No more classes? Now exams?!

This semester has gone by very quickly! It is an exciting one as I near the end of my second year in the CRDM program--the last semester of classes! When I started this program, the end of classes seemed so far away and suddenly it is here.

As I end the semester, I know there is a lot more to come with exams and my dissertation, but I'm looking forward to the challenge and research that lies ahead.

There are a couple of interesting projects I'm working on this semester that I'm trying to wrap up for classes and hopefully find an outlet for:

• In my qualitative research methods course, I observed a prenatal yoga class and interviewed a few participants in order to understand how they communicate about body image and fitness during pregnancy. I've sent an abstract of results to the CDC hosted National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media. I attended this conference last year and think it could be a good outlet for this research. 
• In my health & media course, I am beginning to analyze results from an online experiment I conducted with 84 pregnant women. These women were presented with one of three images of the same pregnant woman: underweight, average, or overweight. A control group was presented with no image. Women were asked about pre-pregnancy body satisfaction and health habits and media use. After the manipulation exposure they were asked about body esteem, body satisfaction, and weight efficacy. There are a couple of papers that should come out of this data: a uses and gratifications paper and a cultivation and theory of planned behavior paper. I think combining cultivation theory and the theory of planned behavior could be a helpful way to understand perceptions of social norms, attitudes and behavioral intentions, and could provide a better way to understand the complexities of the issues investigated. More to come on this!

Beyond the classroom, I am also preparing reading lists and getting ready to write a dissertation prospectus:

• The three exam areas I have decided on (with the help of my committee) are: mass communication effects theory (focusing specifically on the use of these theories with digital media); mixed-methods social science research design; and communication in health behavior theories. 
• I am also going to begin working on a grant application for my dissertation through the NIH. I'm looking forward to this process because even if the grant turns out not to be a fit for me, I will have worked through the proposal and should be ready to continue come fall!

Overall, this has been one of the busier and crazier semesters, but I'm happy with the progress I've made towards my future in the program and the research I've been able to conduct. 

Now--time to get back to work!