Research design issues for evaluating complex multicomponent interventions in neighborhoods and communities.

PubMed

Komro, Kelli A; Flay, Brian R; Biglan, Anthony; Wagenaar, Alexander C

2016-03-01

Major advances in population health will not occur unless we translate existing knowledge into effective multicomponent interventions, implement and maintain these in communities, and develop rigorous translational research and evaluation methods to ensure continual improvement and sustainability. We discuss challenges and offer approaches to evaluation that are key for translational research stages 3 to 5 to advance optimized adoption, implementation, and maintenance of effective and replicable multicomponent strategies. The major challenges we discuss concern (a) multiple contexts of evaluation/research, (b) complexity of packages of interventions, and (c) phases of evaluation/research questions. We suggest multiple alternative research designs that maintain rigor but accommodate these challenges and highlight the need for measurement systems. Longitudinal data collection and a standardized continuous measurement system are fundamental to the evaluation and refinement of complex multicomponent interventions. To be useful to T3-T5 translational research efforts in neighborhoods and communities, such a system would include assessments of the reach, implementation, effects on immediate outcomes, and effects of the comprehensive intervention package on more distal health outcomes.

Academics' Perceptions of the Challenges and Barriers to Implementing Research-Based Experiences for Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brew, Angela; Mantai, Lilia

2017-01-01

How can universities ensure that strategic aims to integrate research and teaching through engaging students in research-based experiences be effectively realised within institutions? This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study exploring academics' perceptions of the challenges and barriers to implementing undergraduate research.…

Schools as Sites for Recruiting Participants and Implementing Research.

PubMed

Bartlett, Robin; Wright, Tiffany; Olarinde, Tia; Holmes, Tara; Beamon, Emily R; Wallace, Debra

2017-01-01

Schools can be a valuable resource for recruitment of participants for research involving children, adolescents, and parents. Awareness of the benefits and challenges of working with schools can assist researchers in developing effective school partnerships. This article discusses the advantages of conducting research within the school system as well as the challenges that may also arise. Such challenges include developing key contacts, building relationships, logistical arrangements, and facilitating trust in the research topic and team. Suggestions for strategies to forge successful collaborative relationships with schools are provided.

The challenges of being an insider in storytelling research.

PubMed

Blythe, Stacy; Wilkes, Lesley; Jackson, Debra; Halcomb, Elizabeth

2013-01-01

To describe the challenges related to being an 'insider' researcher in a study that uses a feminist-informed storytelling research design and to discuss practical strategies to manage these challenges. The positioning of the researcher in qualitative research has numerous methodological implications. Often, qualitative researchers share similar experiences or characteristics with their participants. Such an 'insider' position provides challenges for the researcher in conducting the research. Understanding these challenges and planning how to manage them is beneficial for the researcher and for the conduct of the project. This paper is based on the research team's experience of undertaking a feminist-informed storytelling study exploring the experiences of Australian women providing long-term foster care. This paper provides a discussion of the methodology used in the investigation. Four challenges resulting from the insider status of the primary researcher were identified as affecting the research: assumed understanding, ensuring analytic objectivity, dealing with emotions and participants' expectations. Strategies to address these challenges include: 'participant probing', 'researcher reflexivity', review by an 'outsider' researcher, identifying the risk, debriefing, making the aims and use of study outcomes clear, and acknowledging participants' expectations. Methods to implement these strategies are described. The use of an insider researcher was beneficial to our study design and helped with recruitment and rapport, enabling collaboration and the generation of stories rich in content. By identifying the challenges associated with insider research and using strategies to mitigate them, researchers can effectively use an insider position in conjunction with a storytelling research design. ImplicaTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH/PRACTICE: Further investigation of the insider in different qualitative research designs would be useful in identifying challenges and benefits specific to those designs.

Guidelines for reporting methodological challenges and evaluating potential bias in dementia research.

PubMed

Weuve, Jennifer; Proust-Lima, Cécile; Power, Melinda C; Gross, Alden L; Hofer, Scott M; Thiébaut, Rodolphe; Chêne, Geneviève; Glymour, M Maria; Dufouil, Carole

2015-09-01

Clinical and population research on dementia and related neurologic conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, faces several unique methodological challenges. Progress to identify preventive and therapeutic strategies rests on valid and rigorous analytic approaches, but the research literature reflects little consensus on "best practices." We present findings from a large scientific working group on research methods for clinical and population studies of dementia, which identified five categories of methodological challenges as follows: (1) attrition/sample selection, including selective survival; (2) measurement, including uncertainty in diagnostic criteria, measurement error in neuropsychological assessments, and practice or retest effects; (3) specification of longitudinal models when participants are followed for months, years, or even decades; (4) time-varying measurements; and (5) high-dimensional data. We explain why each challenge is important in dementia research and how it could compromise the translation of research findings into effective prevention or care strategies. We advance a checklist of potential sources of bias that should be routinely addressed when reporting dementia research. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effectiveness of Challenging Skills in Work With Young Offenders.

PubMed

Trotter, Chris; Evans, Phillipa; Baidawi, Susan

2017-03-01

Probation officers and others who work with young offenders often challenge or confront their clients in relation to pro-criminal comments and criminal behaviour. There is, however, very little research that can inform practitioners about which forms of challenging most effectively engage young people. This study examines the use of challenging by youth justice workers in New South Wales, Australia. Researchers observed and audiotaped 116 interviews between youth justice workers and their clients with a view to examining the nature of challenging used by workers and the response of young people to different forms of challenging. Qualitative and quantitative findings indicate that the clients were more positively engaged by, and responsive to, challenging that was exploratory, non-blaming, and accompanied by positive reinforcement of their strengths. Excerpts taken from the interviews provide examples of high- and low-level use of the skill of challenging.

Doing qualitative research on suicide in a developing country: practical and ethical challenges.

PubMed

Mugisha, James; Knizek, Birthe Loa; Kinyanda, Eugene; Hjelmeland, Heidi

2011-01-01

This article describes and discusses the challenges faced by researchers who conducted a qualitative interview study on attitudes toward suicide among the Baganda, Uganda. Many of the challenges addressed in this article have not been described earlier in suicide research conducted in the developing world. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes and cultural responses toward suicide among the Baganda, Uganda. Data were collected and analyzed using grounded theory. A total of 28 focus group discussions and 30 key informant interviews were conducted. The findings of this study are organized under two broad categories: community access challenges and expectation challenges. Community access challenges entailed cultural, legal, rapport, informed consent, language, and other research process related issues that could hinder effective access to the study respondents. Expectation challenges concerned how to deal with the immediate and strategic needs of the study communities. This study demonstrates that culturally sensitive approaches to data collection can reduce ethical challenges and, through innovative approaches, practical challenges faced during data collection can be minimized.

Challenges of Conducting Systematic Research in Australia's Northern Territory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helmer, Janet; Harper, Helen; Lea, Tess; Wolgemuth, Jennifer R.; Chalkiti, Kalotina

2014-01-01

This paper explores the challenges of conducting systematic research, using our experiences of conducting a study to evaluate the effectiveness of ABRACADABRA, an online tool for early childhood literacy instruction as the contextual framework. By discussing how the research team resolved such perennial issues as high teacher turnover, low or…

Key challenges and priorities for modelling European grasslands under climate change.

PubMed

Kipling, Richard P; Virkajärvi, Perttu; Breitsameter, Laura; Curnel, Yannick; De Swaef, Tom; Gustavsson, Anne-Maj; Hennart, Sylvain; Höglind, Mats; Järvenranta, Kirsi; Minet, Julien; Nendel, Claas; Persson, Tomas; Picon-Cochard, Catherine; Rolinski, Susanne; Sandars, Daniel L; Scollan, Nigel D; Sebek, Leon; Seddaiu, Giovanna; Topp, Cairistiona F E; Twardy, Stanislaw; Van Middelkoop, Jantine; Wu, Lianhai; Bellocchi, Gianni

2016-10-01

Grassland-based ruminant production systems are integral to sustainable food production in Europe, converting plant materials indigestible to humans into nutritious food, while providing a range of environmental and cultural benefits. Climate change poses significant challenges for such systems, their productivity and the wider benefits they supply. In this context, grassland models have an important role in predicting and understanding the impacts of climate change on grassland systems, and assessing the efficacy of potential adaptation and mitigation strategies. In order to identify the key challenges for European grassland modelling under climate change, modellers and researchers from across Europe were consulted via workshop and questionnaire. Participants identified fifteen challenges and considered the current state of modelling and priorities for future research in relation to each. A review of literature was undertaken to corroborate and enrich the information provided during the horizon scanning activities. Challenges were in four categories relating to: 1) the direct and indirect effects of climate change on the sward 2) climate change effects on grassland systems outputs 3) mediation of climate change impacts by site, system and management and 4) cross-cutting methodological issues. While research priorities differed between challenges, an underlying theme was the need for accessible, shared inventories of models, approaches and data, as a resource for stakeholders and to stimulate new research. Developing grassland models to effectively support efforts to tackle climate change impacts, while increasing productivity and enhancing ecosystem services, will require engagement with stakeholders and policy-makers, as well as modellers and experimental researchers across many disciplines. The challenges and priorities identified are intended to be a resource 1) for grassland modellers and experimental researchers, to stimulate the development of new research directions and collaborative opportunities, and 2) for policy-makers involved in shaping the research agenda for European grassland modelling under climate change. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Studying Educational Effectiveness in Rural Settings: A Guide for Researchers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheridan, Susan; Dynarski, Mark; Bovaird, James

2017-01-01

This guide provides experienced education researchers with suggestions for conducting high-quality effectiveness studies to overcome research challenges common to rural settings. The guide addresses four factors that researchers must consider when conducting educational effectiveness research in rural settings: (1) study design, (2) recruitment of…

Gut Health of Pigs: Challenge Models and Response Criteria with a Critical Analysis of the Effectiveness of Selected Feed Additives - A Review.

PubMed

Adewole, D I; Kim, I H; Nyachoti, C M

2016-07-01

The gut is the largest organ that helps with the immune function. Gut health, especially in young pigs has a significant benefit to health and performance. In an attempt to maintain and enhance intestinal health in pigs and improve productivity in the absence of in-feed antibiotics, researchers have evaluated a wide range of feed additives. Some of these additives such as zinc oxide, copper sulphate, egg yolk antibodies, mannan-oligosaccharides and spray dried porcine plasma and their effectiveness are discussed in this review. One approach to evaluate the effectiveness of these additives in vivo is to use an appropriate disease challenge model. Over the years, researchers have used a number of challenge models which include the use of specific strains of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, bacteria lipopolysaccharide challenge, oral challenge with Salmonella enteric serotype Typhimurium, sanitation challenge, and Lawsonia intercellularis challenge. These challenge models together with the criteria used to evaluate the responses of the animals to them are also discussed in this review.

Gut Health of Pigs: Challenge Models and Response Criteria with a Critical Analysis of the Effectiveness of Selected Feed Additives — A Review

PubMed Central

Adewole, D. I.; Kim, I. H.; Nyachoti, C. M.

2016-01-01

The gut is the largest organ that helps with the immune function. Gut health, especially in young pigs has a significant benefit to health and performance. In an attempt to maintain and enhance intestinal health in pigs and improve productivity in the absence of in-feed antibiotics, researchers have evaluated a wide range of feed additives. Some of these additives such as zinc oxide, copper sulphate, egg yolk antibodies, mannan-oligosaccharides and spray dried porcine plasma and their effectiveness are discussed in this review. One approach to evaluate the effectiveness of these additives in vivo is to use an appropriate disease challenge model. Over the years, researchers have used a number of challenge models which include the use of specific strains of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, bacteria lipopolysaccharide challenge, oral challenge with Salmonella enteric serotype Typhimurium, sanitation challenge, and Lawsonia intercellularis challenge. These challenge models together with the criteria used to evaluate the responses of the animals to them are also discussed in this review. PMID:26954144

Knowledge management and informatics considerations for comparative effectiveness research: a case-driven exploration.

PubMed

Embi, Peter J; Hebert, Courtney; Gordillo, Gayle; Kelleher, Kelly; Payne, Philip R O

2013-08-01

As clinical data are increasingly collected and stored electronically, their potential use for comparative effectiveness research (CER) grows. Despite this promise, challenges face those wishing to leverage such data. In this paper we aim to enumerate some of the knowledge management and informatics issues common to such data reuse. After reviewing the current state of knowledge regarding biomedical informatics challenges and best practices related to CER, we then present 2 research projects at our institution. We analyze these and highlight several common themes and challenges related to the conduct of CER studies. Finally, we represent these emergent themes. The informatics challenges commonly encountered by those conducting CER studies include issues related to data information and knowledge management (eg, data reuse, data preparation) as well as those related to people and organizational issues (eg, sociotechnical factors and organizational factors). Examples of these are described in further detail and a formal framework for describing these findings is presented. Significant challenges face researchers attempting to use often diverse and heterogeneous datasets for CER. These challenges must be understood in order to be dealt with successfully and can often be overcome with the appropriate use of informatics best practices. Many research and policy questions remain to be answered in order to realize the full potential of the increasingly electronic clinical data available for such research.

Challenges in Research and Health Technology Assessment of Rare Disease Technologies: Report of the ISPOR Rare Disease Special Interest Group.

PubMed

Nestler-Parr, Sandra; Korchagina, Daria; Toumi, Mondher; Pashos, Chris L; Blanchette, Christopher; Molsen, Elizabeth; Morel, Thomas; Simoens, Steven; Kaló, Zoltán; Gatermann, Ruediger; Redekop, William

2018-05-01

Successful development of new treatments for rare diseases (RDs) and their sustainable patient access require overcoming a series of challenges related to research and health technology assessment (HTA). These impediments, which may be unique to RDs or also apply to common diseases but are particularly pertinent in RDs, are diverse and interrelated. To develop for the first time a catalog of primary impediments to RD research and HTA, and to describe the cause and effect of individual challenges. Challenges were identified by an international 22-person expert working group and qualitative outreach to colleagues with relevant expertise. A broad range of stakeholder perspectives is represented. Draft results were presented at annual European and North American International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) congresses, and written comments were received by the 385-strong ISPOR Rare Disease Review Group from two rounds of review. Findings were refined and confirmed via targeted literature search. Research-related challenges linked to the low prevalence of RDs were categorized into those pertaining to disease recognition and diagnosis, evaluation of treatment effect, and patient recruitment for clinical research. HTA-related challenges were classified into issues relating to the lack of a tailored HTA method for RD treatments and uncertainty for HTA agencies and health care payers. Identifying and highlighting diverse, but interrelated, key challenges in RD research and HTA is an essential first step toward developing implementable and sustainable solutions. A collaborative multistakeholder effort is required to enable faster and less costly development of safe, efficacious, and appropriate new RD therapies that offer value for money. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research on U.S. Military Women: Recruitment and Retention Challenges and Strategies.

PubMed

Braun, Lisa A; Kennedy, Holly P; Sadler, Lois S; Dixon, Jane

2015-12-01

To examine literature on recruitment and retention of military women in research studies as an underrepresented, and potentially marginalized, population. A literature search was conducted to examine challenges, identify potential barriers and facilitators, and to inform strategies for recruitment and retention of military women in research studies. This search was supplemented by findings in military-specific databases and discussions with Military Women's Health Research Interest Group subject matter experts. Ten articles addressed research recruitment and retention challenges and strategies in marginalized/underrepresented populations, providing an effective context to inform research recruitment and retention in military settings. Research with military women is often challenged by logistical, cultural, social, ethical, and methodological issues, which may hinder exploration of potentially sensitive issues. Researchers must consider military-specific challenges to conducting research that include lengthy deployments, unpredictable military exercises, and foreign assignments, in accessing research participants. A case example shows strategies used in a military cervical cancer screening study. There are few published articles specific to research recruitment and retention in female military populations. Available resources broadly address recruitment challenges for Veterans, marginalized, hard-to-access, and transient research participants, which may provide guidance and strategies for success when applied to military populations. Reprint & Copyright © 2015 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Academic detailing can play a key role in assessing and implementing comparative effectiveness research findings.

PubMed

Fischer, Michael A; Avorn, Jerry

2012-10-01

Comparative effectiveness research evaluates the relative effectiveness, safety, and value of competing treatment options in clinically realistic settings. Such evaluations can be methodologically complex and difficult to interpret. There will be a growing need for critical evaluation of comparative effectiveness studies to assess the adequacy of their design and to put new information into a broader context. Equally important, this knowledge will have to be communicated to clinicians in a way that will actually change practice. We identify three challenges to effective dissemination of comparative effectiveness research findings: the difficulty of interpreting comparative effectiveness research data, the need for trusted sources of information, and the challenge of turning research results into clinical action. We suggest that academic detailing-direct outreach education that gives clinicians an accurate and unbiased synthesis of the best evidence for practice in a given clinical area-can translate comparative effectiveness research findings into actions that improve health care decision making and patient outcomes.

