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315589
Lessons Learned for Increasing Research Capacity and Sustaining Federally–Supported Community–Based Research Networks A Case Study of the Community Health Applied Research Network (CHARN)
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Natalia Vargas, MPH
,
Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, workplace, Rockville, MD
Lydie A. Lebrun-Harris, PhD, MPH
,
Office of Planning, Analysis and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Jessica Preusch, BA
,
Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, workplace, rockville, MD
Afabwaje Jatau, MPH
,
Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, workplace, rockville, MD
Karl Poonai, MAA, MPH
,
Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, workplace, rockville, MD
Health research networks have emerged as dynamic vehicles for facilitating practice-based research and improving health care quality, but safety-net populations are underrepresented in these networks. To address this deficit, the Health Resources and Services Administration funded five organizations to form the Community Health Applied Research Network (CHARN) with a mission to build research capacity that will lead to better patient care at health centers. The purpose of this study was to use qualitative methods to identify lessons learned from the implementation of CHARN. We selected a purposive sample of 9 respondents, including health center representatives and principal investigators from each of the five organizations, and conducted semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis using Nvivo™ 10 yielded a coding scheme pre-tested on 20 percent of the transcripts. We measured inter-rater reliability using Cohen’s Kappa coefficient of agreement at a cut-off value of 0.80. We also supplemented themes with content analysis of an interim poll of CHARN participants and final reports of accomplishments. Lessons learned were organized by barriers and facilitators related to building research capacity and linked to predominant themes from the interview analysis, resulting in three lessons: (1) health centers’ ability to integrate research activities with clinical tasks may help increase clinician buy-in (2) sharing resources to optimize and standardize data use can accelerate the development of data infrastructure, and (3) effective relationships among collaborative partners are key to ensuring the sustainability of the research capacity attained through CHARN. The CHARN case study can inform other community-based research networks in the process of building research infrastructure.
Learning Areas:
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Identify strategies and barriers in developing research infrastructure at community health centers using a case study of a federally funded research network called Community Health Applied Research Network (CHARN).
Describe the lessons learned from the implementation of a research network of community health centers and academic partners and the process to build research capacity that will lead to better patient care at health centers.
Explain qualitative methods utilized to identify themes from the process of increasing research capacity to elucidate lessons learned that can hopefully inform other community-based research networks in the process of building research infrastructure.
Keyword(s): Community-Based Partnership & Collaboration, Community-Based Research (CBPR)
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal research analyst conducting the case study on the Community Health Applied Research Network (CHARN)and the development of research capacity at Community Health Centers funded by our agency. My research interests include patient centered research among vulnerable populations and community-based participatory approaches to improving clinical care.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
