College of Health Solutions students at Arizona State University are being given the opportunity to become citizen scientists by looking for ways to improve the health and well-being of downtown as a part of a new class.
The aim is to apply the teachings to upgrade the health and wellness of the community of downtown Phoenix.
The class, Community Health and Translational Research, taught by Deborah Williams, is focussed on a project called “Seven by Seven.” As part of the project, the area from McDowell Road to Lincoln and Seventh Avenue to Seventh Street is divided into six sectors for convenience.
According to Professor Williams, students use an app called “Our Voice Discovery Tool” to survey and determine factors like food, safety, physical activity, substance abuse or heat and hydration in the community that affects an individual’s health.
The app was developed at Stanford University by a group of professionals as part of the Our Voice team.
“The foundational idea of Our Voice is to build health equity by giving residents a voice in improving local environments and building community health,” said Dr. Ann Banchoff, the Director of Community Engagement of the Our Voice team in an email.
She expressed how the app is designed to be used easily by people of all ages, backgrounds, education, and languages.
“In this way, change happens from the ground-up, systematically informed by the lived experiences of those most affected,” she said.
During the course, students go into the community and look for barriers and facilitators of public health and lifestyle like the number of fast-food restaurants, food stores and the prices at which they sell groceries or waste disposals.
Other factors, like litter or cracked sidewalks and roads, also impact living in the area. The students will document these indicators using the app and classify them as good or bad based on the quality and availability of these resources.
Hannah Kirsch, a sophomore studying biological sciences, took the class in the fall. She focused on food and nutrition downtown.
She said in an email that the area surrounding the campus had no grocery stores before Fry’s opened in October. The lack of grocery stories made fast-food restaurants more accessible, thus making dietary practices unhealthy and more expensive in the area.
This kind of data will be presented to Phoenix City Council, businesses or the mayor and help reform the community health domain.
The College of Health Solutions aims to improve population health and to train the students in a way that they can directly help the community by being a part of it. The app was developed with the motivation for achieving this goal.
“Taking this class helped to confirm my interest in improving health outcomes. I also got to learn research skills that will continue to be important as I continue my education,” said Kirsch talking about her experience.
The course started last year in the fall, and Professor Williams said the class has already sparked an interest in students from other areas of study. She aspires to see it built to the point that other professors can take it up as a class and people living downtown can be a force for change by connecting to the project at a personal level.
“Students are out there gathering and applying new knowledge that makes them excited about what they’re doing,” said Professor Williams. “Once you care, and you’re invested in the community, you have a reason to do what you’re doing.”
Contact the reporter at jnanavat@asu.edu