What Differentiates Employees' Job Performance Under Stressful Situations: The Role of General Self-Efficacy.

PubMed

Lu, Chang-Qin; Du, Dan-Yang; Xu, Xiao-Min

2016-10-02

The aim of this research is to verify the two-dimensional challenge-hindrance stressor framework in the Chinese context, and investigate the moderating effect of general self-efficacy in the stress process. Data were collected from 164 Chinese employee-supervisor dyads. The results demonstrated that challenge stressors were positively related to job performance while hindrance stressors were negatively related to job performance. Furthermore, general self-efficacy strengthened the positive relationship between challenge stressors and job performance, whereas the attenuating effect of general self-efficacy on the negative relationship between hindrance stressors and job performance was nonsignificant. These findings qualify the two-dimensional challenge-hindrance stressor framework, and support the notion that employees with high self-efficacy benefit more from the positive effect of challenge stressors in the workplace. By investigating the role of an individual difference variable in the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research provides a more accurate picture of the nature of job stress, and enhances our understanding of the job stressor-job performance relationship.

MicroResearch--Finding sustainable solutions to local health challenges in East Africa.

PubMed

Kollmann, Tobias R; Bortolussi, Robert; MacDonald, Noni E

2015-06-01

The urgent need in Africa for research capacity building has been recognized by African leaders and governments for many years. However, lack of large research funding opportunities has been seen as a major obstacle to improving research capacity in precisely those countries that need it the most. Microfinance has shown that a small infusion of capital can "prime the pump" to creative local economic productivity. In a similar way, MicroResearch has proven effective in promoting a similar bottom-up strategy to find sustainable solutions to local health challenges through local community focused research. Specifically, MicroResearch through hands-on didactic courses, mentoring and small-scale research funding promotes small research projects that improve research skills across the entire health-care provider spectrum to unleash a culture of inquiry. This in turn stimulates health care providers to identify the locally most relevant obstacles that need to be overcome and implement locally feasible and sustainable solutions. MicroResearch is a bottom-up strategy proven effective at finding sustainable solutions to local health challenges. Copyright © 2015 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interdisciplinary research can provide information for the harvesting challenges of the 1990's

Treesearch

Chris B. LeDoux; John E. Baumgras

1991-01-01

Management of our complex forest ecosystems in the economic and political climate of the 1990's is a challenge for planners, managers, and loggers. A multifunctional approach - using the research results of other disciplines and considering all forest uses and values - can improve the effectiveness of forest operations research. Since harvesting cost and revenue...

Treatment of challenging behavior exhibited by children with prenatal drug exposure.

PubMed

Kurtz, Patricia F; Chin, Michelle D; Rush, Karena S; Dixon, Dennis R

2008-01-01

A large body of literature exists describing the harmful effects of prenatal drug exposure on infant and child development. However, there is a paucity of research examining strategies to ameliorate sequelae such as externalizing behavior problems. In the present study, functional analysis procedures were used to assess challenging behavior exhibited by two children who were prenatally exposed to drugs of abuse. Results for both children indicated that challenging behavior was maintained by access to positive reinforcement (adult attention and tangible items). For one child, challenging behavior was also maintained by negative reinforcement (escape from activities of daily living). Function-based interventions were effective in reducing challenging behavior for both children. Implications for utilizing methods of applied behavior analysis in research with children with prenatal drug exposure are discussed.

Community challenges in biomedical text mining over 10 years: success, failure and the future

PubMed Central

Huang, Chung-Chi

2016-01-01

One effective way to improve the state of the art is through competitions. Following the success of the Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP) in bioinformatics research, a number of challenge evaluations have been organized by the text-mining research community to assess and advance natural language processing (NLP) research for biomedicine. In this article, we review the different community challenge evaluations held from 2002 to 2014 and their respective tasks. Furthermore, we examine these challenge tasks through their targeted problems in NLP research and biomedical applications, respectively. Next, we describe the general workflow of organizing a Biomedical NLP (BioNLP) challenge and involved stakeholders (task organizers, task data producers, task participants and end users). Finally, we summarize the impact and contributions by taking into account different BioNLP challenges as a whole, followed by a discussion of their limitations and difficulties. We conclude with future trends in BioNLP challenge evaluations. PMID:25935162

Killer Apps: Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness

PubMed Central

Buengeler, Claudia; Klonek, Florian; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Morency, Louis-Philippe; Poppe, Ronald

2017-01-01

As part of the Lorentz workshop, “Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics,” held in Leiden, Netherlands, this article describes how Geeks and Groupies (computer and social scientists) may benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration toward the development of killer apps in team contexts that are meaningful and challenging for both. First, we discuss interaction processes during team meetings as a research topic for both Groupies and Geeks. Second, we highlight teamwork in health care settings as an interdisciplinary research challenge. Third, we discuss how an automated solution for optimal team design could benefit team effectiveness and feed into team-based interventions. Fourth, we discuss team collaboration in massive open online courses as a challenge for both Geeks and Groupies. We argue for the necessary integration of social and computational research insights and approaches. In the hope of inspiring future interdisciplinary collaborations, we develop criteria for evaluating killer apps—including the four proposed here—and discuss future research challenges and opportunities that potentially derive from these developments. PMID:28989264

Killer Apps: Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness.

PubMed

Buengeler, Claudia; Klonek, Florian; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Morency, Louis-Philippe; Poppe, Ronald

2017-10-01

As part of the Lorentz workshop, "Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics," held in Leiden, Netherlands, this article describes how Geeks and Groupies (computer and social scientists) may benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration toward the development of killer apps in team contexts that are meaningful and challenging for both. First, we discuss interaction processes during team meetings as a research topic for both Groupies and Geeks. Second, we highlight teamwork in health care settings as an interdisciplinary research challenge. Third, we discuss how an automated solution for optimal team design could benefit team effectiveness and feed into team-based interventions. Fourth, we discuss team collaboration in massive open online courses as a challenge for both Geeks and Groupies. We argue for the necessary integration of social and computational research insights and approaches. In the hope of inspiring future interdisciplinary collaborations, we develop criteria for evaluating killer apps-including the four proposed here-and discuss future research challenges and opportunities that potentially derive from these developments.

Characteristic interviews, different strategies: Methodological challenges in qualitative interviewing among respondents with mild intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Sigstad, Hanne Marie Høybråten

2014-06-01

Conducting qualitative research interviews among individuals with intellectual disabilities, including cognitive limitations and difficulties in communication, presents particular research challenges. One question is whether the difficulties that informants encounter affect interviews to such an extent that the validity of the results is weakened. This article focuses on voluntary informed consent and the specific challenges with the greatest effects on such interviews. The discussion shows that complementary and meaningful descriptions from informants imply the need to employ alternative strategies and methods that may, in other contexts, challenge the traditional understanding of what is acceptable in research. © The Author(s) 2014.

Opportunities and Challenges for Interdisciplinary Research and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Henry

2008-01-01

Interdisciplinary research and education (IDRE) holds center stage in current academic discussions. Despite the widespread agreement on the promises of IDRE, barriers for effective IDRE implementation remain significant. This study explored the opportunities and challenges of IDRE in integrated soil and water sciences at the Pennsylvania State…

Widening Participation: Challenges Confronting a Research-Intensive University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cuthill, Michael; Schmidt, Christopher

2011-01-01

This article explores the challenges confronting a research-intensive Australian university in responding to the "widening participation" agenda outlined in the recent "Review of Higher Education". The university argued that it is not possible to respond effectively to this agenda without having a clear understanding of the…

The effect of challenge and threat states on performance: An examination of potential mechanisms

PubMed Central

Moore, Lee J; Vine, Samuel J; Wilson, Mark R; Freeman, Paul

2012-01-01

Challenge and threat states predict future performance; however, no research has examined their immediate effect on motor task performance. The present study examined the effect of challenge and threat states on golf putting performance and several possible mechanisms. One hundred twenty-seven participants were assigned to a challenge or threat group and performed six putts during which emotions, gaze, putting kinematics, muscle activity, and performance were recorded. Challenge and threat states were successively manipulated via task instructions. The challenge group performed more accurately, reported more favorable emotions, and displayed more effective gaze, putting kinematics, and muscle activity than the threat group. Multiple putting kinematic variables mediated the relationship between group and performance, suggesting that challenge and threat states impact performance at a predominately kinematic level. PMID:22913339

Giving Life to Data: University-Community Partnerships in Addressing HIV and AIDS through Building Digital Archives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Lange, Naydene; Mnisi, Thoko; Mitchell, Claudia; Park, Eun G.

2010-01-01

The partnerships, especially university-community partnerships, that sustain globally networked learning environments often face challenges in mobilizing research to empower local communities to effect change. This article examines these challenges by describing a university-community partnership involving researchers and graduate students in…

Challenges in Conducting Qualitative Research with Persons with Dementia

PubMed Central

Beuscher, Linda; Grando, Victoria T.

2010-01-01

Qualitative research can capture the meaningful experiences and life values of persons with dementia not reported in quantitative studies. This researcher shares personal experience of the challenges faced and the lessons learned while conducting a qualitative study of 15 persons with early stage Alzheimer’s disease. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues concerning determination of capacity to consent to research, consent/assent, communication challenges, and trustworthiness of data when conducting a qualitative study of persons with dementia. Understanding communication challenges due to dementia is important to develop effective communication strategies, such as simplifying the structure of questions, allowing ample time for participant’s response, using reminiscence, and redirecting the dialogue. This information will be valuable to researchers conducting future qualitative studies and the resulting contributions to the body of knowledge about Alzheimer’s PMID:20077988

The effectiveness of a four-hour challenge course on leadership efficacy and work efficacy

Treesearch

Theresa Odello; Eddie Hill; Edwin Gomez

2008-01-01

This study examines the effects of participation in a 4-hour challenge course on leadership efficacy and work efficacy of college students. The findings of this research indicate that both leadership and work efficacy increased significantly after participation in a challenge course and that increased levels of the participants' self-efficacy remained 6 weeks...

Making Semantic Information Work Effectively for Degraded Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

Control Research & Technology Symposium (ICCRTS) held 19-21 June, 2013 in Alexandria, VA. 14. ABSTRACT The challenges of effectively managing semantic...technologies over disadvantaged or degraded environments are numerous and complex. One of the greatest challenges is the size of raw data. Large...approach mitigates this challenge by performing data reduction through the adoption of format recognition technologies, semantic data extractions, and the

Development of Systems Engineering Maturity Models and Management Tools

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-21

Ph.D., Senior Personnel, Stevens Institute of Technology Abhi Deshmukh, Ph.D., Senior Personnel, Texas A&M University Matin Sarfaraz, Research ...WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Stevens Institute of Technology,Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC),1...tools (MPT) for effectively and efficiently addressing these challenges are likewise being challenged. The goal of this research was to develop a

Anterior eye segment drug delivery systems: current treatments and future challenges.

PubMed

Molokhia, Sarah A; Thomas, Samuel C; Garff, Kevin J; Mandell, Kenneth J; Wirostko, Barbara M

2013-03-01

New technologies for delivery of drugs, such as small molecules and biologics, are of growing interest among clinical and pharmaceutical researchers for use in treating anterior segment eye disease. The challenge is to deliver effective drugs at therapeutic concentrations to the targeted ocular tissue with minimal side effects. To achieve this, a better understanding of the unmet needs, what is required of the various methods of delivery to achieve successful delivery, and the potential challenges of anterior segment drug delivery is necessary and the primarily aim of this review. This review covers the various physiological and anatomical barriers that exist for effective delivery to the targeted tissue of the eye, the pathological conditions of the anterior segment, and the unmet needs for treatment of these ocular diseases. Second, it reviews the novel delivery technologies that have the potential to maintain and/or improve the drug's therapeutic index and improving both patient adherence for chronic therapy and potential patient outcomes. This review bridges the pharmaceutical and clinical research/challenges and provides a detailed overview of anterior segment drug delivery accomplishments thus far, for researchers and clinicians.

Community challenges in biomedical text mining over 10 years: success, failure and the future.

PubMed

Huang, Chung-Chi; Lu, Zhiyong

2016-01-01

One effective way to improve the state of the art is through competitions. Following the success of the Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP) in bioinformatics research, a number of challenge evaluations have been organized by the text-mining research community to assess and advance natural language processing (NLP) research for biomedicine. In this article, we review the different community challenge evaluations held from 2002 to 2014 and their respective tasks. Furthermore, we examine these challenge tasks through their targeted problems in NLP research and biomedical applications, respectively. Next, we describe the general workflow of organizing a Biomedical NLP (BioNLP) challenge and involved stakeholders (task organizers, task data producers, task participants and end users). Finally, we summarize the impact and contributions by taking into account different BioNLP challenges as a whole, followed by a discussion of their limitations and difficulties. We conclude with future trends in BioNLP challenge evaluations. Published by Oxford University Press 2015. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.

Use of nutrigenomics endpoints in dietary interventions.

PubMed

Hendriks, Henk F J

2013-08-01

In this paper, the nutrigenomics approach is discussed as a research tool to study the physiological effects of nutrition and consequently how nutrition affects health and disease (endpoints). Nutrigenomics is the study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression; the analyses include analysis of mRNA, proteins and metabolites. Nutrigenomics may be useful in dealing with the challenges that nutrition research is facing; by integrating the description of numerous active genes and metabolic pathways stronger evidence and new biomarkers for subtle nutritional effects may be obtained. Also, a new definition of disease and health may be needed. The use of tests challenging homoeostasis is being proposed to help define health. Challenge tests may be able to demonstrate in a better way subtle beneficial effects of nutrition on health. The paper describes some basic concepts relevant to nutrition research as well as some of the possibilities that are offered by nutrigenomics technology. Some of its applications are described.

Investigating the Relationship between Dialogue Structure and Tutoring Effectiveness: A Hidden Markov Modeling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyer, Kristy Elizabeth; Phillips, Robert; Ingram, Amy; Ha, Eun Young; Wallis, Michael; Vouk, Mladen; Lester, James

2011-01-01

Identifying effective tutorial dialogue strategies is a key issue for intelligent tutoring systems research. Human-human tutoring offers a valuable model for identifying effective tutorial strategies, but extracting them is a challenge because of the richness of human dialogue. This article addresses that challenge through a machine learning…

Communication Challenges and Strategies of U.S. Health Professionals Caring for Seriously Ill South Asian Patients and Their Families.

PubMed

Khosla, Nidhi; Washington, Karla T; Shaunfield, Sara; Aslakson, Rebecca

2017-06-01

While effective communication is important in the care of seriously ill patients, little is known about communication challenges faced by healthcare providers serving U.S. patients of South Asian origin, one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the United States. Researchers sought to examine communication challenges faced by healthcare providers serving seriously ill South Asian patients and their families and present strategies recommended by providers for effective communication. Researchers conducted a thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained through focus groups and individual interviews with 57 healthcare providers, including physicians, social workers, nurses, chaplains, and others drawn from different healthcare settings in one Midwestern city. While acknowledging the considerable diversity within the U.S. South Asian community, participants discussed three types of communication challenges they often encounter when serving this population: ensuring effective interpretation, identifying a spokesperson, and challenges posed by different cultural norms. Participants shared strategies to address these challenges such as proactively inquiring about patients' and families' preferences and encouraging early appointment of a spokesperson. While providers should avoid stereotyping patients, an awareness of common challenges and adoption of recommended strategies to address these challenges may enhance the provision of culturally responsive person-centered services for seriously ill South Asian patients and their families receiving care in the United States.

Challenges of Conducting Research With Young Offenders With Traumatic Brain Injury.

PubMed

OʼRourke, Conall; Templeton, Michelle; Cohen, Miriam H; Linden, Mark A

2018-05-31

The purpose of this commentary is to highlight the challenges encountered when conducting research with young offenders. This is drawn from the first-hand experience of 3 researchers working on separate projects within this environment. Young offenders present as a complex clinical population with high levels of illiteracy, substance abuse, and mental health issues. Significant planning is therefore required before working with this group. Consideration must be given to the heterogeneity of prison populations alongside the potential limitations of datacollection methods, in particular, reliance on self-report. The capacity of young offenders to comprehend and effectively engage with research is also of concern, posing issues of both a practical and ethical nature. The absence of a consistent "research culture" within prison environments poses further practical challenges, potentially also placing significant burden on both researchers and prison resources. The challenges discussed in this article may help inform future studies in the area and emphasize the need for greater critical reflection among researchers conducting work of this type.

