|
The growing ethnic diversity of Albertans is creating a range of new challenges for our
health care system. In response, researchers at the University of Calgary are
conducting research that will provide much needed information for policy makers and
clinicians to use in their daily work. One important initiative is a study of the apparent
increase in cardiovascular disease in Sikh men – and Harman Bedi, a fourth-year
kinesiology student, has been involved with the project through the Undergraduate
Student Research Program.
“I’m interested in the increasing prevalence of “lifestyle diseases” so I jumped at the
chance to study the increase in cardiovascular disease in Sikh men,” says Bedi. “We
studied how gender and ethnicity affect an individual’s perception of cardiovascular
disease, and the associated risk factors that might occur.”
In addition to volunteering at a hospital and medical clinic, Bedi decided to become
involved in this research because he believes it’s critical to look beyond the classroom
and to avail yourself of all the opportunities a university education can offer.
“My greatest regret is I didn’t look for these types of opportunities right from my first
year at U of C,” says Bedi. “This research experience has taught me how to write
concisely, apply for grants, find and interpret information and how to bring research to an
applicable level for actual use. You certainly don’t get that from reading your textbooks.”
In the research project, Bedi is responsible for analysing the data from Sikh male
transcripts and reporting his findings from the data and a worldwide literature review. “For
me it’s truly rewarding to be able to contribute to the knowledge base and to be part of
a study that can help another researcher, or to aid a person to improve his quality of life.”
This research project has supported the understanding that gender and ethnicity directly
impact cardiovascular health by documenting a number of key findings about Sikh men.
For example, cultural and religious beliefs/practices often create a fatalistic viewpoint
about suffering from cardiac illness. Sikh men believe their illness is due to God’s will
and are often less-inclined to make heart healthy choices or manage post-operative
lifestyle changes because they don’t believe it will change the outcome.
www.kin.ucalgary.ca/usrp
|
