Editor's Note: Travel fellows apply for funding that supports travel costs and allows them to take advantage of opportunities abroad that meet degree requirements and deepen their understanding of what global health work looks like around the world. Funds are generously given by private donors who value experiential learning within global health. 

Brooke Erickson, a second-year global health master’s student, received funding from the Thomas Francis Jr. Endowed Fellowship Fund to support her practicum work in Ethiopia. This fund was made possible by the generous donation of Thomas Francis Jr. Thank you for your commitment to nurturing the next generation of global health professionals. 

| Learn more about Department of Global Health Travel Fellowships | 

What is your research interest and what drew you to it? 

As an undergraduate student, I double majored in Health, Medicine, and Society and Psychology, with a minor in Global Health. In the summer of 2023, I participated in a program where I conducted independent research on mental health in rural Uganda. Through this experience, I became passionate about advocating for the structural prioritization of mental health resources and services, reducing stigma, and promoting care in culturally relevant ways, especially in the Sub-Saharan African setting. Within global mental health, I am particularly interested in exploring how cultural differences and local idioms of distress shape mental health comprehension and care-seeking behaviors.

How did you find out about the travel fellowship and why did you decide to pursue it? 

I heard about the Thomas Francis Jr. Endowed Fellowship Fund through colleagues in my global health cohort. We are very tight knit and lean on each other for support. One of my best friends in the program was talking about her practicum and mentioned her application for a travel fellowship. My practicum was a funded fellowship, so I fortunately got a stipend for airfare, food, and housing. I pursued the travel fellowship because I had additional costs like medication and vaccines for my travels, as well as the Fieldwork, Research, & Independent Learning Abroad application (a program that allows students to undertake degree-related international travel while being fully enrolled at the UW), so I applied for less than half of the travel fellowship funds to pay for these extra costs. I was grateful to have this extra resource to support my practicum experience.   

What was the application process like for the travel fellowship?  

The travel fellowship application process was very straightforward. I collaborated closely with my fellowship team, including the organization director, faculty mentor, and site supervisor, to complete the application and refined it through their feedback. 

How did you find and secure your practicum?  

My practicum was with Strengthening Care Opportunities through Partnership in Ethiopia (SCOPE) Health, an organization that connects medical and faith communities to promote health in Ethiopia. I heard about this opportunity before I started my MPH last September. In the Global Health MPH program, you get connected to so many resources. One of these is the DGH student eHUB, where I signed up to receive email notifications and learned that the SCOPE application had opened. They put out a statement looking for someone interested in a formative mental health project, and since I am passionate about global mental health and have research experience, I applied and it all worked out!  

What sort of work did you do for your practicum? 

I worked on three main tasks during my six weeks in Ethiopia, in collaboration with a SCOPE fellow from the University of Gondar.  

The first tasks were related to a long REDCap survey that assessed mental health perceptions and treatment preferences. Specifically, I administered cognitive interviews to validate a substance use screening tool and piloted a mental health treatment preferences survey. 

As for the cognitive interviews, these were being used to validate The Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) tool. The instrument poses questions like whether participants have ever used any substances, if they had a strong urge to use certain substances, and if any challenges have arisen because of substance use (e.g., social, legal, and financial problems). The survey had to be adapted to fit the local context, including adding local substances, adapting the language, and improving usability, especially for interviewees in rural areas where there were lower literacy rates. SCOPE wanted to evaluate the preliminary results of the survey to assess the landscape of substance abuse and determine if there is space for intervention, or if faith leaders can support people with substance abuse challenges. 

For my second task, I developed a post implementation analysis on the Leading Advancements for the Uptake of Newborn and Community Health (LAUNCH) trial. In this previous project of SCOPE, faith leaders partnered with the Health Development Army (HDA), a network of women volunteers that improve health outcomes, to do maternal health outreach. I wrote an in-depth research proposal explaining the need to evaluate the sustainability of community health initiatives upon the cessation of funding and the efficacy of faith-health dyads in fostering maternal health through a mixed-methods design. The goal of this evaluation proposal was to determine if the priest-HDA pair is still collaborating following the formal end of the LAUNCH trial, and specific facilitators and barriers to continued engagement. 

I also developed a call-to-action proposal supporting internally displaced youth from the conflict in Ethiopia. This was identified as a need by a faith leader in Gondar, Ethiopia, where SCOPE typically operates. These youth are often unhoused and forcibly migrate from rural to urban areas as unaccompanied minors. They need a lot of support because their living situation can lead to the development of mental illness, food insecurity, and difficulty finding work. This was one of my favorite parts of my practicum because I got to combine powerful informal interviews and literature to generate recommendations on supporting this vulnerable population. There are a lot of physical ailments that need funding, but without mental health you can't be a functioning human. I found this task to be very impactful because of the candid interviews with youth who experienced these challenges. I wanted this paper to serve as a platform for these individuals to share their stories and to raise awareness on this issue.  

What skills – technical or interpersonal – did you develop during your time abroad? 

Before this trip I used REDCap in the Analytic Skills for Public Health core course and attended workshops to learn how to use REDCap mobile. I was glad I was able to apply what I learned in my core course and those workshops during my practicum. I was also able to use the notes from class and the workshop to make a training guide on how to set up REDCap mobile on the online website, use the app, backup data, and manage it on the server. It was fun to explore what REDCap had to offer, even though we weren't doing the surveys in person. 

My practicum also involved a lot of relationship building and networking. Because I began the practicum with limited connections, I had to develop my own approach to building professional relationships and identifying community engagement opportunities. Through site visits and stakeholder meetings across the mental health and maternal health fields, I learned how to build partnerships from the ground up. We were able to meet with a lot of inspiring community leaders and organizations that were doing innovative mental and maternal health work, making it a valuable opportunity to learn from the community and build meaningful relationships.  

How did this experience change or deepen your understanding of global health? 

This experience validated and deepened my understanding that one of the most important aspects of global health work is strong community engagement. Effective public health strategies demand engaging with the community to understand their experiences and actual needs, ensuring diverse local perspectives are prioritized.  

It’s easy to think there is a clear solution to a problem, but if you don’t consider cultural implications, it won’t work.  My practicum demonstrated that Western models of health and illness cannot be directly applied, especially within global mental health, reiterating the importance and power of leveraging local voices and respecting traditional and cultural frameworks. 

What advice would you give to a student who is interested in applying for a travel fellowship? 

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Even if the opportunity feels like a long shot, never compare your experience with others, just submit the application! 

Can you share a favorite memory from your time abroad?  

My favorite memories were taking part in coffee ceremonies, whether at the start of meetings, while visiting someone’s home, or in the afternoon with coworkers. I also loved visiting Jimma, a large southwestern city in Ethiopia, to see Healing Hands of Joy’s obstetric fistula center, which is an organization SCOPE is collaborating with.