Heterogeneous Effects in Education: The Promise and Challenge of Incorporating Intersectionality into Quantitative Methodological Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schudde, Lauren

2018-01-01

To date, the theory of intersectionality has largely guided qualitative efforts in social science and education research. Translating the construct to new methodological approaches is inherently complex and challenging, but offers the possibility of breaking down silos that keep education researchers with similar interests--but different…

A Systematic Approach to Faculty Development--Capability Improvement for Blended Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Badawood, Ashraf; Steenkamp, Annette Lerine; Al-Werfalli, Daw

2013-01-01

Blended learning (BL) provides an efficient and effective instructional experience. However, adopting a BL approach poses some challenges to faculty; the most important obstacle found in this research is faculty's lack of knowledge regarding the use of technology in their teaching. This challenge prompted the research project focused on improving…

Cross Cultural Differences in Challenging Behaviors of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An International Examination between Israel, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Kyong-Mee; Jung, Woohyun; Yang, Jae-won; Ben-Itzchak, Esther; Zachor, Ditza A.; Furniss, Frederick; Heyes, Katie; Matson, Johnny L.; Kozlowski, Alison M.; Barker, Alyse A.

2012-01-01

Challenging behaviors are deemed extremely common within the autism spectrum disorders (ASD) population. Numerous factors and their effects upon the presence and severity of challenging behaviors within this population have been investigated. However, there has been limited research to investigate the effects of cultural differences on challenging…

Community-based participatory research in Little Haiti: challenges and lessons learned.

PubMed

Kobetz, Erin; Menard, Janelle; Diem, Joshua; Barton, Betsy; Blanco, Jenny; Pierre, Larry; Auguste, Pascale D; Etienne, Marie; Brewster, Cheryl

2009-01-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an effective methodology for developing relevant interventions with socially marginalized communities. However, implementing CBPR methods is challenging for several reasons. This paper presents challenges encountered in the context of an ongoing CBPR initiative in Little Haiti in Miami, Florida, and describes the solutions used to address them. We sought to describe the challenges faced and lessons learned while conducting CBPR in Little Haiti. Community-academic partnerships were created to guide the creation of culturally relevant cancer interventions and research. Historical distrust of research, cultural constructions of health and illness, and literacy issues are key considerations when developing partnerships with Haitian and other marginalized, immigrant communities. Partnerships are fostered over time through demonstrated mutual commitment to improving health and building community capacity. Communities must play an active role throughout the research process to ensure that studies are culturally relevant, and ensuing intervention, sustainable.

Bridging research and practice: community-researcher partnerships for replicating effective interventions.

PubMed

Rotheram-Borus, M J; Rebchook, G M; Kelly, J A; Adams, J; Neumann, M S

2000-01-01

Long-term collaborations among researchers, staff and volunteers in community-based agencies, staff in institutional settings, and health advocates present challenges. Each group has different missions, procedures, attributes, and rewards. This article reviews areas of potential conflict and suggests strategies for coping with these challenges. During the replication of five effective HIV prevention interventions, strategies for maintaining mutually beneficial collaborations included selecting agencies with infrastructures that could support research-based interventions; obtaining letters of understanding that clarified roles, responsibilities, and time frames; and setting training schedules with opportunities for observing, practicing, becoming invested in, and repeatedly implementing the intervention. The process of implementing interventions highlighted educating funders of research and public health services about (a) the costs of disseminating interventions, (b) the need for innovation to new modalities and theories for delivering effective interventions, and (c) adopting strategies of marketing research and quality engineering when designing interventions.

Insights from a conference on implementing comparative effectiveness research through shared decision-making

PubMed Central

Politi, Mary C; Clayman, Marla L; Fagerlin, Angela; Studts, Jamie L; Montori, Victor

2013-01-01

For decades, investigators have conducted innovative research on shared decision-making (SDM), helping patients and clinicians to discuss health decisions and balance evidence with patients' preferences for possible outcomes of options. In addition, investigators have developed and used rigorous methods for conducting comparative effectiveness research (CER), comparing the benefits and risks of different interventions in real-world settings with outcomes that matter to patients and other stakeholders. However, incorporating CER findings into clinical practice presents numerous challenges. In March 2012, we organized a conference at Washington University in St Louis (MO, USA) aimed at developing a network of researchers to collaborate in developing, conducting and disseminating research about the implementation of CER through SDM. Meeting attendees discussed conceptual similarities and differences between CER and SDM, challenges in implementing CER and SDM in practice, specific challenges when engaging SDM with unique populations and examples of ways to overcome these challenges. CER and SDM are related processes that emphasize examining the best clinical evidence and how it applies to real patients in real practice settings. SDM can provide one opportunity for clinicians to discuss CER findings with patients and engage in a dialog about how to manage uncertainty about evidence in order to make decisions on an individual patient level. This meeting highlighted key challenges and suggested avenues to pursue such that CER and SDM can be implemented into routine clinical practice. PMID:23430243

The workings of a multicultural research team.

PubMed

Friedemann, Marie-Luise; Pagan-Coss, Harald; Mayorga, Carlos

2008-07-01

Transcultural nurse researchers are exposed to the challenges of developing and maintaining a multiethnic team. With the example of a multicultural research study of family caregivers conducted in the Miami-Dade area, the authors guide the readers through steps of developing a culturally competent and effective team. Pointing out challenges and successes, the authors illustrate team processes and successful strategies relative to recruitment of qualified members, training and team maintenance, and evaluation of team effectiveness. With relevant concepts from the literature applied to practical examples, the authors demonstrate how cultural team competence grows in a supportive work environment.

The Workings of a Multicultural Research Team

PubMed Central

Friedemann, Marie-Luise; Pagan-Coss, Harald; Mayorga, Carlos

2013-01-01

Purpose Transcultural nurse researchers are exposed to the challenges of developing and maintaining a multiethnic team. With the example of a multicultural research study of family caregivers conducted in the Miami-Dade area, the authors guide the readers through steps of developing a culturally competent and effective team. Design Pointing out challenges and successes, the authors illustrate team processes and successful strategies relative to recruitment of qualified members, training and team maintenance, and evaluation of team effectiveness. Method With relevant concepts from the literature applied to practical examples, the authors demonstrate how cultural team competence grows in a supportive work environment. PMID:18390824

Physical Activity Parenting Measurement and Research: Challenges, Explanations, and Solutions

PubMed Central

Mâsse, Louise C.; Timperio, Anna; Frenn, Marilyn D.; Saunders, Julie; Mendoza, Jason A.; Gobbi, Erica; Hanson, Phillip; Trost, Stewart G.

2013-01-01

Abstract Physical activity (PA) parenting research has proliferated over the past decade, with findings verifying the influential role that parents play in children's emerging PA behaviors. This knowledge, however, has not translated into effective family-based PA interventions. During a preconference workshop to the 2012 International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity annual meeting, a PA parenting workgroup met to: (1) Discuss challenges in PA parenting research that may limit its translation, (2) identify explanations or reasons for such challenges, and (3) recommend strategies for future research. Challenges discussed by the workgroup included a proliferation of disconnected and inconsistently measured constructs, a limited understanding of the dimensions of PA parenting, and a narrow conceptualization of hypothesized moderators of the relationship between PA parenting and child PA. Potential reasons for such challenges emphasized by the group included a disinclination to employ theory when developing measures and examining predictors and outcomes of PA parenting as well as a lack of agreed-upon measurement standards. Suggested solutions focused on the need to link PA parenting research with general parenting research, define and adopt rigorous standards of measurement, and identify new methods to assess PA parenting. As an initial step toward implementing these recommendations, the workgroup developed a conceptual model that: (1) Integrates parenting dimensions from the general parenting literature into the conceptualization of PA parenting, (2) draws on behavioral and developmental theory, and (3) emphasizes areas which have been neglected to date including precursors to PA parenting and effect modifiers. PMID:23944918

eHealth Recruitment Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Debbe; Canada, Ashanti; Bhatt, Riddhi; Davis, Jennifer; Plesko, Lisa; Baranowski, Tom; Cullen, Karen; Zakeri, Issa

2006-01-01

Little is known about effective eHealth recruitment methods. This paper presents recruitment challenges associated with enrolling African-American girls aged 8-10 years in an eHealth obesity prevention program, their effect on the recruitment plan, and potential implications for eHealth research. Although the initial recruitment strategy was…

[Big Data: the great opportunities and challenges to microbiome and other biomedical research].

PubMed

Xu, Zhenjiang

2015-02-01

With the development of high-throughput technologies, biomedical data has been increasing exponentially in an explosive manner. This brings enormous opportunities and challenges to biomedical researchers on how to effectively utilize big data. Big data is different from traditional data in many ways, described as 3Vs - volume, variety and velocity. From the perspective of biomedical research, here I introduced the characteristics of big data, such as its messiness, re-usage and openness. Focusing on microbiome research of meta-analysis, the author discussed the prospective principles in data collection, challenges of privacy protection in data management, and the scalable tools in data analysis with examples from real life.

A Systematic Approach to Faculty Development toward Improved Capability in Tertiary Teaching in a Blended Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Badawood, Ashraf Mohammad

2011-01-01

The blended learning (BL) approach provides an efficient and effective instructional experience. However, adopting BL poses some challenge to faculty; the most important obstacle found in this research is faculty's lack of knowledge regarding the use of technology in their teaching. This challenge prompted the researcher to identify a solution…

Effect of Acquisition Rates on Off-Task Behavior with Children Identified as Having Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Matthew K.; Dean, Vincent J.

2005-01-01

Research has consistently demonstrated the importance of providing an appropriate level of challenge, called the instructional level, within curricular material. Although the instructional level is a generally well-defined and researched construct, much less data exist on the acquisition rate (AR) component of an appropriate level of challenge.…

The Challenge of Timely, Responsive and Rigorous Ethics Review of Disaster Research: Views of Research Ethics Committee Members.

PubMed

Hunt, Matthew; Tansey, Catherine M; Anderson, James; Boulanger, Renaud F; Eckenwiler, Lisa; Pringle, John; Schwartz, Lisa

2016-01-01

Research conducted following natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or hurricanes is crucial for improving relief interventions. Such research, however, poses ethical, methodological and logistical challenges for researchers. Oversight of disaster research also poses challenges for research ethics committees (RECs), in part due to the rapid turnaround needed to initiate research after a disaster. Currently, there is limited knowledge available about how RECs respond to and appraise disaster research. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the experiences of REC members who had reviewed disaster research conducted in low- or middle-income countries. We used interpretive description methodology and conducted in-depth interviews with 15 respondents. Respondents were chairs, members, advisors, or coordinators from 13 RECs, including RECs affiliated with universities, governments, international organizations, a for-profit REC, and an ad hoc committee established during a disaster. Interviews were analyzed inductively using constant comparative techniques. Through this process, three elements were identified as characterizing effective and high-quality review: timeliness, responsiveness and rigorousness. To ensure timeliness, many RECs rely on adaptations of review procedures for urgent protocols. Respondents emphasized that responsive review requires awareness of and sensitivity to the particularities of disaster settings and disaster research. Rigorous review was linked with providing careful assessment of ethical considerations related to the research, as well as ensuring independence of the review process. Both the frequency of disasters and the conduct of disaster research are on the rise. Ensuring effective and high quality review of disaster research is crucial, yet challenges, including time pressures for urgent protocols, exist for achieving this goal. Adapting standard REC procedures may be necessary. However, steps should be taken to ensure that ethics review of disaster research remains diligent and thorough.

The Challenge of Timely, Responsive and Rigorous Ethics Review of Disaster Research: Views of Research Ethics Committee Members

PubMed Central

Hunt, Matthew; Tansey, Catherine M.

2016-01-01

Background Research conducted following natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or hurricanes is crucial for improving relief interventions. Such research, however, poses ethical, methodological and logistical challenges for researchers. Oversight of disaster research also poses challenges for research ethics committees (RECs), in part due to the rapid turnaround needed to initiate research after a disaster. Currently, there is limited knowledge available about how RECs respond to and appraise disaster research. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the experiences of REC members who had reviewed disaster research conducted in low- or middle-income countries. Methods We used interpretive description methodology and conducted in-depth interviews with 15 respondents. Respondents were chairs, members, advisors, or coordinators from 13 RECs, including RECs affiliated with universities, governments, international organizations, a for-profit REC, and an ad hoc committee established during a disaster. Interviews were analyzed inductively using constant comparative techniques. Results Through this process, three elements were identified as characterizing effective and high-quality review: timeliness, responsiveness and rigorousness. To ensure timeliness, many RECs rely on adaptations of review procedures for urgent protocols. Respondents emphasized that responsive review requires awareness of and sensitivity to the particularities of disaster settings and disaster research. Rigorous review was linked with providing careful assessment of ethical considerations related to the research, as well as ensuring independence of the review process. Conclusion Both the frequency of disasters and the conduct of disaster research are on the rise. Ensuring effective and high quality review of disaster research is crucial, yet challenges, including time pressures for urgent protocols, exist for achieving this goal. Adapting standard REC procedures may be necessary. However, steps should be taken to ensure that ethics review of disaster research remains diligent and thorough. PMID:27327165

Integrating Research to Reduce Risk and Gain the Benefits for Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mcbean, G. A.

2015-12-01

Across all countries there are challenges due to the increasing numbers of hazards creating disasters and impacting on people and property and limiting development. These impacts, in a relative sense relative to population and economy, are larger in developing countries and small island states. The issues of disaster risk reduction, sustainable development goals and climate change mitigation and adaptation are key global issues being addressed through international processes in 2015. Internationally coordinated research, through programs such as Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, Future Earth: Research for Global Sustainability and Health and Wellbeing in the Changing Urban Environment, needs to be supported and their research coordinated so the outputs are effective in policy development and can be used by all countries. A particular challenge is with regard to those extreme and relatively rare events that have huge impacts but societies are not yet effective in "making timely decisions and implementation of the hazard-associated preparedness measures to mitigate humanitarian and economic losses". The challenge for the scientific community is to work with stakeholder communities through a co-design, co-produce and co-deliver approach to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of our science.

Beginning Teachers' Challenges in Their Pursuit of Effective Teaching Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Confait, Steve

2015-01-01

This article explores the context and experiences of three beginning teachers in their effort to improve their teaching and to implement and align themselves with their schools' expectations of effective teaching practices. Research findings emerging from a sociocultural-ethnographic framework revealed that participants challenged their own…

Good research practices for comparative effectiveness research: approaches to mitigate bias and confounding in the design of nonrandomized studies of treatment effects using secondary data sources: the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Good Research Practices for Retrospective Database Analysis Task Force Report--Part II.

PubMed

Cox, Emily; Martin, Bradley C; Van Staa, Tjeerd; Garbe, Edeltraut; Siebert, Uwe; Johnson, Michael L

2009-01-01

The goal of comparative effectiveness analysis is to examine the relationship between two variables, treatment, or exposure and effectiveness or outcome. Unlike data obtained through randomized controlled trials, researchers face greater challenges with causal inference with observational studies. Recognizing these challenges, a task force was formed to develop a guidance document on methodological approaches to addresses these biases. The task force was commissioned and a Chair was selected by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Board of Directors in October 2007. This report, the second of three reported in this issue of the Journal, discusses the inherent biases when using secondary data sources for comparative effectiveness analysis and provides methodological recommendations to help mitigate these biases. The task force report provides recommendations and tools for researchers to mitigate threats to validity from bias and confounding in measurement of exposure and outcome. Recommendations on design of study included: the need for data analysis plan with causal diagrams; detailed attention to classification bias in definition of exposure and clinical outcome; careful and appropriate use of restriction; extreme care to identify and control for confounding factors, including time-dependent confounding. Design of nonrandomized studies of comparative effectiveness face several daunting issues, including measurement of exposure and outcome challenged by misclassification and confounding. Use of causal diagrams and restriction are two techniques that can improve the theoretical basis for analyzing treatment effects in study populations of more homogeneity, with reduced loss of generalizability.

Enrolling African-American and Latino patients with asthma in comparative effectiveness research: Lessons learned from 8 patient-centered studies.

