Honors theses by two Barrett Honors College students lead to $1.25 million research grant

Honors theses research by two students in Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University formed the basis for a research grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The recently announced federal R01 $1.25 million award will support nearly four years of continuing work on a project sparked by the students’ research. The project, titled “Development and Evaluation of an Online Contraception Decision Aid for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Persons Assigned Female at Birth”, will be led by principal investigator Dongwen Wang, professor of biomedical informatics in the ASU College of Health Solutions and co-investigator Jenny Brian, teaching professor and Barrett faculty chair.

Molly Redman, who received a bachelor’s degree in biomedical informatics in 2021, developed and evaluated an initial version of an online contraception decision aid for college-aged women for her honors thesis titled “My Contraceptive Choice: A Decision Support Tool for College Women.”

Vi-Anh Hoang, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical informatics in 2023, completed her honors thesis titled “Development of an Inclusive Online Contraceptive Decision Aid for People Assigned Female at Birth.”

Hoang and Redman were advised on their theses by Wang and Brian. Hoang’s project built on Redman’s work.

Both Redman and Hoang published their research as peer-reviewed papers and abstracts in conference proceedings and journals. The reviewers for Hoang’s work were excited to see its potential impacts, demonstrating the need for further research in this area that led to the submission of a grant proposal.

“My thesis project and seeing my ideas come into fruition through this grant have been the most rewarding and fulfilling accomplishments in my life,” said Hoang, whose interest in LGBTQ+ health equity and reproductive rights have greatly influenced her choice of a career in medicine and research. 

“I have great hope that this tool can make real and tangible steps toward improving access to reproductive healthcare for all individuals of all gender identity. I have great faith in this research team for the grant and want to express my gratitude for Molly for her incredible thesis work and Drs. Wang and Brian for their strong mentorship throughout my undergraduate and post-bachelor career,” said Hoang, who currently is a research coordinator for a Washington University lab focusing on the health of Afghan refugees in the St. Louis area.

“My thesis was the first long term project that I ever led, and I am very proud of the work I did. Watching Vi-Anh take my initial idea and enhance it in ways I never thought of was very exciting and eye opening. I am glad that she saw a knowledge gap and went for it, which is how science moves forward. I look forward to seeing how our ideas get turned into a real resource that can help real people make health decisions,” said Redman, who is an analyst with MJ Insurance in Phoenix.

The grant-funded project will focus on developing and evaluating an online contraception decision aid called ContraceptionForAll for transgender or gender-nonconforming (TGNC) persons assigned female at birth (AFAB), Wang said.

Wang said the project has three specific aims: to build the ContraceptionForAll tool by engaging TGNC AFAB individuals in design to enhance the platform, system function, and usability of an existing prototype; assess the usefulness and usability of ContraceptionForAll in a series of mixed-method studies with cognitive walkthrough, usability testing, simulated test cases, a user survey, and follow-up interviews; and conduct a randomized controlled trial to use ContraceptionForAll as a digital intervention to improve contraceptive decision-making, sexual health knowledge, and mental health for TGNC AFAB people.

Wang said the project will fill knowledge gaps in contraceptive decision-making among TGNC AFAB individuals, directly address their unmet health needs and advocate for health and healthcare equity for this gender-minority group, while potentially advancing culturally appropriate healthcare and fighting against biases, stigma, and discrimination.

The project also will develop guiding principles for engaging gender-minority groups in the design of digital health tools as part of efforts to build cultural competence for the biomedical informatics and health IT workforce, he added.

Approximately 10 students, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including one from Barrett, will participate in various research activities, such as the development, enhancement and evaluation of the digital tool and a clinical trial to examine its impact on the health of the TGNC AFAB individuals.

In addition to Wang and Brian, ASU faculty members, Erin Chiou from the ASU Fulton Schools of Engineering, and Matt Martin and Din Chen from the College of Health Solutions will serve as co-investigators on the grant. Hoang will serve as a project consultant.

“This is a great example of ASU’s successful approaches to engage undergraduate students in research and to make real impact in the world. We are so proud of Molly and Vi-Anh for their initial work on this project and their great achievements,” Wang said.

Brian said the project addresses “a critical need for a vulnerable, and often understudied, or misunderstood population.”

“I am most excited that the grant is based on the work of two undergraduate honors theses. Molly and Vi-Anh each did incredible thesis projects, and it was an honor to work with them and Dr. Wang,” Brian said.

“This grant shows very concretely that knowledge is cumulative and collaborative, and that our undergraduate students are doing impactful and valuable work. I’m proud of our team and thrilled to continue their excellent research.”