Last night, Kalya and I sat down with Jess, the director of Primeros Pasos, to hammer out some details of our project. It was a real knock-down, drag-out brawl, and when the dust had cleared one IRB lay lifeless on the floor.
I will spare you all the gory details, but based on the current programs at Primeros Pasos and the history of program development in the valley, we feel it is unnecessary to hold focus groups to analyze the services provided at the clinic. Primeros Pasos has a good record of periodic review of its programs, both clinical and educational, which we do not feel compelled to supplant with a new series of focus groups.
But limping away from the fight were our other two IRBs, both of which need some TLC this weekend. My survey of clinical illness in the Palajunoj Valley will be modified slightly (i.e. the inclusion criteria changed) and our chart review also needs a few tweaks. These changes will go in on Monday morning, but thankfully we will be able to begin our projects before the approval of these revisions by working on already approved aspects of the project first.
Hopefully our new research plan will provide meaningful profile of clinical and sub-clinical health of women who have access to Primeros Pasos. We're both excited to get started next week.
In other news, I think the rainy season has begun. It's pouring outside the internet cafe right now, and things have been dramatically more cloudy recently. According to Karen's sister's Belizean homestay family, the rainy season began in Belize a few days ago, and Belize is pretty close to Guatemala. The photo of the day shows the clouds rolling in this afternoon over the mountains south of Xela. We noticed it as we wandered across the plaza to the internet cafe. Originally the photo of the day was going to be Kalya burying her IRB application, but the rain canceled the funeral, at least for today.
We had planned to head to the town of Tilapa on the Pacific coast this weekend for two days, but the hurricane/tropical storm brewing over there may halt our plans. Anyway, I probably won't post tomorrow as we'll be traveling, but stay tuned Sunday for a two-day super-post!
2 comments:
"Karen's sister" indeed. Everything I own is mildewed. When I flew home today it had been raining nonstop since Thursday morning. Yuck.
I think it's funny that laura commented on her identification. i would have said, my ex-roomie's girlfriend's sister. also, i am sad that you guys don't have to deal with focus groups. they are totally a good time
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