PubMed

Kramer, C Bradley; LeRoy, Lisa; Donahue, Sara; Apter, Andrea J; Bryant-Stephens, Tyra; Elder, John P; Hamilton, Winifred J; Krishnan, Jerry A; Shelef, Deborah Q; Stout, James W; Sumino, Kaharu; Teach, Stephen J; Federman, Alex D

2016-12-01

African-American and Latino patients are often difficult to recruit for asthma studies. This challenge is a barrier to improving asthma care and outcomes for these populations. We sought to examine the recruitment experiences of 8 asthma comparative effectiveness studies that specifically targeted African-American and Latino patients, and identify the solutions they developed to improve recruitment. Case report methodology was used to gather and evaluate information on study design, recruitment procedures and outcomes from study protocols and annual reports, and in-depth interviews with each research team. Data were analyzed for themes, commonalities, and differences. There were 4 domains of recruitment challenges: individual participant, institutional, research team, and study intervention. Participants had competing demands for time and some did not believe they had asthma. Institutional challenges included organizational policies governing monetary incentives and staff hiring. Research team challenges included ongoing training needs of recruitment staff, and intervention designs often were unappealing to participants because of inconveniences. Teams identified a host of strategies to address these challenges, most importantly engagement of patients and other stakeholders in study design and troubleshooting, and flexibility in data collection and intervention application to meet the varied needs of patients. Asthma researchers may have greater success with recruitment by addressing uncertainty among patients about asthma diagnosis, engaging stakeholders in all aspects of study design and implementation, and maximizing flexibility of study and intervention protocols. However, even with such efforts, engagement of African-American and Latino patients in asthma research may remain low. Greater investment in research on engaging these populations in asthma research may ultimately be needed to improve their asthma care and outcomes. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The political and scientific challenges in evaluating compulsory drug treatment centers in Southeast Asia.

PubMed

Vuong, Thu; Nguyen, Nhu; Le, Giang; Shanahan, Marian; Ali, Robert; Ritter, Alison

2017-01-11

In Vietnam, like many countries in Southeast Asia, the commonly used approach of center-based compulsory drug treatment (CCT) has been criticized on human rights ground. Meanwhile, community-based voluntary methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) has been implemented for nearly a decade with promising results. Reform-minded leaders have been seeking empirical evidence of the costs and effectiveness associated with these two main treatment modalities. Conducting evaluations of these treatments, especially where randomization is not ethical, presents challenges. The aim of this paper is to discuss political challenges and methodological issues when conducting cost-effectiveness studies within the context of a non-democratic Southeast Asian country. A retrospective analysis of the political and scientific challenges that were experienced in the study design, sample size determination, government approval and ethics approvals, participant recruitment, data collection, and determination of sources, and quantification of cost and effectiveness data was undertaken. As a consequence of the non-randomized design, analysis of patient characteristics for both treatment types was undertaken to identify the magnitude of baseline group differences. Concordance between self-reported heroin use and urine drug testing was undertaken to determine the reliability of self-report data in a politically challenging environment. We demonstrate that conducting research around compulsory treatment in a non-democratic society is feasible, yet it is politically challenging and requires navigation between science and politics. We also demonstrate that engagement with the government decision makers in the research conception, implementation, and dissemination of the results increases the likelihood of research evidence being considered for change in a contentious drug policy area. Local empirical evidence on the comparative cost-effectiveness of CCT and MMT in a Southeast Asian setting is critical to consideration of more holistic, humane, and effective drug-dependence treatment approaches, but the garnering of such evidence is very challenging.

Challenges in using electronic health record data for CER: experience of 4 learning organizations and solutions applied.

PubMed

Bayley, K Bruce; Belnap, Tom; Savitz, Lucy; Masica, Andrew L; Shah, Nilay; Fleming, Neil S

2013-08-01

To document the strengths and challenges of using electronic health records (EHRs) for comparative effectiveness research (CER). A replicated case study of comparative effectiveness in hypertension treatment was conducted across 4 health systems, with instructions to extract data and document problems encountered using a specified list of required data elements. Researchers at each health system documented successes and challenges, and suggested solutions for addressing challenges. Data challenges fell into 5 categories: missing data, erroneous data, uninterpretable data, inconsistencies among providers and over time, and data stored in noncoded text notes. Suggested strategies to address these issues include data validation steps, use of surrogate markers, natural language processing, and statistical techniques. A number of EHR issues can hamper the extraction of valid data for cross-health system comparative effectiveness studies. Our case example cautions against a blind reliance on EHR data as a single definitive data source. Nevertheless, EHR data are superior to administrative or claims data alone, and are cheaper and timelier than clinical trials or manual chart reviews. All 4 participating health systems are pursuing pathways to more effectively use EHR data for CER.A partnership between clinicians, researchers, and information technology specialists is encouraged as a way to capitalize on the wealth of information contained in the EHR. Future developments in both technology and care delivery hold promise for improvement in the ability to use EHR data for CER.

Challenges and benefits of conducting environmental justice research in a school setting.

PubMed

Guidry, Virginia T; Lowman, Amy; Hall, Devon; Baron, Dothula; Wing, Steve

2014-01-01

Environmental justice (EJ) research requires attention to consequences for research participants beyond those typically considered by institutional review boards. The imbalance of power between impacted communities and those who create and regulate pollution creates challenges for participation, yet research can also benefit those involved. Our community-academic partnership designed the Rural Air Pollutants and Children's Health (RAPCH) study to provide positive impacts while measuring health effects at three low-resource public middle schools near concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in North Carolina. We evaluated perceived benefits and challenges of study involvement by interviewing school staff and community liaisons who facilitated data collection. Reported benefits included enhancement of students' academic environment and increased community environmental awareness; challenges were associated mainly with some participants' immaturity. Leadership from a strong community-based organization was crucial to recruitment, yet our approach entailed minimal focus on EJ, which may have limited opportunities for community education or organizing for environmental health.

Digital media in the home: technical and research challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ribas-Corbera, Jordi

2005-03-01

This article attempts to identify some of the technology and research challenges facing the digital media industry in the future. We first discuss several trends in the industry, such as the rapid growth of broadband Internet networks and the emergence of networking and media-capable devices in the home. Next, we present technical challenges that result from these trends, such as effective media interoperability in devices, and provide a brief overview of Windows Media, which is one of the technologies in the market attempting to address these challenges. Finally, given these trends and the state of the art, we argue that further research on data compression, encoder optimization, and multi-format transcoding can potentially make a significant technical and business impact in digital media. We also explore the reasons that research on related techniques such as wavelets or scalable video coding is having a relatively minor impact in today"s practical digital media systems.

Insurance-related and financial challenges reported by managed care enrollees with breast cancer.

PubMed

Klimmek, Rachel; Snow, Denise; Wenzel, Jennifer

2010-10-01

Cancer survivors in the United States often encounter significant challenges in obtaining and paying for medical care. Multiple research studies have examined these issues in Medicare and Medicaid populations and the underinsured, but very little is known about insurance-related challenges encountered by cancer survivors enrolled in private insurance programs such as managed care. This secondary analysis of data explored the insurance-related and financial challenges reported by women enrolled in a managed care organization during cancer treatment and early follow-up. The researchers reviewed semistructured interviews with 14 women with breast cancer near the time of diagnosis, midway through treatment, and after treatment completion. Most women reported considerable stress related to performance of insurance-related tasks during or immediately after treatment, which resulted in negative emotional and psychological experiences. This article presents recommendations for how oncology nurses can intervene to assess and address these challenges and their effects. Future research should examine best practices related to nursing management of insurance-related and financial challenges during cancer.

Editorial

DOE PAGES

Whittle, K. R.; Edmondson, P. D.

2015-07-01

The development of nuclear materials for the next generation of reactor technology, e.g. GenIV and fusion, is at a critical juncture, with an increasing body of research into the long-term effects of radiation damage on materials being examined. As it is hopefully evident from the papers in this journal issue, there are many pertinent and challenging topics for research in this exciting and challenging area of research, driving forward the development of new materials and the next generation of nuclear reactor technologies.

Food systems transition and disruptive low carbon innovation: implications for a food security research agenda.

PubMed

Tyfield, David

2011-07-01

There is a growing consensus that we are facing epochal challenges in global food security. Moreover, these challenges are multiple and complex. Meeting these challenges will involve nothing less than a wholesale socio-technical transition of the agri-food system. Optimizing the efficacy of the contribution of research to such a food security agenda will probably also need new institutional mechanisms and career structures to facilitate new kinds of collaborations and ongoing, longer-term projects. In short, the multiple challenges of food security demand a different political economy of research for effective intervention by science. In making this argument, the paper summarizes the major findings of a recent report regarding the potential impact of so-called 'disruptive' low-carbon innovations in China.

Communicating Research to Small Drinking Water Systems: Dissemination by Researchers

EPA Science Inventory

This talk discusses the challenges of disseminating research relevant to small systems. The presentation discusses efforts by the U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development to effectively communicating drinking water information. In particular, communication approaches ...

Opportunities to Meet Challenges in Rural Prevention Research

PubMed Central

Spoth, Richard

2008-01-01

Various rural prevention research challenges have been articulated through a series of sessions convened since the mid 1990s by the National Institutes of Health, particularly the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Salient in this articulation was the need for effective collaboration among rural practitioners and scientists, with special consideration of accommodating the diversity of rural areas and surmounting barriers to implementation of evidence-based interventions. This paper summarizes the range of challenges in rural prevention research and describes an evolving community-university partnership model addressing them. The model entails involvement of public school staff and other rural community stakeholders, linked with scientists by Land Grant University-based Extension system staff. Examples of findings from over 16 years of partnership-based intervention research projects include those on engagement of rural residents, quality implementation of evidence-based interventions, and long-term community-level outcomes, as well as factors in effectiveness of the partnerships. Findings suggest a future focus on building capacity for practitioner-scientist collaboration and developing a network for more widespread implementation of the partnership model in a manner informed by lessons learned from partnership-based research to date. PMID:18237324

Effects of augmentative and alternative communication on challenging behavior: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Walker, Virginia L; Snell, Martha E

2013-06-01

The purposes of this review were to (a) use meta-analytic procedures to examine the effectiveness of single-case AAC intervention research on challenging behaviors exhibited by individuals with disabilities, (b) identify study characteristics that moderate intervention effects, and (c) evaluate the quality of research. The authors provided inferential and descriptive analyses of 54 studies representing 111 participants and estimated effect sizes using the Nonoverlap of All Pairs (NAP) method. Overall, AAC interventions were found to be equally effective across a broad spectrum of participants and interventions. AAC interventions were more effective with younger children than with adults. Interventions in which functional behavior assessments (FBA) were used had significantly larger effect sizes than those that did not use FBAs. Further, functional communication training interventions resulted in larger effect sizes than Picture Exchange Communication System interventions. Descriptive analysis revealed that (a) interventions often occurred in atypical environments (e.g., therapy room, experimental room) and with atypical interventionists (e.g., therapists, researchers), and (b) numerous studies did not exhibit quality characteristics of single-case research.

Who's Challenging Who? Changing Attitudes towards Those Whose Behaviour Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutchinson, L. M.; Hastings, R. P.; Hunt, P. H.; Bowler, C. L.; Banks, M. E.; Totsika, V.

2014-01-01

Background: Although staff attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disability (ID) whose behaviour challenges may be an important part of a positive support culture, very little research has focused on the development of training specifically designed to change staff attitudes. Positive contact is hypothesised to be an effective way to…

Responding to Hostility: Evidence-Based Guidance for Communication during Planned Organizational Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Kim Sydow; Carmichael, Pierson; Naidoo, Jefrey S.

2015-01-01

Hostile challenges to planned organization change are common and challenging to deal with effectively. Little research has explained successful responses to such stakeholder hostility. To address this gap, we use the concept of readiness to characterize the content of hostile challenges. We also use rhetorical strategies based on speech act theory…

Troubling the Boundaries: Overcoming Methodological Challenges in a Multi-Sectoral and Multi-Jurisdictional HIV/HCV Policy Scoping Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hare, Kathleen A.; Dubé, Anik; Marshall, Zack; Gahagan, Jacqueline; Harris, Gregory E.; Tucker, Maryanne; Dykeman, Margaret; MacDonald, Jo-Ann

2016-01-01

Policy scoping reviews are an effective method for generating evidence-informed policies. However, when applying guiding methodological frameworks to complex policy evidence, numerous, unexpected challenges can emerge. This paper details five challenges experienced and addressed by a policy trainee-led, multi-disciplinary research team, while…

Operational Research during the Ebola Emergency.

PubMed

Fitzpatrick, Gabriel; Decroo, Tom; Draguez, Bertrand; Crestani, Rosa; Ronsse, Axelle; Van den Bergh, Rafael; Van Herp, Michel

2017-07-01

Operational research aims to identify interventions, strategies, or tools that can enhance the quality, effectiveness, or coverage of programs where the research is taking place. Médecins Sans Frontières admitted ≈5,200 patients with confirmed Ebola virus disease during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and from the beginning nested operational research within its emergency response. This research covered critical areas, such as understanding how the virus spreads, clinical trials, community perceptions, challenges within Ebola treatment centers, and negative effects on non-Ebola healthcare. Importantly, operational research questions were decided to a large extent by returning volunteers who had first-hand knowledge of the immediate issues facing teams in the field. Such a method is appropriate for an emergency medical organization. Many challenges were also identified while carrying out operational research across 3 different countries, including the basic need for collecting data in standardized format to enable comparison of findings among treatment centers.

A community of practice: librarians in a biomedical research network.

PubMed

De Jager-Loftus, Danielle P; Midyette, J David; Harvey, Barbara

2014-01-01

Providing library and reference services within a biomedical research community presents special challenges for librarians, especially those in historically lower-funded states. These challenges can include understanding needs, defining and communicating the library's role, building relationships, and developing and maintaining general and subject specific knowledge. This article describes a biomedical research network and the work of health sciences librarians at the lead intensive research institution with librarians from primarily undergraduate institutions and tribal colleges. Applying the concept of a community of practice to a collaborative effort suggests how librarians can work together to provide effective reference services to researchers in biomedicine.

Evaluation of quality improvement programmes

PubMed Central

Ovretveit, J; Gustafson, D

2002-01-01



 In response to increasing concerns about quality, many countries are carrying out large scale programmes which include national quality strategies, hospital programmes, and quality accreditation, assessment and review processes. Increasing amounts of resources are being devoted to these interventions, but do they ensure or improve quality of care? There is little research evidence as to their effectiveness or the conditions for maximum effectiveness. Reasons for the lack of evaluation research include the methodological challenges of measuring outcomes and attributing causality to these complex, changing, long term social interventions to organisations or health systems, which themselves are complex and changing. However, methods are available which can be used to evaluate these programmes and which can provide decision makers with research based guidance on how to plan and implement them. This paper describes the research challenges, the methods which can be used, and gives examples and guidance for future research. It emphasises the important contribution which such research can make to improving the effectiveness of these programmes and to developing the science of quality improvement. PMID:12486994

Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pischke, Erin C.; Knowlton, Jessie L.; Phifer, Colin C.; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose; Propato, Tamara S.; Eastmond, Amarella; de Souza, Tatiana Martins; Kuhlberg, Mark; Picasso Risso, Valentin; Veron, Santiago R.; Garcia, Carlos; Chiappe, Marta; Halvorsen, Kathleen E.

2017-12-01

Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive. However, research on international, interdisciplinary teams is nearly non-existent. Our objective is to fill this gap by reporting on results from a study of a large interdisciplinary, international National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) research project across the Americas. We administered a structured questionnaire to team members about challenges they faced while working together across disciplines and outside of their home countries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Analysis of the responses indicated five major types of barriers to conducting interdisciplinary, international research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment. We discuss the causes and recommended solutions to the most common barriers. Our findings can help other interdisciplinary, international research teams anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions to minimize the negative impacts of these barriers to their research.

Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects.

PubMed

Pischke, Erin C; Knowlton, Jessie L; Phifer, Colin C; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose; Propato, Tamara S; Eastmond, Amarella; de Souza, Tatiana Martins; Kuhlberg, Mark; Picasso Risso, Valentin; Veron, Santiago R; Garcia, Carlos; Chiappe, Marta; Halvorsen, Kathleen E

2017-12-01

Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive. However, research on international, interdisciplinary teams is nearly non-existent. Our objective is to fill this gap by reporting on results from a study of a large interdisciplinary, international National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) research project across the Americas. We administered a structured questionnaire to team members about challenges they faced while working together across disciplines and outside of their home countries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Analysis of the responses indicated five major types of barriers to conducting interdisciplinary, international research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment. We discuss the causes and recommended solutions to the most common barriers. Our findings can help other interdisciplinary, international research teams anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions to minimize the negative impacts of these barriers to their research.

Accountability Studies on Air Pollution and Health: the HEI Experience.

