On April 22, 2025, the College of Health Sciences hosted their second annual Student Research Night in the Memorial Union Ballroom. This event included presentations on various health topics with participation from all the departments within the College of Health Sciences. Three Public Health students, Kelly Ahern, Hayley Berg, and Katherine Paras, presented their research during the event.
Kelly Ahern, a senior Public Health Major, presented her ongoing research on “Identifying Unmet Social Care Needs of Older Adults in Latin America and the Caribbean.” The project examines cross-national variation in the prevalence of older adults’ 1) needs for care based on difficulties with activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and 2) met or unmet social care needs based on their receipt of assistance or lack thereof, within the global region of the Americas with a particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. This is a collaborative project between Dr. Nekehia T. Quashie and Dr. Flavia C. D. Andrade of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, supported by funding from the World Health Organization. Dr. Quashie and Kelly have been examining the existing population-level surveys of older adults in Latin America and the Caribbean and reviewing the existing literature on the topic.
Kelly Ahern with Dr. Nekehia T. Quashie
Hayley Berg, a junior Public Health Major, presented her ongoing research with Dr. Nekehia T. Quashie on “Siblings and Cognitive Functioning Among Older Adults in Latin America and the Caribbean.” This project is in its initial stages of reviewing the existing global literature on how sibling availability and relations are associated with cognitive functioning. Dr. Quashie and Hayley are exploring the existing population-level data of older adults in Latin America and the Caribbean as this topic is understudied in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Hayley Berg with Dr. Nekehia T. Quashie
Katherine Paras, a senior Public Health Major, presented research she has been working on this year with Dr. Natalie Sabik, titled “The Public Health Impact of Social Media Use on Midlife Women’s Body Image and Social Interactions.” The project focused on the association between social media use, appearance pressure, and social interactions among midlife women. Social media use may impact social interactions that reinforce negative perceptions of body image and aging. In particular, negative body and age focused talk when socializing with friends and family may reflect internalized concerns about body image and aging. In this project, Kate examined associations between social media use, internalization of appearance pressure from social media, traditional media, friends, and partners, and fat talk and old talk – which reflect engaging in critical and negative talk about weight-related body image and appearance-related signs of aging. Overall, greater social media use is associated with appearance pressures, and together these are associated with more frequent social interactions focused on negative body and age-related communication. Public Health research that addresses these underlying mechanisms can support better body image norms and fewer associated negative health behaviors among this population.
Katherine Paras
To read the full article about the CHS Research Night, please visit the following site: https://web.uri.edu/chs/2025/04/24/health-sciences-students-present-novel-studies-during-colleges-annual-research-forum/