A class project turns into a Kirmser award–winning study.
Morgan Doane’s K-State college experience has been a journey of exploration.
Initially majoring in business, he switched to personal financial planning and then finally landed on social work and addiction counseling in his junior year.
A project was born
In one of his social work classes, Doane learned how to create a compelling research proposal.
“My professor walked the class through how to get a research proposal across the finish line,” he said. “An important step is picking a topic that hasn’t been extensively researched already.”
For a group project, Doane and his team members, Cate Alling, Symone Simmons and Rylie Yoakum, began the search for an under-represented topic. They quickly noticed a gap in the research of the well-being of homeless veterans.
With Doane’s interest in substance abuse and addiction counseling, the group decided to narrow their project to “The Correlation Between PTSD and Substance Abuse Among Homeless War Veterans.”
Fact-finding
The group’s research goal was to evaluate the likelihood of homeless veterans with PTSD developing substance abuse issues. They also brainstormed ideas on how best to treat the problem.
“What we thought we needed to advocate for was dual diagnosis,” Doane said. “We recommended that veterans should have access to one caregiver who simultaneously treats PTSD and substance abuse for a more trauma-informed approach.”
They were also surprised to learn how prevalent substance abuse and poor mental health is among homeless veterans.
“Looking specifically at homeless veterans, 70% struggle with substance abuse and 50% experience poor mental health,” Doane said. “The results we found are much higher for this specific group than for the rest of the veteran population.”
Unexpected reward
The group’s professor made the decision to submit their project for the Kirmser Undergraduate Research Award, which recognizes students who have used library resources to complete a research project for a K-State course during the current academic year. And to their surprise, they won.
“Receiving the Kirmser award really boosted my confidence,” Doane said. “It gave me reassurance that I could be good at this kind of work in the future.”
Doane is already putting his social work degree to work in rural Great Bend, Kansas, battling the growing substance abuse issues there. He is grateful for the opportunities K-State provided him with and for the professors who helped him along the way.
“I’m excited to experience what is in store for me next and am happy I got to work with such an amazing group of people for the Kirmser award project,” he said. “They were very invested in the work and that’s why we ended up with such a great result.”
By Kate Ellwood