PubMed

Boogaard, Hanna; van Erp, Annemoon M; Walker, Katherine D; Shaikh, Rashid

2017-12-01

Assessing health effects of air quality interventions is of ever-increasing interest. Given the prominent role Health Effects Institute (HEI) has played in accountability research, this review focuses on HEI's recent experiences, the challenges it has encountered, and provides possible directions for future research. Most accountability studies to date have focused on effects of relatively short-term, local-scale, and sometimes temporary interventions. Only a few recent accountability studies have sought to investigate large-scale, multiyear regulatory programs. Common challenges encountered include lack of statistical power, how to account appropriately for background trends in air quality and health, and difficulties in direct attribution of changes in air pollution and health to a single intervention among many regulatory actions. New methods have been developed for accountability research that has shown promise addressing some of those challenges, including use of causal inference methods. These and other approaches that would enhance the attribution of changes in air quality and health directly to an intervention should continue to be further explored. In addition, integration of social and behavioral sciences in accountability research is warranted, and climate related co-benefits and dis-benefits may be considered.

Progress and challenges of disaster health management in China: a scoping review.

PubMed

Zhong, Shuang; Clark, Michele; Hou, Xiang-Yu; Zang, Yuli; FitzGerald, Gerard

2014-01-01

Despite the importance of an effective health system response to various disasters, relevant research is still in its infancy, especially in middle- and low-income countries. This paper provides an overview of the status of disaster health management in China, with its aim to promote the effectiveness of the health response for reducing disaster-related mortality and morbidity. A scoping review method was used to address the recent progress of and challenges to disaster health management in China. Major health electronic databases were searched to identify English and Chinese literature that were relevant to the research aims. The review found that since 2003 considerable progress has been achieved in the health disaster response system in China. However, there remain challenges that hinder effective health disaster responses, including low standards of disaster-resistant infrastructure safety, the lack of specific disaster plans, poor emergency coordination between hospitals, lack of portable diagnostic equipment and underdeveloped triage skills, surge capacity, and psychological interventions. Additional challenges include the fragmentation of the emergency health service system, a lack of specific legislation for emergencies, disparities in the distribution of funding, and inadequate cost-effective considerations for disaster rescue. One solution identified to address these challenges appears to be through corresponding policy strategies at multiple levels (e.g. community, hospital, and healthcare system level).

Integrating Environmental Sustainability into Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ralph, Meredith; Stubbs, Wendy

2014-01-01

Universities play a fundamental role in addressing global environmental challenges as their education, research and community involvement can produce long-lasting environmental effects and societal change. By demonstrating best practice in their operations, research and teaching, universities have both multiple and multiplier effects on society.…

Conspicuous by Their Absence: Studies Comparing and Combining Risperidone and Applied Behavior Analysis to Reduce Challenging Behavior in Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weeden, Marc; Ehrhardt, Kristal; Poling, Alan

2009-01-01

Both risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic drug, and function-based behavior-analytic interventions are popular and empirically validated treatments for reducing challenging behavior in children with autism. The kind of research that supports their effectiveness differs, however, and no published study has directly compared their effects or…

Patient Engagement in Kidney Research: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead

PubMed Central

Molnar, Amber O.; Barua, Moumita; Konvalinka, Ana; Schick-Makaroff, Kara

2017-01-01

Purpose of Review: Patient engagement in research is increasingly recognized as an important component of the research process and may facilitate translation of research findings. To heighten awareness on this important topic, this review presents opportunities and challenges of patient engagement in research, drawing on specific examples from 4 areas of Canadian kidney research conducted by New Investigators in the Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) Program. Sources of Information: Research expertise, published reports, peer-reviewed articles, and research funding body websites. Methods: In this review, the definition, purpose, and potential benefits of patient engagement in research are discussed. Approaches toward patient engagement that may help with translation and uptake of research findings into clinical practice are highlighted. Opportunities and challenges of patient engagement are presented in both basic science and clinical research with the following examples of kidney research: (1) precision care in focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis, (2) systems biology approaches to improve management of chronic kidney disease and enhance kidney graft survival, (3) reducing the incidence of suboptimal dialysis initiation, and (4) use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) in kidney practice. Key Findings: Clinical research affords more obvious opportunities for patient engagement. The most obvious step at which to engage patients is in the setting of research priorities. Engagement at all stages of the research cycle may prove to be more challenging, and requires a detailed plan, along with funds and infrastructure to ensure that it is not merely tokenistic. Basic science research is several steps removed from the clinical application and involves complex scientific concepts, which makes patient engagement inherently more difficult. Limitations: This is a narrative review of the literature that has been partly influenced by the perspectives and experiences of the authors and focuses on research conducted by the authors. The evidence base to support the suggested benefits of patient engagement in research is currently limited. Implications: The formal incorporation of patients’ priorities, perspectives, and experiences is now recognized as a key component of the research process. If patients and researchers are able to effectively work together, this could enhance research quality and efficiency. To effectively engage patients, proper infrastructure and dedicated funding are needed. Going forward, a rigorous evaluation of patient engagement strategies and their effectiveness will be needed. PMID:29225906

Patient Engagement in Kidney Research: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead.

PubMed

Molnar, Amber O; Barua, Moumita; Konvalinka, Ana; Schick-Makaroff, Kara

2017-01-01

Patient engagement in research is increasingly recognized as an important component of the research process and may facilitate translation of research findings. To heighten awareness on this important topic, this review presents opportunities and challenges of patient engagement in research, drawing on specific examples from 4 areas of Canadian kidney research conducted by New Investigators in the Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) Program. Research expertise, published reports, peer-reviewed articles, and research funding body websites. In this review, the definition, purpose, and potential benefits of patient engagement in research are discussed. Approaches toward patient engagement that may help with translation and uptake of research findings into clinical practice are highlighted. Opportunities and challenges of patient engagement are presented in both basic science and clinical research with the following examples of kidney research: (1) precision care in focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis, (2) systems biology approaches to improve management of chronic kidney disease and enhance kidney graft survival, (3) reducing the incidence of suboptimal dialysis initiation, and (4) use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) in kidney practice. Clinical research affords more obvious opportunities for patient engagement. The most obvious step at which to engage patients is in the setting of research priorities. Engagement at all stages of the research cycle may prove to be more challenging, and requires a detailed plan, along with funds and infrastructure to ensure that it is not merely tokenistic. Basic science research is several steps removed from the clinical application and involves complex scientific concepts, which makes patient engagement inherently more difficult. This is a narrative review of the literature that has been partly influenced by the perspectives and experiences of the authors and focuses on research conducted by the authors. The evidence base to support the suggested benefits of patient engagement in research is currently limited. The formal incorporation of patients' priorities, perspectives, and experiences is now recognized as a key component of the research process. If patients and researchers are able to effectively work together, this could enhance research quality and efficiency. To effectively engage patients, proper infrastructure and dedicated funding are needed. Going forward, a rigorous evaluation of patient engagement strategies and their effectiveness will be needed.

Shared Authentic Leadership in Research Teams: Testing a Multiple Mediation Model.

PubMed

Guenter, Hannes; Gardner, William L; Davis McCauley, Kelly; Randolph-Seng, Brandon; Prabhu, Veena P

2017-12-01

Research teams face complex leadership and coordination challenges. We propose shared authentic leadership (SAL) as a timely approach to addressing these challenges. Drawing from authentic and functional leadership theories, we posit a multiple mediation model that suggests three mechanisms whereby SAL influences team effectiveness: shared mental models (SMM), team trust, and team coordination. To test our hypotheses, we collected survey data on leadership and teamwork within 142 research teams that recently published an article in a peer-reviewed management journal. The results indicate team coordination represents the primary mediating mechanism accounting for the relationship between SAL and research team effectiveness. While teams with high trust and SMM felt more successful and were more satisfied, they were less successful in publishing in high-impact journals. We also found the four SAL dimensions (i.e., self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) to associate differently with team effectiveness.

How stakeholder participation can contribute to systematic reviews of complex interventions

PubMed Central

Harris, J; Croot, L; Thompson, J; Springett, J

2016-01-01

Although patient and public involvement in research is a requirement for research funding in many countries, the knowledge base for how to effectively involve people—and evidence of the effectiveness of involvement—is weak. This article describes how methods used in participatory health research were used to involve patients, clients, providers and community health workers across all stages of a realist review. Sustained involvement enabled better identification of the components of the complex intervention of community-based peer support. It also challenged assumptions of how peer support is constructed, leading the review team to question whether the process of designing and implementing interventions has more influence on effectiveness than previously recognised in empirical studies. We conclude with a discussion on when sustained involvement should be used, and the challenges of incorporating it into the traditional researcher-led approach to systematic reviews. PMID:26475921

Shared Authentic Leadership in Research Teams: Testing a Multiple Mediation Model

PubMed Central

Guenter, Hannes; Gardner, William L.; Davis McCauley, Kelly; Randolph-Seng, Brandon; Prabhu, Veena P.

2017-01-01

Research teams face complex leadership and coordination challenges. We propose shared authentic leadership (SAL) as a timely approach to addressing these challenges. Drawing from authentic and functional leadership theories, we posit a multiple mediation model that suggests three mechanisms whereby SAL influences team effectiveness: shared mental models (SMM), team trust, and team coordination. To test our hypotheses, we collected survey data on leadership and teamwork within 142 research teams that recently published an article in a peer-reviewed management journal. The results indicate team coordination represents the primary mediating mechanism accounting for the relationship between SAL and research team effectiveness. While teams with high trust and SMM felt more successful and were more satisfied, they were less successful in publishing in high-impact journals. We also found the four SAL dimensions (i.e., self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) to associate differently with team effectiveness. PMID:29187779

Expanding multi-disciplinary approaches to healthcare information technologies: what does information systems offer medical informatics?

PubMed

Chiasson, Mike; Reddy, Madhu; Kaplan, Bonnie; Davidson, Elizabeth

2007-06-01

The effective use of information technology (IT) is a crucial component for the delivery of effective services in health care. Current approaches to medical informatics (MI) research have significantly contributed to the success of IT use in health care but important challenges remain to be addressed. We believe that expanding the multi-disciplinary basis for MI research is important to meeting these research challenges. In this paper, we outline theories and methods used in information systems (IS) research that we believe can inform our understanding of health care IT applications and outcomes. To do so, we discuss some general differences in the focus and methods of MI and IS research to identify broad opportunities. We then review conceptual and methodological approaches in IS that have been applied in health care IT research. These include: technology-use mediation, collaborative work, genre theory, interpretive research, action research, and modeling. Examples of these theories and methods in healthcare IS research are illustrated.

Enhancing international collaboration among early career researchers.

PubMed

Carroll, Jennifer K; Albada, Akke; Farahani, Mansoureh; Lithner, Maria; Neumann, Melanie; Sandhu, Harbinder; Shepherd, Heather L

2010-09-01

The European Association of Communication in Healthcare (EACH) Early Career Researchers Network (ECRN) aims are to (1) promote international collaboration among young investigators and (2) provide a support network for future innovative communication research projects. In October 2009, Miami, USA at a workshop facilitated by the ECRN at the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH) hosted by the American Academy of Communication in Healthcare we explored common facilitators and challenges faced by early career researchers in health communication research. Attendees introduced themselves, their research area(s) of interest, and listed one facilitator and one barrier for their career development. EACH ECRN members then led a discussion of facilitators and challenges encountered in communication research projects and career development. We discussed potential collaboration opportunities, future goals, and activities. Having supportive collegial relationships, institutional support, job security, and funding are critical facilitators for early career investigators. Key challenges include difficulty with time management and prioritizing, limited resources, and contacts. International collaboration among early career researchers is a feasible and effective means to address important challenges, by increasing opportunities for professional support and networking, problem-solving, discussion of data, and ultimately publishing. Future AACH-EACH Early Career Researcher Networks should continue to build collaborations by developing shared research projects, papers, and other scholarly products. Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Enhancing international collaboration among early-career researchers

PubMed Central

Carroll, Jennifer K; Albada, Akke; Farahani, Mansoureh; Lithner, Maria; Neumann, Melanie; Sandhu, Harbinder; Shepherd, Heather L

2010-01-01

Objective The European Association of Communication in Healthcare (EACH) Early Career Researchers Network (ECRN) aims are to (1) promote international collaboration among young investigators and (2) provide a support network for future innovative communication research projects. In October 2009, Miami, USA at a workshop facilitated by the ECRN at the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH) hosted by the American Academy of Communication in Healthcare we explored common facilitators and challenges faced by early career researchers in health communication research. Methods Attendees introduced themselves, their research area(s) of interest, and listed one facilitator and one barrier for their career development. EACH ECRN members then led a discussion of facilitators and challenges encountered in communication research projects and career development. We discussed potential collaboration opportunities, future goals, and activities. Results Having supportive collegial relationships, institutional support, job security, and funding are critical facilitators for early career investigators. Key challenges include difficulty with time management and prioritizing, limited resources, and contacts. Conclusion International collaboration among early career researchers is a feasible and effective means to address important challenges, by increasing opportunities for professional support and networking, problem-solving, discussion of data, and ultimately publishing. Practice Implications Future AACH-EACH Early Career Researcher Networks should continue to build collaborations by developing shared research projects, papers, and other scholarly products. PMID:20663630

Message Variability and Heterogeneity: A Core Challenge for Communication Research

PubMed Central

Slater, Michael D.; Peter, Jochen; Valkenberg, Patti

2015-01-01

Messages are central to human social experience, and pose key conceptual and methodological challenges in the study of communication. In response to these challenges, we outline a systematic approach to conceptualizing, operationalizing, and analyzing messages. At the conceptual level, we distinguish between two core aspects of messages: message variability (the defined and operationalized features of messages) and message heterogeneity (the undefined and unmeasured features of messages), and suggest preferred approaches to defining message variables. At the operational level, we identify message sampling, selection, and research design strategies responsive to issues of message variability and heterogeneity in experimental and survey research. At the analytical level, we highlight effective techniques to deal with message variability and heterogeneity. We conclude with seven recommendations to increase rigor in the study of communication through appropriately addressing the challenges presented by messages. PMID:26681816

The EPA's Human Exposure Research Program for Assessing Cumulative Risk in Communities

EPA Science Inventory

Communities are faced with challenges in identifying and prioritizing environmental issues, taking actions to reduce their exposures, and determining their effectiveness for reducing human health risks. Additional challenges include determining what scientific tools are available...

The Tension Between Data Sharing and the Protection of Privacy in Genomics Research

PubMed Central

Kaye, Jane

2014-01-01

Next-generation sequencing and global data sharing challenge many of the governance mechanisms currently in place to protect the privacy of research participants. These challenges will make it more difficult to guarantee anonymity for participants, provide information to satisfy the requirements of informed consent, and ensure complete withdrawal from research when requested. To move forward, we need to improve the current governance systems for research so that they are responsive to individual privacy concerns but can also be effective at a global level. We need to develop a system of e-governance that can complement existing governance systems but that places greater reliance on the use of technology to ensure compliance with ethical and legal requirements. These new governance structures must be able to address the concerns of research participants while at the same time ensuring effective data sharing that promotes public trust in genomics research. PMID:22404490

The tension between data sharing and the protection of privacy in genomics research.

PubMed

Kaye, Jane

2012-01-01

Next-generation sequencing and global data sharing challenge many of the governance mechanisms currently in place to protect the privacy of research participants. These challenges will make it more difficult to guarantee anonymity for participants, provide information to satisfy the requirements of informed consent, and ensure complete withdrawal from research when requested. To move forward, we need to improve the current governance systems for research so that they are responsive to individual privacy concerns but can also be effective at a global level. We need to develop a system of e-governance that can complement existing governance systems but that places greater reliance on the use of technology to ensure compliance with ethical and legal requirements. These new governance structures must be able to address the concerns of research participants while at the same time ensuring effective data sharing that promotes public trust in genomics research.

Watershed challenges for the 21st Century: A global perspective for mountainous terrain

Treesearch

Roy C. Sidle

2000-01-01

Three global challenges for watershed researchers in the 21st century are examined in this paper. These challenges are obtaining better assessments of terrain stability; understanding hydrologic responses at different watershed scales; and developing better methods for analyzing and assessing cumulative watershed effects. These topics are only a subset of the pressing...

Perceived Challenges in Primary Literature in a Master's Class: Effects of Experience and Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lie, Richard; Abdullah, Christopher; He, Wenliang; Tour, Ella

2016-01-01

Primary literature offers rich opportunities to teach students how to "think like a scientist," but the challenges students face when they attempt to read research articles are not well understood. Here, we present an analysis of what master's students perceive as the most challenging aspects of engaging with primary literature. We…

The problem is not just sample size: the consequences of low base rates in policing experiments in smaller cities.

