Thiel College community turns to social media to get student’s research an audience

Posted April 22, 2020 Print

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College Associate Professor of Psychology Kristel Gallagher, Ph.D., and psychology major Rachael Harnett '20 turned to social media to find an audience for Harnett's research.

Gallagher said many students are missing “senior college experiences and rites of passage that only come in the last few months of (their) senior year. One of which we should not overlook is the opportunity to share with the at-large community the culmination of senior research projects.”

Review Harnett’s poster.

Harnett, of Jamestown, Pa., is studying in the Department of Psychology’s counseling track and is a 2016 Reynolds High School graduate. She had research and a poster presentation planned for the Western PA Undergraduate Psychology Conference, which was canceled. Her research, “The Effect of Messaging Framing on Fall Risk Efficacy in Older Adults in Physical & Occupational Therapy,” designed, implemented, and evaluated a fall-prevention intervention with older adults in an outpatient physical rehabilitation clinic.

“I am heartbroken that she will not have the opportunity to do this given her passion and enthusiasm for this project,” Gallagher said in a Facebook post. “As a small consolation, I’m asking for your help to share her work in our ‘virtual-community at-large.’”

Harnett begins Slippery Rock University’s three-year Doctor of Occupational Therapy program on June 1.

“I am so honored that Dr. Gallagher wanted to share my research the way that she did, it really means a lot to me,” Harnett said. “This subject is important to me and I felt it needed more attention. This is an important subject and I plan to continue to do more with this research at some point.”