One call at a time: Dianeth Rodriguez

By DANIEL PERRY
Special to the Star

Dianeth Rodriguez is working one telephone call at a time to change the culinary and lifestyle habits of Brownsville parents to help combat diabetes.
Rodriguez, 21, a Mercedes resident and senior psychology major at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, has assisted the last year and a half on research to study the effects of diabetes and what happens when people eat better and become more physically active.
She is doing the research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s Brownsville Regional Academic Health Center on the UTB/TSC campus.
Rodriguez works 15 hours weekly as a research assistant recruiting parents and up to two of their elementary age children for the study. She meets with participants at a RAHC clinic where they get their blood drawn for examination and fill out questionnaires on eating and physical activity habits.
“What we see with participants is that kids are attached to the television,” Rodriguez said. “Often with the television there is snacking, and not usually the healthiest kind. You have to have healthy foods available.”
The group is whittled down to a workable number of parents who Rodriguez calls six times to conduct motivational interviews on different topics. The parents decide whether to use the advice Rodriguez gives for their children.
Rodriguez said many parents are inquisitive during the telephone conversations.
“We are giving them both information on what the Association of Pediatrics recommends and also recommendations if they allow us to give it to them,” she said.
The participants eventually return to the RAHC clinic for blood work and follow-up questionnaires. Rodriguez and RAHC faculty analyze the information to mark improvements.
“I would say it’s a gradual process,” she said. “Some people know what they have to do. It is usually good to make improvements in small steps.”
Rodriguez applied for the research opportunity through UTB/TSC’s Minority Biomedical Research Support Program, Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement program in the College of Biomedical Sciences and Health Professions. The program provides research opportunities in behavioral sciences, chemistry, gene therapy and other subject areas.
As part of her work in the program, Rodriguez has done summer internships at The University of Texas at San Antonio and the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania.
“I never felt out of place,” she said. “My education at UTB/TSC has been of the highest caliber.”
Rodriguez is applying for master’s and doctoral programs with the hope of entering the clinical psychology field working with children and mental illness.
For more information on the MBRS R.I.S.E. Program, contact 956-882-5941 or sandra.gerace@utb.edu.