PubMed

Hinkle, Joshua C; Weisburd, David; Famega, Christine; Ready, Justin

2013-01-01

Hot spots policing is one of the most influential police innovations, with a strong body of experimental research showing it to be effective in reducing crime and disorder. However, most studies have been conducted in major cities, and we thus know little about whether it is effective in smaller cities, which account for a majority of police agencies. The lack of experimental studies in smaller cities is likely in part due to challenges designing statistically powerful tests in such contexts. The current article explores the challenges of statistical power and "noise" resulting from low base rates of crime in smaller cities and provides suggestions for future evaluations to overcome these limitations. Data from a randomized experimental evaluation of broken windows policing in hot spots are used to illustrate the challenges that low base rates present for evaluating hot spots policing programs in smaller cities. Analyses show low base rates make it difficult to detect treatment effects. Very large effect sizes would be required to reach sufficient power, and random fluctuations around low base rates make detecting treatment effects difficult, irrespective of power, by masking differences between treatment and control groups. Low base rates present strong challenges to researchers attempting to evaluate hot spots policing in smaller cities. As such, base rates must be taken directly into account when designing experimental evaluations. The article offers suggestions for researchers attempting to expand the examination of hot spots policing and other microplace-based interventions to smaller jurisdictions.

Making patient and public involvement in cancer and palliative research a reality: academic support is vital for success.

PubMed

Collins, Karen; Boote, Jonathan; Ardron, David; Gath, Jacqui; Green, Tracy; Ahmedzai, Sam H

2015-06-01

Patient and public involvement (PPI) has become an established theme within the UK health research policy and is recognised as an essential force in the drive to improve the quality of services and research. These developments have been particularly rapid in the cancer field. This paper outlines a model of PPI in research (known as the North Trent Cancer Research Network Consumer Research Panel, NTCRN CRP; comprising 38 cancer and palliative care patients/carers) and the key benefits and challenges to effective PPI in cancer research. The PPI model has become a sustainable, inclusive and effective way of implementing PPI within the cancer context. Challenges include (1) a lack of time and funding available to support the PPI model; (2) tensions between different stakeholder groups when developing and conducting health research; (3) panel members finding it difficult to effectively integrate into research meetings when their role and contribution is not made clear at the outset or when unfamiliar language and jargon are used and not explained; (4) some professionals remain unclear about the role and practical implications of PPI in research. However, notwithstanding its financial and organisational challenges, the way that the NTCRN CRP is supported has provided a solid base for it to flourish. PPI provides considerable opportunities for patients and the public to work collaboratively with professionals to influence the cancer research agenda, with the contribution of PPI to the research process being integral to the entire process from the outset, rather than appended to it. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

A multilevel meta-analysis of single-case and small-n research on interventions for reducing challenging behavior in persons with intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Heyvaert, M; Maes, B; Van den Noortgate, W; Kuppens, S; Onghena, P

2012-01-01

The effectiveness of different interventions for challenging behavior (CB) in persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) was reviewed by means of a two-phase study. First, a systematic review of 137 meta-analyses and reviews on group-study interventions for CB in persons with ID was conducted. Based on this review, hypotheses concerning the effectiveness of divergent interventions for CB and concerning the impact of variables moderating treatment effectiveness were systematically generated. Second, these hypotheses were tested by means of a multilevel meta-analysis of single-case and small-n research. Two hundred and eighty-five studies reporting on 598 individuals were examined. The average treatment effect was large and statistically significant. However, this effect varied significantly over the included studies and participants. Compared to the meta-analyses and reviews focusing on group-studies in this research domain, the results of the present multilevel meta-analysis of single-case and small-n intervention research provided more detailed knowledge on which specific CB and intervention components moderate the interventions' effectiveness. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Challenging Teachers' Practice through Learning: Reflections on the Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education Programme of Research and Professional Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourke, Roseanna

2006-01-01

When teachers participate in professional development and learning opportunities it enables them to reconceptualise their assessment and teaching practices with the support of facilitators and researchers. National programmes of professional development and research, such as the three year Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education (EEPiSE)…

Stakeholder assessment of comparative effectiveness research needs for Medicaid populations.

PubMed

Fischer, Michael A; Allen-Coleman, Cora; Farrell, Stephen F; Schneeweiss, Sebastian

2015-09-01

Patients, providers and policy-makers rely heavily on comparative effectiveness research (CER) when making complex, real-world medical decisions. In particular, Medicaid providers and policy-makers face unique challenges in decision-making because their program cares for traditionally underserved populations, especially children, pregnant women and people with mental illness. Because these patient populations have generally been underrepresented in research discussions, CER questions for these groups may be understudied. To address this problem, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality commissioned our team to work with Medicaid Medical Directors and other stakeholders to identify relevant CER questions. Through an iterative process of topic identification and refinement, we developed relevant, feasible and actionable questions based on issues affecting Medicaid programs nationwide. We describe challenges and limitations and provide recommendations for future stakeholder engagement.

Launching Effectiveness Research to Guide Practice in Neurosurgery: A National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke Workshop Report

PubMed Central

Walicke, Patricia; Abosch, Aviva; Asher, Anthony; Barker, Fred G.; Ghogawala, Zoher; Harbaugh, Robert; Jehi, Lara; Kestle, John; Koroshetz, Walter; Little, Roderick; Rubin, Donald; Valadka, Alex; Wisniewski, Stephen

2017-01-01

Abstract This workshop addressed challenges of clinical research in neurosurgery. Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) have high internal validity, but often insufficiently generalize to real-world practice. Observational studies are inclusive but often lack sufficient rigor. The workshop considered possible solutions, such as (1) statistical methods for demonstrating causality using observational data; (2) characteristics required of a registry supporting effectiveness research; (3) trial designs combining advantages of observational studies and RCTs; and (4) equipoise, an identified challenge for RCTs. In the future, advances in information technology potentially could lead to creation of a massive database where clinical data from all neurosurgeons are integrated and analyzed, ending the separation of clinical research and practice and leading to a new “science of practice.” PMID:28362926

Stakeholder assessment of comparative effectiveness research needs for Medicaid populations

PubMed Central

Fischer, Michael A; Allen-Coleman, Cora; Farrell, Stephen F; Schneeweiss, Sebastian

2015-01-01

Patients, providers and policy-makers rely heavily on comparative effectiveness research (CER) when making complex, real-world medical decisions. In particular, Medicaid providers and policy-makers face unique challenges in decision-making because their program cares for traditionally underserved populations, especially children, pregnant women and people with mental illness. Because these patient populations have generally been underrepresented in research discussions, CER questions for these groups may be understudied. To address this problem, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality commissioned our team to work with Medicaid Medical Directors and other stakeholders to identify relevant CER questions. Through an iterative process of topic identification and refinement, we developed relevant, feasible and actionable questions based on issues affecting Medicaid programs nationwide. We describe challenges and limitations and provide recommendations for future stakeholder engagement. PMID:26388438

Recruitment of Individuals With Dementia and Their Carers for Social Research: Lessons Learned From Nine Studies.

PubMed

Beattie, Elizabeth; Fielding, Elaine; O'Reilly, Maria; Brooks, Deborah; MacAndrew, Margaret; McCrow, Judy

2018-05-01

Many health and social care research studies report difficulties recruiting sufficient numbers of participants, adding to time and money expenditures and potentially jeopardizing the generalizability of findings. The current article reports the effectiveness and resource requirements of recruitment strategies used in nine dementia-related studies conducted in Australia. Articles, notices, or advertisements in targeted specialist newsletters were the most cost-effective method of recruitment. The use of service providers to aid recruitment yielded mixed results, but was lengthy in terms of research time. Online and social media were low cost but not reliably effective in terms of recruitment potential. Despite using multiple strategies to maximize recruitment, significant challenges were encountered achieving the required sample sizes; in most cases these challenges resulted in delays in the recruitment phase. Implications for researchers in the fields of dementia and general social/health research are discussed. [Res Gerontol Nurs. 2018; 11(3):119-128.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.

Space Exploration: Challenges in Medicine, Research, and Ethics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Jeffrey R.

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation describes the challenges that space exploration faces in terms of medicine, research and ethics. The topics include: 1) Effects of Microgravity on Human Physiology; 2) Radiation; 3) Bone; 4) Behavior and Performance; 5) Muscle; 6) Cardiovascular; 7) Neurovestibular; 8) Food and Nutrition; 9) Immunology and Hematology; 10) Environment; 11) Exploration; 12) Building Block Approach; 13) Exploration Issues; 14) Life Sciences Contributions; 15) Health Care; and 17) Habitability.

The Mediating Effects of Positive Cognitions on Autism Caregivers' Depression and Their Children's Challenging Behaviors.

PubMed

Bekhet, Abir K

2016-02-01

Caregivers of persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are prone to depression and psychological problems, which have an impact on their children's challenging behaviors. Positive cognitions include specific positive thinking patterns that enhance one's ability to effectively manage daily activities and promote mental health. The purpose of this research is to test the mediating effects of positive cognitions on the relationship between caregivers' depression and their children's challenging behaviors among 117 caregivers of persons with ASD. Positive cognitions were found to have mediating effects on the relationship between caregiver's depression and their children's challenging behaviors in this sample of caregivers of persons with ASD. Nurses are in a strategic position to include in their interventions those strategies that strengthen positive cognitions in order to improve the caregivers' positive cognitions and well-being, which, in turn will have an impact on their children's challenging behaviors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dissemination: Bringing Translational Research to Completion

PubMed Central

Park, Daniel J.; Burke, Janice P.

2013-01-01

Despite the availability of innovative health care research, a gap exists between research-generated knowledge and the utilization of that knowledge in real-world practice settings. This article examines the transition from research to implementation in the context of the dissemination of A. Jean Ayres’ sensory integration procedures and of the challenges currently facing the University of Southern California Well Elderly Studies research team. Drawing from the emerging field of implementation science, this article discusses how researchers can develop an implementation plan to more easily translate evidence into practice. Such plans should address the intervention’s reach (i.e., its capacity to penetrate into the intended target population), the settings for which it is applicable, the leaders who will encourage practitioner uptake, stakeholder groups, and challenges to dissemination. By taking action to ensure the more effective dissemination of research-generated knowledge, researchers can increase the likelihood that their interventions will lead to improvements in practice and more effective care for consumers. PMID:23433273

Vinegar as a broadcast herbicide for spring-transplanted onions

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The weed control challenges for onion production are formidable; however, these challenges are even greater for those considering organic crop production. Organic onion producers need additional organic herbicides that can effectively provide post-emergent weed control. Field research was conducted...

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF CONDUCTING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE RESEARCH IN A SCHOOL SETTING

PubMed Central

GUIDRY, VIRGINIA T.; LOWMAN, AMY; HALL, DEVON; BARON, DOTHULA; WING, STEVE

2015-01-01

Environmental justice (EJ) research requires attention to consequences for research participants beyond those typically considered by institutional review boards. The imbalance of power between impacted communities and those who create and regulate pollution creates challenges for participation, yet research can also benefit those involved. Our community-academic partnership designed the Rural Air Pollutants and Children's Health (RAPCH) study to provide positive impacts while measuring health effects at three low-resource public middle schools near concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in North Carolina. We evaluated perceived benefits and challenges of study involvement by interviewing school staff and community liaisons who facilitated data collection. Reported benefits included enhancement of students’ academic environment and increased community environmental awareness; challenges were associated mainly with some participants’ immaturity. Leadership from a strong community-based organization was crucial to recruitment, yet our approach entailed minimal focus on EJ, which may have limited opportunities for community education or organizing for environmental health. PMID:25085828

Searching for the Impact of Participation in Health and Health Research: Challenges and Methods.

PubMed

Harris, Janet; Cook, Tina; Gibbs, Lisa; Oetzel, John; Salsberg, Jon; Shinn, Carolynne; Springett, Jane; Wallerstein, Nina; Wright, Michael

2018-01-01

Internationally, the interest in involving patients and the public in designing and delivering health interventions and researching their effectiveness is increasing. Several systematic reviews of participation in health research have recently been completed, which note a number of challenges in documenting the impact of participation. Challenges include working across stakeholders with different understandings of participation and levels of experience in reviewing; comparing heterogeneous populations and contexts; configuring findings from often thin descriptions of participation in academic papers; and dealing with different definitions of impact. This paper aims to advance methods for systematically reviewing the impact of participation in health research, drawing on recent systematic review guidance. Practical examples for dealing with issues at each stage of a review are provided based on recent experience. Recommendations for improving primary research on participation in health are offered and key points to consider during the review are summarised.

Searching for the Impact of Participation in Health and Health Research: Challenges and Methods

PubMed Central

Cook, Tina; Salsberg, Jon; Shinn, Carolynne; Springett, Jane; Wallerstein, Nina; Wright, Michael

2018-01-01

Internationally, the interest in involving patients and the public in designing and delivering health interventions and researching their effectiveness is increasing. Several systematic reviews of participation in health research have recently been completed, which note a number of challenges in documenting the impact of participation. Challenges include working across stakeholders with different understandings of participation and levels of experience in reviewing; comparing heterogeneous populations and contexts; configuring findings from often thin descriptions of participation in academic papers; and dealing with different definitions of impact. This paper aims to advance methods for systematically reviewing the impact of participation in health research, drawing on recent systematic review guidance. Practical examples for dealing with issues at each stage of a review are provided based on recent experience. Recommendations for improving primary research on participation in health are offered and key points to consider during the review are summarised. PMID:29862298

Practitioner Views on the Impacts, Challenges, and Barriers in Supporting Older Survivors of Sexual Violence.

PubMed

Bows, Hannah

2018-07-01

Despite half a century of research on both sexual violence and elder abuse, the intersection between the two remains largely unexplored. Using theoretical lenses of feminist criminology and critical feminist gerontology, this article explores the intersection between age and sexual violence drawing on interviews with 23 practitioners supporting older survivors (aged 60 and over). They reported physical and emotional effects of sexual violence leading to limited lifestyles, disengagement from social networks, and reliance on pathogenic coping strategies. Provision of effective support was complicated by challenges associated with aging bodies and the social stigma associated with both sexual victimhood and older age. Additional challenges lay in supporting older male survivors and those living with dementia. The article ends by discussing implications for practice and an agenda for future research.

Aggressive challenging behaviour and intellectual disability.

PubMed

Benson, Betsey A; Brooks, Whitney T

2008-09-01

The aim of this article is to review reports of aggressive challenging behaviour in individuals with intellectual disability from September 2006 to March 2008. Studies continued to demonstrate the prevalence and significance of aggressive challenging behaviour in persons with intellectual disability. Over half of the population engages in some form of aggression, but only a small number is responsible for frequent or severe acts. A publication that identified aggression profiles offered a promising new approach. Aggressive behaviour in adults often has multiple functions. The most frequently studied interventions were either behavioural or somatic. Parents learned skills to effectively intervene with their aggressive preschool child. Reviews of medication efficacy studies concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend a single medication. Psychiatrists agreed that medication should not be the first treatment option. In one study, a class of medication was found to reduce aggression, but not aggression with self-injury, or self-injury alone. Research on aggressive challenging behaviour requires assessment instruments that address the topography and severity of aggression. Identifying aggression types may clarify mixed results of previous research and improve treatment effectiveness. Greater access to effective, nonmedication treatments is needed.

The Effect of the Horsham Greenpower Goblin Challenge on Children's Attitudes towards Science, Engineering and Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silver, Anne; Rushton, Brian S.

2008-01-01

This research examines the effects of the Horsham Greenpower Goblin Challenge (HGGC), a hands-on science, engineering and technology (SET) project, on the attitudes of Year 5, primary-school children towards SET. The data collection centred on pre- and post-HGGC questionnaires using Likert scales and picture/word images of scientists and…

Critical Home-Based Challenges Inhibiting Effective Participation of Pupils in Rural Public Primary Schools in Narok North Sub-County, Narok County, Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mwanik, Kantim; Orodho, John Aluko

2016-01-01

The thrust of this study was to examine the critical challenges inhibiting effective participation in education by pupils from rural public primary schools in Central Division, Narok North Sub-County, in Narok County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design. Combinations of stratified and purposive sampling…

Challenges of assessing fire and burn severity using field measures, remote sensing and modelling

Treesearch

Penelope Morgan; Robert E. Keane; Gregory K. Dillon; Theresa B. Jain; Andrew T. Hudak; Eva C. Karau; Pamela G. Sikkink; Zachery A. Holden; Eva K. Strand

2014-01-01

Comprehensive assessment of ecological change after fires have burned forests and rangelands is important if we are to understand, predict and measure fire effects. We highlight the challenges in effective assessment of fire and burn severity in the field and using both remote sensing and simulation models. We draw on diverse recent research for guidance on assessing...

Forest landscape mosaics: Disturbance, restoration, and management at times of global change

Treesearch

Kalev Jogiste; Bengt Gunnar Jonsson; Timo Kuuluvainen; Sylvie Gauthier; W. Keith Moser

2015-01-01

Potential effects of hypothesized anthropogenic climate change are raising concerns about the sustainability of development in terms of both people and the rest of the environment. Land use change at the global scale presents many challenges for the research community. Past land use has a definite effect on future ecosystems, but it is challenging to predict future...

