The overall purpose of my capstone experience was to increase my skills and knowledge related to community-based research and programming to support marginalized identity groups, as well as to further disseminate my student research projects related to:
1. Community-based programming to support children and youth who experienced toxic stress or adverse childhood experiences
2. Diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education
Student Name: Maribeth Clifton
Name of Mentor: Dr. Lauren E. Milton, OTD, OTR/L, Dr. Steven D. Taff, OTR/L, FNAP, FAOTA, and Dr. Sean Joe, PhD, MSW
School: Washington University in St. Louis
Setting and location: Research & Academia, Washington University in St. Louis
Virtual / In-person / Hybrid: Virtual
Method/Design/Approach:
I worked with 3 different mentors on 3 different projects which included:
- Occupation-based community program development to support children and youth who are at-risk due to exposure to toxic stress. This was an extension of my doctoral research project.
- Supporting Black youth with behavioral and mental health challenges through a community-science initiative.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education.
Results/Outcomes:
1. Occupation-based community program development to support children and youth who are at-risk due to exposure to toxic stress.
- Developed programming to support needs of a community organization serving this population. Programming was based on a needs assessment and qualitative interviews/focus groups I have previously completed with key stakeholders.
- Provided executive summaries of findings to community partners.
- Prepared data and findings for dissemination and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
2. Supporting Black youth with behavioral and mental health outcomes through a community-science initiative.
- Co-sponsored the Journal Club on Race in Science with the Race and Opportunity Lab at the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. an interdisciplinary intellectual space in which graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff can critically examine racism, racial statistics, dehumanization, ethnicity, and culture in social and behavioral research.
- Assisted with developing community partnerships in the St. Louis City and County who are dedicated to the health, development, and well-being of Black youth.
3. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education.
- Finalized and disseminated a theoretically based, evidence-centered model focused on ethnic minority students in higher education.
- Initiated a research project to better understand experiences related to inclusion and belonging among students of marginalized identities in higher education.
Conclusions: Occupational therapy has the potential to play a significant role in the development and implementation of programming and systems-level change to support marginalized and at-risk populations.
Ideas for next steps to build on this topic:
Perhaps there arenât steps to build upon this specific work, but I encourage future OTs to get involved in research and programming to support individuals at the community-level. I am always open to ideas to collaborate with others on similar projects, too!
2-3 tips for students undertaking a similar project:
- Use your network wisely! I was able to develop my capstone project based on my network and the relationships I built while in OT school.
- Being a very organized and self-motivated individual is very important for a capstone with so many different moving parts.
Deliverables:
Clifton, M., Boden, L., & Milton, L. E. (2022). Toxic stress in children and youth: Exploring the role of communityâbased programming to support health and wellâbeing in the United States. Children & Society, 36(1), 137-148. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12489
Clifton, M., & Taff, S. D. (2021). The FOCUUS Modelâ Facilitating Occupational Performance on Campus: Uplifting Underrepresented Students. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 5 (3). "The FOCUUS Model" by Maribeth Clifton and Steven D. Taff