Event Title
Integration of GVSU Biostatistics in the Mental Health Field
Location
Hager-Lubbers Exhibition Hall
Description
PURPOSE: Professional Science Master’s in Biostatistics program requires an internship as part of the program requirements. The proposed poster showcases the completed internship projects from Community Mental Health at Ottawa County (CMH). Throughout the internship, we were able to apply statistical methods learned in the curriculum on real world data. The internship was beneficial for interns to assist CMH in continuing their pursuit of better evidence based decision- making. CHALLENGE: The challenges that we encountered were learning how to use lay terms to explain statistical concepts and results, and retrieving data from a database (Crystal Report) with which we were not familiar. EXPERIENCE: Data sets related to mental health, such as performance indicators and costs of running mental health programs, were cleaned, analyzed, interpreted, reported, and presented to leadership and social workers at CMH. OUTCOME: We learned how to effectively deliver statistical terms in lay terms, write detailed statistical reports, and prepare executive summaries that impacted decision-making for the organization. We also had many opportunities to learn various methods of delivering results using Excel, enabling those who were not familiar with statistical techniques to make better use of the information. IMPACT: The internship at CMH provided us the opportunity to interact with people who are not familiar with statistics and apply everything we learned from the curriculum to real world data. The mentorship we received helped guide us to explore data creatively and efficiently, challenges that we will respond to in future application of our skills.
Integration of GVSU Biostatistics in the Mental Health Field
Hager-Lubbers Exhibition Hall
PURPOSE: Professional Science Master’s in Biostatistics program requires an internship as part of the program requirements. The proposed poster showcases the completed internship projects from Community Mental Health at Ottawa County (CMH). Throughout the internship, we were able to apply statistical methods learned in the curriculum on real world data. The internship was beneficial for interns to assist CMH in continuing their pursuit of better evidence based decision- making. CHALLENGE: The challenges that we encountered were learning how to use lay terms to explain statistical concepts and results, and retrieving data from a database (Crystal Report) with which we were not familiar. EXPERIENCE: Data sets related to mental health, such as performance indicators and costs of running mental health programs, were cleaned, analyzed, interpreted, reported, and presented to leadership and social workers at CMH. OUTCOME: We learned how to effectively deliver statistical terms in lay terms, write detailed statistical reports, and prepare executive summaries that impacted decision-making for the organization. We also had many opportunities to learn various methods of delivering results using Excel, enabling those who were not familiar with statistical techniques to make better use of the information. IMPACT: The internship at CMH provided us the opportunity to interact with people who are not familiar with statistics and apply everything we learned from the curriculum to real world data. The mentorship we received helped guide us to explore data creatively and efficiently, challenges that we will respond to in future application of our skills.