Challenges in doing multi-disciplinary health promotion research in Germany.

PubMed

Igel, Ulrike; Gausche, Ruth; Lück, Martina; Lipek, Tobias; Spielau, Ulrike; Garz, Maria; Kiess, Wieland; Grande, Gesine

2017-08-23

Health problems such as obesity are increasingly addressed by complex intervention programmes which operate at multiple levels of influence (e.g. families, schools, neighbourhoods) involving partners from various academic, professional and cultural backgrounds. Following a complex participatory health promotion approach is challenging, because conflicting interests as well as contextual constraints may occur which are rarely discussed empirically. Process evaluations of some programmes investigate factors influencing the implementation process. However, researchers' perspectives on inter- and transdisciplinary work are mostly neglected. This paper aims at illustrating and critically analysing challenges that arose in the planning and implementation of a health promotion project in a socially deprived neighbourhood in Germany. Drawing on minutes, email conversations, and research diary entries we reflect on discrepancies and difficult interactions within the research team, with collaborating (academic) institutions (interdisciplinary work) and with the community partners (transdisciplinary work) respectively. Differences in language, interests, success criteria, professional preferences and habits as well as contextual factors are worked out and coping strategies or solutions are proposed. According to our experiences, bringing to light researchers' positions, preferences and interactions with the community is necessary to find a balance between research and practice, to develop adequate solutions for challenging situations and to evaluate the process, effectiveness and transferability of a programme. Health promotion research should report not only on the effectiveness of interventions but also on struggles, unsuccessful attempts and useful (or useless) strategies to fuel discourse on opportunities in and the efficacy and transferability of health promotion projects. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Fired up or burned out? How developmental challenge differentially impacts leader behavior.

PubMed

Courtright, Stephen H; Colbert, Amy E; Choi, Daejeong

2014-07-01

Leadership development research has largely drawn on experiential and enactive learning theories to explore the positive effects of developmental challenge on leaders. In contrast, we examined potential positive and negative effects of developmental challenge (i.e., challenging job assignments) on leader behavior through an alternative theoretical lens--transactional stress theory. We predicted, on one hand, that developmental challenge may be associated with higher leader engagement and transformational leadership behavior; however, developmental challenge also has the potential to be associated with higher leader emotional exhaustion and laissez-faire leadership behavior. We further proposed that leadership self-efficacy (LSE) moderates these potential effects of developmental challenge and helps explain why leaders react either positively or negatively to developmental challenge. We tested our hypotheses in a sample of 153 leaders and 631 direct reports at a Fortune 500 company. Findings supported positive relationships among developmental challenge, leader engagement, and transformational leadership. However, we also found support for significant relationships among developmental challenge, emotional exhaustion, and laissez-faire leadership. Additionally, leaders lower in LSE were more likely to encounter the negative effects of developmental challenge by experiencing increased emotional exhaustion and displaying laissez-faire leadership behaviors. Our study contributes to theory and practice by elucidating a "dark side" of developmental challenge, identifying LSE as a moderator of the negative effects of developmental challenge, identifying antecedents of transformational and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, and investigating demands and stress in leadership roles.

Forthcoming Challenges in Mycotoxins Toxicology Research for Safer Food-A Need for Multi-Omics Approach.

PubMed

Dellafiora, Luca; Dall'Asta, Chiara

2017-01-04

The presence of mycotoxins in food represents a severe threat for public health and welfare, and poses relevant research challenges in the food toxicology field. Nowadays, food toxicologists have to provide answers to food-related toxicological issues, but at the same time they should provide the appropriate knowledge in background to effectively support the evidence-based decision-making in food safety. Therefore, keeping in mind that regulatory actions should be based on sound scientific findings, the present opinion addresses the main challenges in providing reliable data for supporting the risk assessment of foodborne mycotoxins.

Forthcoming Challenges in Mycotoxins Toxicology Research for Safer Food—A Need for Multi-Omics Approach

PubMed Central

Dellafiora, Luca; Dall’Asta, Chiara

2017-01-01

The presence of mycotoxins in food represents a severe threat for public health and welfare, and poses relevant research challenges in the food toxicology field. Nowadays, food toxicologists have to provide answers to food-related toxicological issues, but at the same time they should provide the appropriate knowledge in background to effectively support the evidence-based decision-making in food safety. Therefore, keeping in mind that regulatory actions should be based on sound scientific findings, the present opinion addresses the main challenges in providing reliable data for supporting the risk assessment of foodborne mycotoxins. PMID:28054977

A lack of consistent evidence for cortisol dysregulation in premenstrual syndrome/premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

PubMed

Kiesner, Jeff; Granger, Douglas A

2016-03-01

Although decades of research has examined the association between cortisol regulation and premenstrual syndrome/premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMS/PMDD), no review exists to provide a general set of conclusions from the extant research. In the present review we summarize and interpret research that has tested for associations between PMS/PMDD and cortisol levels and reactivity (n=38 original research articles). Three types of studies are examined: correlational studies, environmental-challenge studies, and pharmacological-challenge studies. Overall, there was very little evidence that women with and without PMS/PMDD demonstrate systematic and predictable mean-level differences in cortisol, or differences in cortisol response/reactivity to challenges. Methodological differences in sample size, the types of symptoms used for diagnosis (physical and psychological vs. only affective), or the type of cortisol measure used (serum vs. salivary), did not account for differences between studies that did and did not find significant effects. Caution is recommended before accepting the conclusion of null effects, and recommendations are made that more rigorous research be conducted, considering symptom-specificity, within-person analyses, and multiple parameters of cortisol regulation, before final conclusions are drawn. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Opportunities to meet challenges in rural prevention research: findings from an evolving community-university partnership model.

PubMed

Spoth, Richard

2007-01-01

Various rural prevention research challenges have been articulated through a series of sessions convened since the mid 1990s by the National Institutes of Health, particularly the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Salient in this articulation was the need for effective collaboration among rural practitioners and scientists, with special consideration of accommodating the diversity of rural areas and surmounting barriers to implementation of evidence-based interventions. This paper summarizes the range of challenges in rural prevention research and describes an evolving community-university partnership model addressing them. The model entails involvement of public school staff and other rural community stakeholders, linked with scientists by Land Grant University-based Extension system staff. Examples of findings from over 16 years of partnership-based intervention research projects include those on engagement of rural residents, quality implementation of evidence-based interventions, and long-term community-level outcomes, as well as factors in effectiveness of the partnerships. Findings suggest a future focus on building capacity for practitioner-scientist collaboration and developing a network for more widespread implementation of the partnership model in a manner informed by lessons learned from partnership-based research to date.

Effects of Discussion Constraints, Discourse Maps, and Interactive Intercultural Elaboration in Online Discussions on Students' Knowledge Construction, Critical Thinking, and Intercultural Sensitivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Hien Thu

2009-01-01

Research shows both benefits and challenges of online discussion as a collaborative learning activity. Online discussion is especially challenging for novice college students who have limited metacognitive skills as well as limited knowledge of the subject domain. With limited metacognitive skills, it can be challenging for novice students to…

Not just for consumers: context effects are fundamental to decision making.

PubMed

Trueblood, Jennifer S; Brown, Scott D; Heathcote, Andrew; Busemeyer, Jerome R

2013-06-01

Context effects--preference changes that depend on the availability of other options--have attracted a great deal of attention among consumer researchers studying high-level decision tasks. In the experiments reported here, we showed that these effects also arise in simple perceptual-decision-making tasks. This finding casts doubt on explanations limited to consumer choice and high-level decisions, and it indicates that context effects may be amenable to a general explanation at the level of the basic decision process. We demonstrated for the first time that three important context effects from the preferential-choice literature--similarity, attraction, and compromise effects--all occurred within a single perceptual-decision task. Not only do our results challenge previous explanations for context effects proposed by consumer researchers, but they also challenge the choice rules assumed in theories of perceptual decision making.

An Investigation of the Development and Management of University Research Institutes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Philbin, Simon P.

2011-01-01

Multidisciplinary research institutes provide universities with an important vehicle to conduct research across traditional disciplines, and this can be an attractive capability for external funding bodies. However, there can be particular challenges, including managing different reporting lines, the need for effective research coordination, and…

Moving Forward in Inclusive Education Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erten, Ozlem; Savage, Robert Samuel

2012-01-01

This paper aims to address conceptual and methodological challenges of doing research in the field of inclusive education and revisit school effectiveness research literature to inform future research. First, we present the rationale for inclusive education and briefly review the evolution of special needs education. Then, we discuss limitations…

A European Research Agenda for Somatic Symptom Disorders, Bodily Distress Disorders, and Functional Disorders: Results of an Estimate-Talk-Estimate Delphi Expert Study.

PubMed

van der Feltz-Cornelis, Christina M; Elfeddali, Iman; Werneke, Ursula; Malt, Ulrik F; Van den Bergh, Omer; Schaefert, Rainer; Kop, Willem J; Lobo, Antonio; Sharpe, Michael; Söllner, Wolfgang; Löwe, Bernd

2018-01-01

Background: Somatic Symptom Disorders (SSD), Bodily Distress Disorders (BDD) and functional disorders (FD) are associated with high medical and societal costs and pose a substantial challenge to the population and health policy of Europe. To meet this challenge, a specific research agenda is needed as one of the cornerstones of sustainable mental health research and health policy for SSD, BDD, and FD in Europe. Aim: To identify the main challenges and research priorities concerning SSD, BDD, and FD from a European perspective. Methods: Delphi study conducted from July 2016 until October 2017 in 3 rounds with 3 workshop meetings and 3 online surveys, involving 75 experts and 21 European countries. EURONET-SOMA and the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine (EAPM) hosted the meetings. Results: Eight research priorities were identified: (1) Assessment of diagnostic profiles relevant to course and treatment outcome. (2) Development and evaluation of new, effective interventions. (3) Validation studies on questionnaires or semi-structured interviews that assess chronic medical conditions in this context. (4) Research into patients preferences for diagnosis and treatment. (5) Development of new methodologic designs to identify and explore mediators and moderators of clinical course and treatment outcomes (6). Translational research exploring how psychological and somatic symptoms develop from somatic conditions and biological and behavioral pathogenic factors. (7) Development of new, effective interventions to personalize treatment. (8) Implementation studies of treatment interventions in different settings, such as primary care, occupational care, general hospital and specialty mental health settings. The general public and policymakers will benefit from the development of new, effective, personalized interventions for SSD, BDD, and FD, that will be enhanced by translational research, as well as from the outcomes of research into patient involvement, GP-patient communication, consultation-liaison models and implementation. Conclusion: Funding for this research agenda, targeting these challenges in coordinated research networks such as EURONET-SOMA and EAPM, and systematically allocating resources by policymakers to this critical area in mental and physical well-being is urgently needed to improve efficacy and impact for diagnosis and treatment of SSD, BDD, and FD across Europe.

Developing Learning Environments: Challenges for Theory, Research and Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iles, Paul

1994-01-01

Key challenges in development of learning organizations, promotion of learning culture, enhancement of learning processes, and development of learning communities are appropriateness of current models for interdisciplinary teams; whether valuing diversity enhances effectiveness; how global human resource development affects domestic; and what…

Mississippi communities for healthy living: implementing a nutrition intervention effectiveness study in a rural health disparate region

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Intervention research in rural, health disparate communities presents unique challenges for study design, implementation, and evaluation. Challenges include: 1) culturally appropriate intervention components; 2) participant recruitment and retention; 3) treatment cross-contamination; 4) intervention...

Unpacking team process dynamics and emergent phenomena: Challenges, conceptual advances, and innovative methods.

PubMed

Kozlowski, Steve W J; Chao, Georgia T

2018-01-01

Psychologists have studied small-group and team effectiveness for decades, and although there has been considerable progress, there remain significant challenges. Meta-analyses and systematic research have provided solid evidence for core team cognitive, motivational, affective, and behavioral processes that contribute to team effectiveness and empirical support for interventions that enhance team processes (e.g., team design, composition, training, and leadership); there has been substantial evidence for a science of team effectiveness. Nonetheless, there have also been concerns that team processes, which are inherently dynamic, have primarily been assessed as static constructs. Team-level processes and outcomes are multilevel phenomena that emerge, bottom-up from the interactions among team members over time, under the shifting demands of a work context. Thus, theoretical development that appropriately conceptualizes the multiple levels, process dynamics, and emergence of team phenomena over time are essential to advance understanding. Moreover, these conceptual advances necessitate innovative research methodologies to better capture team process dynamics. We explicate this foundation and then describe 2 promising streams of scientific inquiry-team interaction sensors and computational modeling-that are advancing new, unobtrusive measurement techniques and process-oriented research methods focused on understanding the dynamics of cohesion and cognition in teamwork. These are distinct lines of research, each endeavoring to advance the science, but doing so through the development of very different methodologies. We close by discussing the near-term research challenges and the potential long-term evolution of these innovative methods, with an eye toward the future for process-oriented theory and research on team effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Transporting Clinical Research to Community Settings: Designing and Conducting a Multisite Trial of Brief Strategic Family Therapy

PubMed Central

Robbins, Michael S.; Alonso, Elizabeth; Horigian, Viviana E.; Bachrach, Ken; Burlew, Kathy; Carrión, Ibis S.; Hodgkins, Candace C.; Miller, Michael; Schindler, Eric; VanDeMark, Nancy; Henderson, Craig; Szapocznik, José

2010-01-01

This paper describes the development and implementation of a trial of Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT), an evidence-based drug intervention for adolescents, in eight community substance abuse treatment programs. Researchers and treatment programs collaborated closely to identify and overcome challenges, many of them related to achieving results that were both scientifically rigorous and applicable to the widest possible variety of adolescent substance abuse treatment programs. To meet these challenges, the collaborative team drew on lessons and practices from efficacy, effectiveness, and implementation research. PMID:22002455

Ethics and Regulatory Challenges and Opportunities in Patient-Centered Comparative Effectiveness Research.

PubMed

Sugarman, Jeremy

2016-04-01

The Affordable Care Act includes provisions for the conduct of large-scale, patient-centered comparative effectiveness research. Such efforts aim toward the laudable moral goal of having evidence to improve health care decision making. Nevertheless, these pragmatic clinical research efforts that typically pose minimal incremental risk and are enmeshed in routine care settings perhaps surprisingly encounter an array of ethics and regulatory challenges and opportunities for academic health centers. An emphasis on patient-centeredness forces an examination of the appropriateness of traditional methods used to protect the rights, interests, and welfare of participants. At the same time, meaningful collaboration with patients throughout the research process also necessitates ensuring that novel approaches to research (including recruitment and consent) entail necessary protections regarding such issues as privacy. As the scientific and logistical aspects of this research are being developed, substantial attention is being focused on the accompanying ethics and regulatory issues that have emerged, which should help to facilitate ethically appropriate research in a variety of contexts.

Challenges for Multilevel Health Disparities Research in a Transdisciplinary Environment

PubMed Central

Holmes, John H.; Lehman, Amy; Hade, Erinn; Ferketich, Amy K.; Sarah, Gehlert; Rauscher, Garth H.; Abrams, Judith; Bird, Chloe E.

