Studying health issues endemic to West Africa will be how four faculty members from the School of Social Work spend the first two months of their summer vacation.

Charlla Allen of Detroit, Donna Cochran of Ypsilanti and Brenda McGadney of Pinckney will head to Ghana for their research, while Durrenda Onolemhemhen of Detroit (O-no-lay-MAY-may) will study in Nigeria. Allen, Cochran and McGadney are recipients of an International Research Training Grant from a National Institutes of Health grant of Onolemhemhen's.

Onolemhemhen, director of the WSU bachelor of social work program, is program director of the grant and in the past took students with her to study overseas. This year she thought it was the faculty's turn to benefit from the opportunity.

She will continue her research on women who suffer from vesicovaginal fistula, a chronic condition in which a woman leaks urine as a result of an injury sustained during childbirth. This urinary incontinence frequently results in grave social consequences for African women such as divorce, destitution and despondency.

"We've made arrangements for housing, transportation and data collection sites for the summer but we're trying to make sure we have everything so we don'thave to call back to the States for anything," Onolemhemhen said.

"With this grant we want to encourage professors to have international careers and make contacts with other researchers."

Allen will study factors that influence female adolescents' intention to use male condoms to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. She completed a similar study with Michigan teens and will compare the data.

"My colleagues encouraged me to apply for the program," Allen said. "My family is really excited for me to go."

Cochran will complete an intergenerational needs assessment on elder healthcare that will identify specific health problems of Ghanaian elders and the type of services needed to help family members who care for them.

"I work in gerontology and with families, so care giving is an extension of what I've already been doing," Cochran said. "It will be interesting to see how my experiences from other countries where I have been, like Japan and Jamaica, compare."

McGadney will look at social and behavior characteristics of long-term survivors of kwashiorkor, a nutritional disorder that is a late-stage consequence of malnutrition.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, thousands of rural Ghanaian children were separated from families for medical aid in urban areas and many others died of the illness. However, the status and life experiences of the survivors, now in their late 20s and early 30s, has not been measured. That is what McGadney will research, and it is an area new to her.

Although various group members have traveled throughout the world for research and presentations, Allen, Cochran and McGadney have not been to Ghana before and anticipate working with the University of Ghana on their research. Onolemhemhen has been to 11 African countries.

McGadney has completed previous gerontology projects in Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Bikna Faso (Upper Volta), and is eager to see Ghana. Her husband and two children will accompany her on the trip.

"This is an opportunity to do something significant and hopefully help someone through our research," she said.

The group will leave in early June.