MassURC 2024 Presenters Co-Author Publication on the Impact of COVID-19 School Closures in Latin America

Content

During the spring of 2024, undergraduates Muskan Kumar and Amita Santosh prepared to present their research at the  Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference (MassURC). After an enjoyable experience on conference day, they gained further recognition as researchers when the academic journal Health Education published an article listing them as co-authors alongside primary author Daniel López-Cevallos, associate professor of community health education. The article, titled “COVID-19 School Closures in Latin America: Untangling Approaches Impacting Student Health and Wellbeing,” was co-authored with Kumar, Santosh, Irene Torres, Samantha Kloft, and Mariana Pinto-Alvarez. 

Image

Photo: Lily Attias-Inzano

The article explored the impacts that school closures had on school-age children in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and found that the most significant effects were related to food insecurity and mental health. After reviewing 75 publicly available documents and conducting thematic analyses, the research team identified the significant challenges students and their families faced. These include, but are not limited to, access to technology, inadequate internet access, and the lack of a conducive home environment for remote learning.

The research also focused on approaches to continuing education in these four countries during the pandemic. Peru, for example, emphasized student well-being and encouraged diverse learning experiences. The approaches in each of the countries addressed the diverse needs of students, their families, and teachers.

Finding the Path to this Research

López-Cevallos had been working on research with his colleague Irene Torres, technical director at Fundación Octaedro, focusing specifically on COVID-19 in Ecuador. However, when he began working with the full team, including Kumar and Santosh, they expanded their research to Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, while also focusing particularly on the school-health context.

During the time the team was conducting the research, Kumar and Santosh were both undergraduate students at UMass and presented at the 2024 MassURC. Kumar shared that their participation in the conference helped the team focus their research on more specific factors.

She also shared, “We wanted to make sure the general public could understand it, but it was definitely really interesting to be able to present our research in a way that was really accessible while also being open to all the other research that we saw in our own session.” 

Santosh also shared how presenting their research at Mass URC prepared her for the future. 

“It's just a really good foundation for the future in any research that we do, and definitely an experience I think everyone should try to have.”

Building Skills for Research

Santosh was a first-year student when she began working with López-Cevallos and the team, noting that this experience gave her the skills necessary to pursue work in new research areas.

Both Santosh and Amita shared that having the support of López-Cevallos was pivotal to their experience. 

“He really helped us to move forward and go in this direction of writing this paper… He's had a lot of experience, especially doing research in Latin American countries in relation to public health. So I'm really grateful and happy that I got to work with him.”