Abigail Doran

Author: Abigail Doran | Majors: Biology & Psychology | Semester: Fall 2022

My name is Abigail Doran and I am a senior Biology and Psychology double major in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. I am working on my honors thesis project in the SPARK Lab with Dr. Anastasia Makhanova, Department of Psychology, as my supervisor. I have been a part of Dr. Makhanova’s lab since the Fall of 2020. I am in my first semester of research for my thesis and will complete and defend it in the coming Spring 2023 semester. After graduation, I hope to attend medical school.

Over the Fall 2022 grant term, I have worked alongside my honors mentor, Dr. Anastasia Makhanova, and graduate student Arial Blonshinsky distributing a survey to record women’s self-confidence ratings before and after they begin or alter forms of hormonal contraceptives. As our research continues in the Spring 2023 term, my goal is to ascertain whether using hormonal contraceptives has a significant impact on women’s feelings of self-confidence in various areas of their lives such as academics, physical appearance, social situations, and more. I believe that the findings could have implications relevant to medical professionals prescribing this type of medicine as well as women taking it.

Dr. Makhanova, Arial, and I worked to create this survey in Spring 2022, building upon other students’ research relating to women before and after beginning birth control use. The survey includes basic demographic and medical questions and several scales used by myself and other honors students in the lab to explore our theses. To measure participant self-confidence, I am using the Personality Evaluation Inventory scale, developed by Shrauger (1990). The survey is distributed before and after participants begin or switch birth control methods to allow us to examine self-confidence ratings comparatively.

I chose this topic based on studies already active in the lab when I was a sophomore and junior. The topic of hormonal contraceptive use and side effects interests me as a pre-medical student. I was able to collaborate with my mentor and other students to specify my area of interest as self-confidence. So far, the biggest challenge has been recruiting eligible women since we specifically need participants to complete the survey both before and after beginning the treatment. To overcome this we have developed different flyers and emails to distribute as well as working with Pat Walker Women’s Health Center to find eligible women.

Both Dr. Makhabova and Arial have provided help and guidance throughout my project. During the project as a whole, I have learned a great deal about the detail-oriented nature of research as well as how much work it takes to recruit participants eligible for the study. I look forward to seeing this work come to fruition when my research mentor and I can analyze the results.

I will continue working and learning from my mentors in the spring 2023 semester as my research continues. I will focus on recruitment especially in the early months of the semester, trying to collect enough data to yield relevant results. My part of the study will likely be concluded near the end of the semester so I am able to analyze the data gathered and prepare to defend my thesis. I will work on my thesis paper throughout the semester alongside my other responsibilities, revising it with help from Dr. Makhanova and Arial.