Let the Games Begin

Today was the first of our orientation sessions for the participants in the CARING Survey. We had over 20 volunteer interpreters join our HBI team for 3-hours of training. We went over the survey instrument, talked about the schedule for the project and went over the interpreters responsibilities within the framework of the project.

The interpreters are fantastic. Think about it . . . they took a Saturday morning out of what little free-time they have, and came to a training session on confidentiality, privacy and informed consent. They had many great questions and a variety of great input we can use for future survey research projects.

The nursing student team from the University of North Carolina will arrive in Arequipa tomorrow (Sunday). We will hit the ground running with an all day orientation to the Mission of Alto Cayma, the specifics of the research project and some general information about Peru and the Peruvian healthcare system. Then, on Wednesday the group starts day one of data collection.

Our plan is to collect data in a variety of geographic settlements within the Alto Cayma area. We hope that the variety in data collection settings will give us a more thorough “picture” of the needs of the people living in this area. The goals behind this survey project are to better define the needs of the communities and to empirically develop interventions and projects that most appropriately address their needs.

Stay tuned to the HBI Blogspot for updates on this project and information regarding publication of the data sets from the survey.