Mississippi Interpregnancy Care Project GSIP (ICP-GSIP)
State: MS

Skill Area: Program Evaluation

Internship summary
The program housing the GSIP position will be the Office of Health Data and Research (OHDR).The OHDR provides data, analysis, research, surveillance, and support and management of assessment-related activities within Health Services with emphasis on Maternal and Child Health (MCH). The OHDR is staffed by research biostatisticians, epidemiologists, program specialists, and other support staff who conduct and analyze the various public health surveillance programs, vital statistics, and data bases. It also develops chronic disease reports and coordinates the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant and the Title V Maternal Child Health Block Grant.

Purpose
The purpose of the internship will be to provide experiential learning in MCH program evaluation by assisting in the evaluation of the Interpregnancy Care Program. The IPC program will enroll women who deliver Very Low Birth Weight babies (stillborn or liveborn) at University of Mississippi Medical Center and provide each of them with 24 months of funded comprehensive, integrated, primary health care services (including family planning, mental health, social services, general medical services,and a dental screen), and enhanced case management. The services will be community-based (via UMC Clinics, community health centers, and outreach programs) and will be provided by a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, case managers, and Resource Mothers/Resource Workers. At the end of project follow-up, we will evaluate the success of the program in terms of improvement of general health status of enrolled women, and subsequent reproductive health outcomes (i.e., achieving reproductive intentions, intendedness and spacing of subsequent pregnancies, birth weight distribution of subsequent pregnancies) and cost of delivery services compared to reproductive health outcomes in the project's control population.

Goals
The goal of the internship will be to play an integral role in conducting an interim evaluation of this pilot program.

Primary Outcome Measures:
•The average number of pregnancies conceived within 18 months of the index delivery.


Secondary Outcome Measures:
•The average number of adverse outcomes for pregnancies conceived within 18 months of the index delivery. Adverse outcomes include such events as preterm birth, miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight, and small size based upon gestational age.
•The health status of participants after participating in the study, highlighting the issues strongly associated with VLBW infants, such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
•The financial costs and feasibility of providing interpregnancy care to this high-risk population.


As of May 2010, an entire year's data will have been collected from the first year's early cohort of interpregnancy care project participants. These data include a mixture of personal history, documentation of a personal plan of reproductive health, personal milestones (achieved/not achieved) within the project, and other medical and social data items. The goal of the interim evaluation will be to assess the congruency between data collected and data needed to meet evaluation objectives. Also, a test of accuracy of data entry within the database system will be necessary to insure data quality, consistency, and completeness. Initial analysis of these data will be helpful in providing preliminary data to support intermittent progress reports to funders as well as validation of our evaluation plan in the short term and long term. Preliminary data will also likely be used to initiate early dissemination activities such as oral/poster presentations and project case studies. The intern will have the opportunity to contribute to a national presentation and/or publication.

Objectives
Objectives for the internship include:
• Demonstrate effective data management/analysis skills in the execution of an interim MCH program evaluation
o Software selection
o Methodology
o Planning, Development
o Analysis
o Reporting
• Utilize critical thinking skills in the application of epidemiological principles in diverse settings
o Selection of appropriate tables, graphs, or charts for illustrating findings
• Employ multiple strategies to complete a comprehensive evaluation
• Compare roles of diverse members of the evaluation and writing teams
o Consider population-based perspective of team development
o Consider discipline-based perspective of team development
o Consider interdisciplinary perspectives in determining data value and translation

Data or analytic tasks and activities involved
Quantitative methodologies will be required to complete the program evaluation. Analytical tasks include quantitative data management and analysis.

Required data or analytic skills
The OHDR has a variety of biostatisticians and epidemiologists utilizing a variety of software applications include SAS, SPSS, SUDAAN. Support for student utilization of these software programs will be readily available.

Begin date
06/01/2010

Housing assistance available?
We would be able to assist the student in locating housing nearby. There are some apartment buildings in the area. Although there will be no access to campus dorms, there are several colleges and universities in the very near vicinity of the office which offer a number of rental housing options.

Public transportation available?
The worksite is on the city bus route.

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