Nira Goyal (‘28), a Health and Societies major, conducted research on the usability and effectiveness of the mental health app Joynet with mentorship from Dr. Ran Barzilay (Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). This research was supported by a Grant for Faculty Mentoring Undergraduate Research.
I have always been interested in mental health awareness. In high school, I founded Teen Mental Reset, a nonprofit dedicated to educating teenagers and removing the stigma around mental health issues. I saw the importance of learning which treatments help improve teenagers’ mental health. This propelled me to participate in adolescent mental health research at UPenn.
With mentorship from Dr. Barzilay, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at CHOP, I am studying the mental health app, Joynet, designed for Black youth aged 13-17. The primary objective of the study is to get teens’ feedback on Joynet’s usability and gather preliminary data on its efficacy. As part of the research team, I provide insight into how teenagers use social media, and I develop recruitment materials that resonate with adolescents.
Through this amazing opportunity, I have learned more about the structural barriers and mental health burdens that impact different racial groups, as well as gained valuable insight into how mental health studies are conducted. I hope to become a psychiatrist, so being able to work with a current psychiatrist has been incredibly rewarding.
The most surprising part of this experience was seeing the work that goes into developing different kinds of studies. I saw how the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval process works and examined protocols. I am most proud of helping to design the study surveys, as well as a training video. I had never used REDCAP, a tool for building and managing surveys and databases, before this project, so being able to contribute in this way showed me that I can be resourceful.
I highly recommend participating in research. You can learn about the whole process- from proposal to design to implementation. Research also allows you to dive deeper into your field of interest and learn about topics you might want to explore in a future career. Research is an incredibly valuable experience that all students should have!
Interested in reading more first-hand accounts about undergraduate research? Check out the other experiences featured on our Student News Page and Social Media!
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