, I now know where my career needs to point. My career will be dedicated to dismantling the flawed medical-model in efforts to truly transform the care all individuals receive. It is time to move on from looking at individuals through a medial-model view and move into a view that looks at people in their entirety: the holistic view.