This summer, I assisted Dr. Jacqueline Corcoran in her meta-analysis of the prevalence of depression in low-income women. Considering the unique forms of depression they can experience (i.e. perinatal, postpartum, perimenopausal), it is not surprising that women are almost twice as likely as men to have depression. Low-income women can be quite limited in their access to education and treatment resources for depression. Furthermore, understanding the prevalence of depression in this population is crucial to approaching effective treatment options. Using a meta-analytic approach allowed a more accurate estimate of the rate of depression in the low-income, female population. Furthermore, I screened the title and abstracts for over 2000 studies from three separate library databases– PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO. The studies were to be included in the systemic review if they; focused on the prevalence of depression, were conducted in a developed country (i.e. United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan), specified that subjects were low-income, had majority-female subjects (at least 75%). The studies that appeared to meet these criteria were screened further for the same criteria in a full-text evaluation. Working on this project this summer permitted a deeper understanding of the intricate nature of conducting and publishing research. Because of this experience, I know how to utilize the reference lists of sources to learn more information about a topic or field of study, how to extract information from an APA reference, and what goes into the process of conducting a thorough and deliberate library search.
This summer, I assisted Dr. Jacqueline Corcoran in her meta-analysis of the prevalence of depression in low-income women. Considering the unique forms of depression they can experience (i.e. perinatal, postpartum, perimenopausal), it is not surprising that women are almost twice as likely as men to have depression. Low-income women can be quite limited in their access to education and treatment resources for depression. Furthermore, understanding the prevalence of depression in this population is crucial to approaching effective treatment options. Using a meta-analytic approach allowed a more accurate estimate of the rate of depression in the low-income, female population. Furthermore, I screened the title and abstracts for over 2000 studies from three separate library databases– PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO. The studies were to be included in the systemic review if they; focused on the prevalence of depression, were conducted in a developed country (i.e. United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan), specified that subjects were low-income, had majority-female subjects (at least 75%). The studies that appeared to meet these criteria were screened further for the same criteria in a full-text evaluation. Working on this project this summer permitted a deeper understanding of the intricate nature of conducting and publishing research. Because of this experience, I know how to utilize the reference lists of sources to learn more information about a topic or field of study, how to extract information from an APA reference, and what goes into the process of conducting a thorough and deliberate library search.