Duncan Pedersen Award 2018: Congratulations, Katherine Pizarro!
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Katherine Pizarro听is a doctoral candidate in the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill, working under the supervision of Danielle Groleau. Before coming to McGill,听Katherine听completed her Master's Degree in International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her Bachelor's Degree in Cognitive Science at Carleton College. She听has conducted research to inform听the design and evaluation of public health policies and programs in a variety of international settings.听Her research uses both qualitative and听quantitative methods听to understand the social and cultural aspects of health behaviors, including substance use, nutrition, and newborn care.听Her doctoral research will take a participatory research approach to developing and evaluating a program to address the social determinants of听mental health and wellbeing among indigenous populations in Guatemala. She is a recipient of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Research: Promoting indigenous men鈥檚 wellbeing: Participatory evaluation research in Guatemala
Civil war, discrimination and structural violence have profoundly impacted the mental health of indigenous men in Guatemala. Men鈥檚 distress, substance use and domestic violence play a key role in propagating poor mental health across generations. However, despite a documented need for programs to address men鈥檚 psychosocial wellbeing, evidence-based and culturally appropriate interventions for indigenous fathers in Guatemala are systematically lacking. Moreover, the context and meaning of men鈥檚 psychosocial wellbeing are poorly understood, making it difficult to plan and evaluate potential interventions.
For my PhD research, I am collaborating with Guatemala-based organization Buena Semilla and local indigenous communities to develop and evaluate participatory, community-based strategies to address men鈥檚 psychosocial wellbeing and the health of their families. I am currently requesting funding for fieldwork to carry out the first formative research phase of this project. I will conduct 20 free listing sessions with groups of adolescent boys, adult men, elders, traditional healers and local health professionals across the two regions where this project will take place to identify the various aspects of men鈥檚 wellbeing, manifestations of distress and social conditions that contribute to men鈥檚 psychosocial health. I will then conduct 30 key informant interviews to explore local idioms of distress, constructions of men鈥檚 wellbeing and associated social conditions in greater depth. Results will be used to guide the development of holistic, culturally-grounded intervention strategies, and aid in the development a local instrument to measure the impact of community-based interventions on men鈥檚 psychosocial health and wellbeing.
