Greyson, Devon
Research
Information for Youth Perinatal Health
What information matters when pregnant youth and their health care providers are making health decisions? Canada invests substantial resources in health information campaigns aimed at pregnant women and their health care providers. However, we know little about the role of such information in influencing health decision making. Teenage childbearing is associated with a higher risk of many health problems, yet we know even less about the information worlds of pregnant youth than we do about mothers in general.
The perinatal period (pregnancy and a short time after birth) is a time of much health decision making. Many questions, such as whether to prescribe or consume a given medication during pregnancy, may entail careful weighing of risks and benefits. By qualitatively exploring the information experiences of pregnant youth and their health care providers, this project aims to understand what information is needed, sought, accessed, valued and used when making health decisions.
The goal of my PhD project is to generate usable theory that can be applied to improve the way we communicate health information to pregnant youth and their health care providers, in order to improve the health of teenage mothers and their babies.
As someone with an intrinsic drive to work for social justice, I explored many options – including direct social service, community education and organizing, and non-profit management – before deciding that research is the path through which I might make the greatest impact upon the world. After my Master's degree, I worked in an academic research job for a few years, which strengthened my desire to further my research training.
UBC has the most established graduate program in interdisciplinary studies in the country, one of the few in Canada to offer a doctoral degree option, and one of the largest of its type in all of North America. UBC also has very strong programs and world-class expert faculty in multiple fields on which I will draw in my interdisciplinary research. Finally, I love Vancouver and am thrilled to be based here for my studies.
Plan ahead. Daycare and housing wait lists in Vancouver can be quite long, the weather can be quite wet, and award deadlines can come quite soon in the school year, so a little prior planning can go a long way toward smoother logistics when coming to UBC Vancouver.
