So what's this project anyway?

I'm current sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to London, where I will be for the next 3 days until I journey to Dublin for the IAMCR conference.  I'm very excited to be have my younger sister Lauren along as a travel companion! It's going to be great to spend some quality time with her before she moves on to Spain to study abroad for the summer.

 

I'm going to use this post as a brief introduction to the research I'll be presenting and breaking it down by topic over a few posts.  In the fall of 2011, I opted to enroll in the elective course Media & Health taught by Dr. Petya Eckler.  The main course objective was to gain a critical perspective of how the media cover (and frame) health news and how these practices affect public knowledge, health beliefs, and behaviors.  For the final course project, graduate students were to investigate an issue of choice related to health communication and mass media.  Working independently, I chose to explore the issues of Body Image and Disordered Eating in women through the social media site Facebook.  I began a detailed literature review, and using a convenience sample, I conducted a pilot study of these issues.  After the final poster presentation for the course, my professor sent me my final paper with commentary, and she suggested collaborating to make the project full-scale.  Two years later, here I am, on my way to Dublin to disseminate the results of an issue I'm incredibly passionate about with scholars from across the globe. I never imagined that what began as a class project would lead me here, but I'm so glad it has!

My next post will be coming from London. Farewell, America!