Thinking Like a Researcher
VAST Experiential Learning Pilot Program
Harmony Bright-Doucette, Christina Holmes, Conor Barker, Erin L. Mazerolle
“Experiential learning allows for hands-on learning through work or volunteer experiences. I participated in VAST’s experiential learning pilot program in order to link vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) research to real observations I made through serving as a home care provider. I learned skills to find evidence related to my observations, which helped me contextualize my homecare experiences. I set up my placement with a community partner in my hometown of We'koqma'q to do homecare with clients a few times a week. I did some light housekeeping and kept the company of my clients. I met with my research mentor weekly to discuss and reflect on my experiences. Together we would expand my reflections and identify research related to my experiences. I learned much about how VCI impacts patients and what it looks like firsthand compared to seeing it in a textbook. For example, I observed my homecare client’s behaviour change after consuming sugar and did a literature search to try to understand the mechanism of this observation. Lastly, I learned a lot about my interests in this area and became motivated to study VCI and brain aging further. This pilot program demonstrated that experiential learning allows trainees to form a deeper understanding of the real-life problems that research has the potential to solve. Next year, I plan to undertake research into culturally-relevant cognitive assessments and adapt existing work to develop an assessment appropriate for my home community.”
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Harmony will be entering her second year in the Health program (Biomedical stream) at St. Francis Xavier University this fall. This summer, she has been part of a pilot experiential learning program related to vascular cognitive impairment, supported by VAST and Service Learning at StFX. Harmony will be gaining hands-on experience with patient care through a partnership back in Unama’kik. Her goal for the summer is to help researchers build connections with participants and share their stories in research articles and journals in a more qualitative approach. Harmony also hopes to to take her experience and transform it into a research project in the future.