Maryland Population Research Center

Assistant Professor
Department of African American Studies
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

Email: smadhava@aasp.umd.edu
Phone: 301-405-1166
Office: 2169 LeFrak Hall

CV

Publications

Grants

Recent Scientific Accomplishments

Currently Madhavan is conducting analysis on two major research projects. In addition, she has resubmitted an R21 to the NIH to model and measure social connection in rural South Africa using both quantitative and qualitative data. For the first research project, she conducted four months of fieldwork with her collaborator, Nicholas Townsend (Brown University) in 2002 and a shorter follow-up in 2004, as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. The Children’s Well-Being and Social Connection in Rural South Africa (CWSC) study, conducted in a rural community in South Africa, looks at children’s social connections and well-being (defined broadly). Madhavan and Townsend used a primarily qualitative approach in which they followed social connections (both kin and non-kin) of 12 children to map out the structure of connections and to describe in detail the content of social interactions. Using a range of data collection instruments (kinship diagrams, residence/education histories, participant observation, anthropometric measures), they have amassed a particularly rich set of data. From a health perspective, the data will advance conceptual and empirical grounding in understanding the socio-cultural determinants of risk as well as the structure and content of therapeutic networks. In addition, they have rich case studies documenting how networks cope with illness and other crises. Publications from this work appear in Population Studies, the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health and International Journal of the Study of Families. For the second research project, Madhavan is conducting secondary data analysis of demographic surveillance system data from rural South Africa to examine the effects of HIV-related morbidity and mortality on household structure, composition, power dynamics and children’s living arrangements. With the exception of a few studies, documentation is lacking, as is analysis that may lead to development of appropriate interventions to assist households, families, and communities in coping with consequences of the pandemic. To contribute to this needed body of research, Madhavan (along with her co-investigators) are analyzing data from the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (AHDSS) and the CWSC study described above. Specific objectives of this analysis include: 1) to describe changes in household structure and composition over the 1992-2003 period; 2) to compare households with HIV/AIDS deaths, other causes of death and no deaths in 2003; 3) to track mobility of maternal orphans; and 4) to understand how households cope and social connections operate in the context of HIV-related illness and death. Results from the analysis will be disseminated in leading demography and public health journals. The R21 proposal that is currently pending addresses the inadequacy of using the household as the primary measure of social connection in most demographic surveys. Madhavan and her collaborators use the NSF data described above and data from the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System from rural South Africa to produce new indicators of social connection and questions to measure these indicators in social surveys.

Funded Research

Madhavan is the principal investigator (P.I.) of an NIH R03 grant, “Household Level Effects of HIV/AIDS.?Madhavan was a co-investigator on a National Science Foundation grant for the Children’s Well-Being and Social Connection in Rural South Africa study. While the grant period is over, Madhavan and her colleagues have resubmitted an NIH R21 that would use the NSF data and the AHDSS data to develop new measures of social connection.

Future Research Plans

Madhavan is currently working on several papers for publication. They include “HIV Mortality and Household Structure?(Demography) and “Father Support in the Lowveld?(Journal of Marriage and the Family). In addition, Madhavan has been invited to join a working group on transitions to adulthood in the developing world. She will be contributing a chapter on South Africa to an edited volume that is expected to be published next year. Madhavan will be submitting an NIH R01 proposal for a prospective study of orphans in rural South Africa.

Maryland Population Research Center
0124N Cole Student Activities Building (#162)
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301-405-6403
Fax: 301-405-5743