Fatima Zohra Hedadji Wins CHASS Capstone Award
Fatima Zohra Hedadji, a Spring 2021 MSW alumna, has been chosen as the winner of the NC State College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) Capstone Award!
Fatima’s Capstone Project was selected out of a pool of Master Capstone Projects from across all CHASS departments and schools. These projects are reviewed by a committee and judged based on the clarity and style of presentation, scholarship, research methodology, and contribution to the field.
The project analyzed and evaluated how the American Psychological Association (APA), one of the top ten most followed social work-related pages on Twitter, used its page to engage with the topic of Black women’s mental health during COVID-19.
According to Fatima, she chose this topic due to many recent events. “A lot happened in 2020… to say the least! From the beginning, we saw increased media attention surrounding, and further exposing, injustice in healthcare that impacted marginalized communities. The death toll of Black US Americans was obviously higher than other populations. And then the racial pandemic, exposing anti-Blackness across the country.”
As a result, she sought to further understand the impact social media has on social issues. “We spend more and more time connecting online as a society. Twitter was actually a leading platform that offered key information to the public about COVID-19. So, more broadly, I wanted to look into how mental health is being discussed online throughout the pandemic. I asked, can social media be a place to offer health resources and help resolve mental health disparity?”
Since her graduation from the NC State MSW program in spring 2021, Fatima has continued her work in this field. She worked as a Social Media Manager, promoting multi-media art exposition that told the story of a Black American Muslim woman. In addition, she has worked alongside Drs. Jocelyn Taliaferro and Sarah Ascienzo to support the Black Women’s Mental Health study. Moving forward, Fatima aims to enter the health equity research field full time.
