One trend I have observed through interacting with my peers is that no matter the nature of anyone’s research, they all have significance in their own unique ways. When conveying the significance of one’s research, one’s passion and interest towards that subject shines through. When explaining my research and why I consider it to be important, I believe that emphasizing one’s excitement towards their research is important, as a desire for knowledge is a reason to encourage research. 

When explaining why my research is important to someone who is not familiar with the field of psychology, I believe that background information is important. My research is focused on the mother-infant relationship in children at risk for ADHD. By observing and coding videos of play tasks for infants who are at high risk or low risk for ADHD, I can detect whether there are any ADHD symptomatologies present at infancy, and whether they have the potential to negatively impact the developing mother infant relationship. 

An important piece of background information I like to include when describing my research is that ADHD tends to be diagnosed when a child is school age. The presence of ADHD symptomatologies in infancy and early childhood is still unclear, but if they can manifest that early in life, they have the potential to strain familial relationships very early on. I believe that emphasizing the time that ADHD tends to be diagnosed, which is much later than the age group I am studying, helps convey the significance and importance of my research. As ADHD has a strong genetic component, it is important to study infants and children at risk for ADHD early in life. The earlier these symptoms can be detected, the earlier they can be acknowledged and worked on, preventing later familial strain. Early interventions to improve familial relationships and alleviate the stress that may come with ADHD symptomatologies will only be beneficial.

My current professional goals are attending medical school and pursuing pediatric medicine. Many of my patients will have careers outside of the field of medicine, so I will need to explain complex medical concepts that I am familiar with in a way that they will be able to understand. Conveying information in a comprehensible way is a significant component of high-quality care. Presenting information to people who have no medical background or knowledge is necessary in the medical field. I hope to ensure that my patients feel comfortable when speaking to me, and that I am able to answer all of their questions and alleviate any concerns that they may have.