Week of RSCA
Faculty and student research efforts were showcased across campus this spring semester for the 2024 Week of RSCA. CHHS supported sessions for oral presentations of research findings from faculty and students on a range of health and wellness issues including telemedicine health coaching, college student wellness, and research associated with supporting communication and autism disorder related needs. The week ended with a poster session focused on Latino health. Read on to learn more about what transpired during Week of RSCA 2024 in the College of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Grace Reynolds-Fisher, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research officially welcomed college members to Week of RSCA and presentations began with Health Science student & BUILD Scholar Victoria Min, who presented her research on the Motivations of Caffeine Use Amongst College Students which explored the patterns of caffeine consumption in CSULB students, looking at different demographics such as college major. Next, Jenna Le and Prof. Michelle Alencar presented on Assessing Return on Investment in Chronic Condition Management which examined the use of health and wellness coaching as a promising intervention and evaluating its financial viability and efficacy.
Student researchers Amanda Salcedo and Annika Heinsen gave their presentation entitled Telemedicine Health Coaching for Chronic Diseases and Visits for Weight Loss assessing the ability of health and wellness coaching to specifically improve weight management across chronic conditions including obesity, hypertension and sleep apnea.
Day 2 saw a multi-pronged look at research related to supporting communication disorders from students and faculty in the Department of Speech Langauge Pathology. Graduate student researcher Heather Schmoll presented her research entitled Disseminating Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems in California Communities: A Mixed Methods Study of Secondary Data Analysis and Speech-Language Pathologist Experience, while Prof. Margaret Vento Wilson gave a presentation on her and her students' findings of Cross Lingusitc AAC Core Boards: Supporting Participation for children with Complex Communication Needs. Both these findings looked at the efficacy and use of assistive communication devices.
Brian Gonzalez, Kinesiology student studying Sport Performance and Psychology presented his study Self-Compassion, Competitive Anxiety and Athlete Perceptions which examined the culture of sport and the implications of performance outcomes on mental and physical well-being.
The week ended with an interdisciplinary Autism Symposium with the theme of supporting the journey to adulthood which included a talk on autism and an interactive case study activity with students. Students were able to collaborate with one another from other majors and learned how the many disciplines in CHHS from healthcare to education to social work and safety can positively impact autistic adults.
Finally, the Center for Latino Community Health hosted its inaugural Student Research Symposium as part of the Week of RSCA where 21 students in different majors in the College of Health and Human Services presented research on a variety of topics such as nutrition, fitness, obesity, and prescription stimulant use using data collected from the Center for Latino Health studies and faculty in CHHS. A great time was had by all!
