This summer, I had the pleasure of staying on as a Research Assistant at the Biopsychosocial Examination of Eating Patterns (BEEP) Lab and helping to develop one of their new research projects. Under Dr. Sarah Racine, I and two other students worked on “A Systematic Review of Ecological Momentary Assessment Research Examining Maintenance Factors for Eating Disorder Symptoms.” We were tasked with assisting in the development of a systematic review of the existing literature on ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies of maintaining factors of eating disorders and eating disorder symptomatology. The first step was to meet with a librarian, who helped determine the keywords and keyword combinations that we would use to search the databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Scopus. The first search yielded 1304 studies, which was then narrowed down to 757 after duplicates were removed. My teammates and I each screened 2/3 of the study abstracts, basing our decisions of inclusion/exclusion on the following set of criteria: the sample had to consist of individuals with diagnosed eating disorders or specified eating disorder symptoms, and both the “exposure” variable (often a psychological or contextual factor) and the “outcome” (which had to be a core eating disorder symptom) had to have been measured using EMA, as the goal was to assess contemporaneous/temporal associations between variables. Once all abstracts had been screened, we were left with 189 full articles to review, a task which was once again divided amongst the three of us. Of these, 140 made it to the data extraction step, which we are still in the midst of, at the time of this report.
Because the project was still in its earlier stages when I started my internship, I fulfilled some of my hours with tasks I had been performing as a Research Assistant the school year prior, such as running participants for an ongoing study, transcribing interviews, and manning the lab’s social media pages.
What incentivized me to apply for the Arts Research Internship Award was the positive experience I had developing my Honours Thesis under the BEEP Lab’s guidance, and my desire to immerse myself in eating disorder research. I am at a point in my schooling where I am considering career options and knew that this award would allow me to further explore the field of clinical psychology, and better ascertain whether I could see myself pursuing it.
My learning objectives were primarily technical in nature. Throughout my time working in research, a priority of mine has been to cultivate experience and competence in lab settings, which, just one year ago, were entirely foreign to me. I wanted to feel more at ease navigating relevant platforms, like the one through which we collect data on a daily basis, but also with more focused platforms, like the software we have been using to conduct the systematic review. Further, I saw this as an opportunity to learn more about the organization, development, and implementation of a systematic review.
If I were to list all the highlights of my internship, I would surely surpass this report’s word limit, but one of the most significant was getting to work with other students and lab members, many of which have become friends of mine. I expected much of my work to be solitary but was pleasantly surprised by the many professional and personal connections this internship has fostered.
While conducting an ongoing study, we occasionally encountered technical issues—some due to factors beyond our control, and others the result of anticipated human error. At the start of the summer, I often felt intimidated by this self-imposed notion that I could not manage these on my own. With time and guidance from colleagues, I have become more confident in my capabilities to trouble-shoot issues and think on my feet.
The skills I have learned over the course of this internship will serve my future studies and career in many ways—for instance, I gained valuable exposure to and experience with various platforms, statistical software, and research methods that I otherwise would not have been exposed to. Learning to develop a systematic review has been intellectually stimulating but is also an opportunity that not every undergraduate psychology student will receive, and one that is sure to benefit me academically and professionally.
I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Alan Ritter and Jennifer Ellen Nozick whose support has been instrumental in allowing me to participate in this rewarding experience.
