Getting the project off the ground was


daunting. “I did not know what to expect,” Hajnas says.


“At first it seemed too big to handle—my idea for what I wanted to do. I didn’t know how I’d be able to.” Hajnas had never conducted research in another country before. “It was a slow start,” she says. The Loyolans met with Global Medical


Brigades’ co-founder and CPO, Dr. Shital Vora, who was excited about their interest in mental health. They then worked closely with Global Medical Brigades personnel in Honduras to prepare and coordinate data collection efforts. The project also received a research support grant from Loyola’s Office of Research Services. Under the supervision of a fourth-year clinical psychology graduate student, Amanda Ward, and Bohnert, the undergraduates created a survey to address their questions using recently developed NIH-sponsored instruments. In March, Bohnert, Esparza, Hajnas, and Mar-


shall went to the rural mountainous region of El Canton. They surveyed 131 adults, ages 18-90, who were seeking medical services provided by Global Medical Brigades. The interviewers asked about pain and its relationship to mental health, as well as about spirituality and religios- ity. They asked about symptoms of anxiety and depression, daily work load, stresses related to parenting, and social support. Marshall says the experience was a new


and valuable one. “In the past I’ve worked off previously collected data; this was the first time I collected my own,” he says. “This was a top- to-bottom research project, and I’m grateful to have been involved from the beginning.” Preliminary findings suggest that those who


reported higher levels of social isolation had more symptoms of depression and anxiety, and that those reporting higher social satisfac- tion had fewer symptoms. The survey found no direct relationship between spirituality and depressive symptoms, but it did indicate that spirituality may serve to buffer the relationship between various stressors and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Bohnert plans to present these findings at


a conference and publish several papers with these students. ‘I have never been more proud to be a member of Loyola’s faculty than I was watching these students,” Bohnert says. “It was inspiring to be able to see this project that they were so invested in for years come to fruition.”


SCHOOL OF EDUCATION CENTER FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS


‘Like dropping a pebble in water’


Loyola partners with Indonesian educators to update teaching methods


D


avid Ensminger, PhD, was one of the educators involved in a program established by Loyola to train Indonesian teachers


in Catholic schools about contemporary teaching methods. “We wanted to put the students in the


role of information gatherers and dissemi- nators instead of just passive receivers,” says Ensminger, an assistant professor in Loyola’s School of Education. The program began when Loyola


President Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., sought to bring 10 Indonesian Catholic educators to Loyola to provide them with instruc- tional leadership training. Loyola partnered with the Indonesian Jesuit High Schools Association and Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The educators studied as a cohort group at Loyola beginning in the summer of 2009, with eight receiving a spe- cially designed master’s degree in instructional leadership, and two earn- ing a doctorate. The goal was to teach the cohort group instructional leadership skills which they could take back to Indonesia to teach other instructors. “It’s kind of like the idea of dropping a


pebble in the water and watching the circle grow,” says Michael Boyle, PhD, assistant director of the Center for Catholic School Effectiveness. “I printed a motto, ‘born to sacrifice and


serve for greater ends!’ on two mugs: one left at home, the other brought to Chicago,”


Agus Prihn, a cohort student in Loyola’s part- nership with Indonesian educators, teaches in his classroom in Yogykarta, Indonesia.


says Markus Budiraharjo (EdD ‘13), one of the educators in the cohort. “It was meant to remind me about this great mission.” Budiraharjo earned his doctorate in


“It is my conviction that my role is to help others grow and flourish.”


curriculum and instruction from Loyola and wrote his dissertation on the cohort pro- gram. He credits the program with teaching him to be open to new ideas—a mindset he says informs his teaching methods now that he is back at home. “My return to my


—MARKUS BUDIRAHARJO (EdD ‘13)


home institution will be characterized by willingness to learn from others. It is my convic-


tion that my role is to help others grow and flourish,” he says. Budiraharjo says the Loyola program


established a teacher leadership program for private schools in Indonesia where none existed. To that end, Budiraharjo has started an instructional leadership program at Sanata Dharma University. Now he and the other cohort graduates are being asked to do training by a variety of other private schools in Indonesia.


SPRING 2013


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