2008-01-01

Numerous factors play a part in health disparities. Although health disparities are manifested at the level of the individual, other contexts should be considered when investigating the associations of disparities with clinical outcomes. These contexts include families, neighborhoods, social organizations, and healthcare facilities. This paper reports on health disparities research as a multilevel research domain from the perspective of a large national initiative. The Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities (CPHHD) program was established by the NIH to examine the highly dimensional, complex nature of disparities and their effects on health. Because of its inherently transdisciplinary nature, the CPHHD program provides a unique environment in which to perform multilevel health disparities research. During the course of the program, the CPHHD centers have experienced challenges specific to this type of research. The challenges were categorized along three axes: sources of subjects and data, data characteristics, and multilevel analysis and interpretation. The CPHHDs collectively offer a unique example of how these challenges are met; just as importantly, they reveal a broad range of issues that health disparities researchers should consider as they pursue transdisciplinary investigations in this domain, particularly in the context of a large team science initiative. PMID:18619398

Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide Solar Cells | Photovoltaic Research | NREL

Science.gov Websites

primary research areas that are currently our focus are the following: Understanding effects of material . Such metastable effects frustrate the repeatable and accurate measurement of a module's performance in by perturbing the voltage bias or temperature. Another associated challenge is that elevated

Emergent Characteristics of Effective Cross-Cultural Research: A Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Christopher; Cottone, R. Rocco

2010-01-01

This article identifies characteristics of effective research done in cross-cultural environments; reviews the literature in the years following the publication of Oyserman, Coon, and Kemmelmeier's (2002) seminal article, challenging the basis for the description of cultures as individualistic or collectivistic; and summarizes major issues…

Progress and challenges of disaster health management in China: a scoping review

PubMed Central

Zhong, Shuang; Clark, Michele; Hou, Xiang-Yu; Zang, Yuli; FitzGerald, Gerard

2014-01-01

Background Despite the importance of an effective health system response to various disasters, relevant research is still in its infancy, especially in middle- and low-income countries. Objective This paper provides an overview of the status of disaster health management in China, with its aim to promote the effectiveness of the health response for reducing disaster-related mortality and morbidity. Design A scoping review method was used to address the recent progress of and challenges to disaster health management in China. Major health electronic databases were searched to identify English and Chinese literature that were relevant to the research aims. Results The review found that since 2003 considerable progress has been achieved in the health disaster response system in China. However, there remain challenges that hinder effective health disaster responses, including low standards of disaster-resistant infrastructure safety, the lack of specific disaster plans, poor emergency coordination between hospitals, lack of portable diagnostic equipment and underdeveloped triage skills, surge capacity, and psychological interventions. Additional challenges include the fragmentation of the emergency health service system, a lack of specific legislation for emergencies, disparities in the distribution of funding, and inadequate cost-effective considerations for disaster rescue. Conclusions One solution identified to address these challenges appears to be through corresponding policy strategies at multiple levels (e.g. community, hospital, and healthcare system level). PMID:25215910

Using Research to Inform the Practice of Teachers, Schools, and School Reform Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ancess, Jacqueline; Barnett, Elisabeth; Allen, David

2007-01-01

The authors describe how a university research center partners with intermediary organizations and high schools to use research methods to support particular goals. These researcher-practitioner partnerships establish goals, articulate effective strategies, and co-construct new approaches to address the challenges of school reform. The article…

Singing for respiratory health: theory, evidence and challenges.

PubMed

Gick, Mary L; Nicol, Jennifer J

2016-09-01

The premise that singing is a health promoting activity for people with respiratory conditions of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma is a growing area of interest being investigated by researchers from various disciplines. The preliminary evidence, a theoretical framework and identification of methodological challenges are discussed in this perspective article with an eye to recommendations for further research to advance knowledge. After a brief summary of main research findings on singing in healthy people to provide background context, research is reviewed on singing in people with COPD and asthma. Studies include published research and as yet unpublished work by the authors. Methodological challenges arising from the reviewed studies are identified such as attrition from singing or control groups based on weak and strong, respectively, beliefs about singing's effectiveness. Potential solutions for these problems are considered with further recommendations made for other singing research. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Detecting and Teaching Desire: Phallometry, Freund, and Behaviorist Sexology.

PubMed

Ha, Nathan

2015-01-01

During the 1960s and 1970s, Kurt Freund and other researchers developed phallometry to demonstrate the effectiveness of behaviorism in the diagnosis and treatment of male homosexuality and pedophilia. Researchers used phallometers to segment different aspects of male arousal, to discern cryptic hierarchies of eroticism, and to monitor the effectiveness of treatments to change an individual's sexuality. Phallometry ended up challenging the expectations of behaviorist researchers by demonstrating that most men could not change their sexual preferences--no matter how hard they tried or how hard others tried to change them. This knowledge, combined with challenges mounted by gay political activists, eventually motivated Freund and other researchers to revise their ideas of what counted as therapy. Phallometric studies ultimately revealed the limitations of efforts to shape "abnormal" and "normal" masculinity and heralded the rise of biologically determinist theories of sexuality.

Pharmaceutical policies in a crisis? Challenges and solutions identified at the PPRI Conference.

PubMed

Vogler, Sabine; Zimmermann, Nina; Ferrario, Alessandra; Wirtz, Veronika J; de Joncheere, Kees; Pedersen, Hanne Bak; Dedet, Guillaume; Paris, Valérie; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; Babar, Zaheer-Ud-Din

2016-01-01

In October 2015, the third international Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Information (PPRI) Conference was held in Vienna to foster discussion on challenges in pricing and reimbursement policies for medicines. The research presented highlighted that commonly used pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies are not sufficiently effective to address current challenges. Conference participants called for fundamental reforms to ensure access to medicines, particularly to new and potentially more effective and/or safe medicines, while safeguarding the financial sustainability of health systems and working towards universal health coverage.

Challenges to Effective Implementation of Christian Religious Studies Curriculum: A Study of Secondary School Pupils in Ebonyi State of Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Njoku, N. C.; Njoku, D. I.

2015-01-01

The study is designed to investigate challenges to effective implementation of Christian Religious Studies among secondary school pupils in Ebonyi state. Two research questions were raised to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Ebonyi state is the area of study and the population comprised all the 232 CRS teachers in…

South African Academic Health--the future challenge.

PubMed

van Zyl, G J

2004-02-01

In South Africa, significant changes in Academic Health have taken place since the first democratic elections in 1994. Academic Health came from a separated academic hospital, departmental-based curriculum and research focussed on achievement, and an abundance of money, to a position of integrated service delivery with specific reference to primary health care, separation of service levels, a new integrated curriculum, research focussed according to the need and contract research, and financial constraints with limited budgets. The management of this change is a task challenging the manager in all fields of Academic Health. Leaders need to know their environment and organisation to be able to manage change. Academic Health centres are experiencing major changes as a result of the effects of managed care, reduced rate and growing expenditure on health services. In addition to restructuring of the clinical services, Academic Health centres are being challenged to sustain their academic mission and priorities in the face of resource constraints. In order to tackle these challenges, institutions need physicians in administrative positions at all levels who can provide leadership and thoughtful managerial initiatives. The future challenge for managers focuses on service delivery, research, health education and training, Academic Health management, professionalism and financial management.

So you think you've designed an effective recruitment protocol?

PubMed

Green, Cara; Vandall-Walker, Virginia

2017-03-22

Background Recruiting acutely ill patients to participate in research can be challenging. This paper outlines the difficulties the first author encountered in a study and the steps she took to overcome problems with research ethics, gain access to participants and implement a recruitment protocol in multiple hospitals. It also compares these steps with literature related to recruitment. Aim To inform and inspire neophyte researchers about the need for planning and resilience when dealing with recruitment challenges in multiple hospitals. Discussion The multiple enablers and barriers to the successful implementation of a hospital-based study recruitment protocol are explored based on a neophyte researcher's optimistic assumptions about this stage of the study. Conclusions Perseverance, adequately planning for contingencies, and accepting the barriers and challenges to recruitment are essential for completing one's research study and ensuring fulfilment as a researcher. Implications for practice Healthcare students carrying out research require adequate knowledge about conducting hospital-based, patient research to inform their recruitment plan. Maximising control over recruitment, allowing for adequate time to conduct data collection, and maintaining a good work ethic will help to ensure success.

Linking Automated Data Analysis and Visualization with Applications in Developmental Biology and High-Energy Physics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ruebel, Oliver

2009-11-20

Knowledge discovery from large and complex collections of today's scientific datasets is a challenging task. With the ability to measure and simulate more processes at increasingly finer spatial and temporal scales, the increasing number of data dimensions and data objects is presenting tremendous challenges for data analysis and effective data exploration methods and tools. Researchers are overwhelmed with data and standard tools are often insufficient to enable effective data analysis and knowledge discovery. The main objective of this thesis is to provide important new capabilities to accelerate scientific knowledge discovery form large, complex, and multivariate scientific data. The research coveredmore » in this thesis addresses these scientific challenges using a combination of scientific visualization, information visualization, automated data analysis, and other enabling technologies, such as efficient data management. The effectiveness of the proposed analysis methods is demonstrated via applications in two distinct scientific research fields, namely developmental biology and high-energy physics.Advances in microscopy, image analysis, and embryo registration enable for the first time measurement of gene expression at cellular resolution for entire organisms. Analysis of high-dimensional spatial gene expression datasets is a challenging task. By integrating data clustering and visualization, analysis of complex, time-varying, spatial gene expression patterns and their formation becomes possible. The analysis framework MATLAB and the visualization have been integrated, making advanced analysis tools accessible to biologist and enabling bioinformatic researchers to directly integrate their analysis with the visualization. Laser wakefield particle accelerators (LWFAs) promise to be a new compact source of high-energy particles and radiation, with wide applications ranging from medicine to physics. To gain insight into the complex physical processes of particle acceleration, physicists model LWFAs computationally. The datasets produced by LWFA simulations are (i) extremely large, (ii) of varying spatial and temporal resolution, (iii) heterogeneous, and (iv) high-dimensional, making analysis and knowledge discovery from complex LWFA simulation data a challenging task. To address these challenges this thesis describes the integration of the visualization system VisIt and the state-of-the-art index/query system FastBit, enabling interactive visual exploration of extremely large three-dimensional particle datasets. Researchers are especially interested in beams of high-energy particles formed during the course of a simulation. This thesis describes novel methods for automatic detection and analysis of particle beams enabling a more accurate and efficient data analysis process. By integrating these automated analysis methods with visualization, this research enables more accurate, efficient, and effective analysis of LWFA simulation data than previously possible.« less

Overcoming barriers to addressing education problems with research design: a panel discussion.

PubMed

Yarris, Lalena M; Gruppen, Larry D; Hamstra, Stanley J; Anders Ericsson, K; Cook, David A

2012-12-01

A plenary panel session at the 2012 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference "Education Research in Emergency Medicine: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies for Success" discussed barriers educators face in imagining, designing, and implementing studies to address educational challenges. This proceedings article presents a general approach to getting started in education research. Four examples of studies from the medical education literature that illustrate a distinct way to approach specific research questions are discussed. The study designs used are applicable to a variety of education research problems in emergency medicine (EM). Potential applications of studies are discussed, as well as effects and lessons learned. © 2012 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Twenty-first Century ethics of medical research involving human subjects: achievements and challenges.

PubMed

Tzamaloukas, Antonios H; Konstantinov, Konstantin N; Agaba, Emmanuel I; Raj, Dominic S C; Murata, Glen H; Glew, Robert H

2008-01-01

The field of ethics in medical research has seen important developments in the last three decades, but it also faces great challenges in the new century. The purposes of this report are to examine the current status of ethics of medical research involving human subjects and the nature of the ethical challenges facing this research, to identify the weakness of the current system of safeguards for ethical research, and to stress the importance of the ethical character of the researcher, which is the safeguard that has the greatest potential for protecting the research subjects. Researchers appreciate the risks of human medical research that create ethical dilemmas and the need for an ethical compromise in order to proceed with the research. The main elements of the compromise, formulated primarily from experiences in the Second World War, include: (1) the dominant position of the ethical principle of autonomy; (2) the demand for a signed informed consent; (3) the likelihood of improving health with the research protocol, which must be approved by a duly appointed supervising committee; and (4) an acceptable risk/benefit ratio. The main weakness of this set of safeguards is the difficulty with obtaining a truly informed consent. The new challenges to ethical medical research stem from certain types of research, such as genetic and stem cell research, and from the increasing involvement of the industry in planning and funding the research studies. Developing medical researchers with an ethical character and knowledge about ethics in medicine may be the most effective safeguard in protecting participants of medical research experiments.

Undergraduate Research Collaborations with Government Agencies Involving the Effects of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurtler, G.

2017-12-01

We discuss the challenges and achievements that a small HSI college had integrating undergraduate research experiences into an existing natural sciences program. Like most introductory college science courses, our natural science courses used textbooks, PowerPoint presentations, and lectures to illustrate basic scientific concepts. Though a collective decision was made by our science faculty to incorporate undergraduate research projects into various STEM courses, our greatest challenge was incorporating mandatory research courses into the degree plans of our Natural Science program. We found that students made considerable progress in understanding natural science by critically evaluating primary research articles and undertaking small research projects. Many of these student projects were conducted in cooperation with the Albuquerque District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, United States Geological Survey in Denver, and the National Ice Core Laboratory. These projects illustrated the effects of climate change on the water quality, sediment buildup, and biodiversity at local reservoirs. Other projects involved the analysis of ice core samples from Greenland and Antarctica. Students presented research posters at various research venues, including Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative colloquiums.

Opportunities and challenges for comparative effectiveness research (CER) with Electronic Clinical Data: a perspective from the EDM forum.

PubMed

Holve, Erin; Segal, Courtney; Hamilton Lopez, Marianne

2012-07-01

The Electronic Data Methods (EDM) Forum brings together perspectives from the Prospective Outcome Systems using Patient-specific Electronic data to Compare Tests and therapies (PROSPECT) studies, the Scalable Distributed Research Networks, and the Enhanced Registries projects. This paper discusses challenges faced by the research teams as part of their efforts to develop electronic clinical data (ECD) infrastructure to support comparative effectiveness research (CER). The findings reflect a set of opportunities for transdisciplinary learning, and will ideally enhance the transparency and generalizability of CER using ECD. Findings are based on 6 exploratory site visits conducted under naturalistic inquiry in the spring of 2011. Themes, challenges, and innovations were identified in the visit summaries through coding, keyword searches, and review for complex concepts. : The identified overarching challenges and emerging opportunities include: the substantial level of effort to establish and sustain data sharing partnerships; the importance of understanding the strengths and limitations of clinical informatics tools, platforms, and models that have emerged to enable research with ECD; the need for rigorous methods to assess data validity, quality, and context for multisite studies; and, emerging opportunities to achieve meaningful patient and consumer engagement and work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams. The new infrastructure must evolve to serve a diverse set of potential users and must scale to address a range of CER or patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) questions. To achieve this aim-to improve the quality, transparency, and reproducibility of CER and PCOR-a high level of collaboration and support is necessary to foster partnership and best practices as part of the EDM Forum.

A student's perspective of managing data collection in a complex qualitative study.

PubMed

Dowse, Eileen Mary; van der Riet, Pamela; Keatinge, Diana Rosemary

2014-11-01

To highlight from a doctoral student's perspective some of the unexpected and challenging issues that may arise when collecting data in a complex, qualitative study. Using a qualitative approach to undertaking a PhD requires commitment to the research topic, the acquisition of a variety of research skills and the development of expertise in writing. Despite close research supervision and guidance, the first author of this paper experienced unexpected hurdles when collecting data. This article highlights these hurdles and compares them with similar and dissimilar challenges raised by a social researcher with 30 years' experience (White 2012). The first author's experience of field research during her PhD candidature. Informed by a critical theoretical perspective, a snowballing technique was used to examine issues related to data collection by a doctoral student in a qualitative research study. The first author found the logistics of qualitative data collection, concerns about transparency, role confusion and power differentials with participants, and the effective use of video recording technology, unexpectedly challenging. Many of these issues are highlighted in the literature and/or during research supervision. However, the student researcher remains a novice when entering the field. It is often only on reflection after encountering the hurdle that the student recognises future pre-emptive or alternative methods of data collection. The challenges faced as a doctoral student managing the data collection phase of the study concurred with White's discussion of some of the 'real life challenges that novice researchers might face' (2012). Specific guidance and prudence are needed by research students to know when enough data have been collected for manageable analysis within the limits of candidature. Use of reflexivity and mindfulness practised by the student during this phase assisted the ability to reflect, respond and learn from issues as they arose and aim for a harmonious work, study and life balance. This paper highlights these issues and offers suggestions for other research higher degree students facing similar challenges when collecting data in a complex qualitative study.

Barriers and facilitators to recruitment of physicians and practices for primary care health services research at one centre.

PubMed

Johnston, Sharon; Liddy, Clare; Hogg, William; Donskov, Melissa; Russell, Grant; Gyorfi-Dyke, Elizabeth

2010-12-13

While some research has been conducted examining recruitment methods to engage physicians and practices in primary care research, further research is needed on recruitment methodology as it remains a recurrent challenge and plays a crucial role in primary care research. This paper reviews recruitment strategies, common challenges, and innovative practices from five recent primary care health services research studies in Ontario, Canada. We used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data from investigators and/or project staff from five research teams. Team members were interviewed and asked to fill out a brief survey on recruitment methods, results, and challenges encountered during a recent or ongoing project involving primary care practices or physicians. Data analysis included qualitative analysis of interview notes and descriptive statistics generated for each study. Recruitment rates varied markedly across the projects despite similar initial strategies. Common challenges and creative solutions were reported by many of the research teams, including building a sampling frame, developing front-office rapport, adapting recruitment strategies, promoting buy-in and interest in the research question, and training a staff recruiter. Investigators must continue to find effective ways of reaching and involving diverse and representative samples of primary care providers and practices by building personal connections with, and buy-in from, potential participants. Flexible recruitment strategies and an understanding of the needs and interests of potential participants may also facilitate recruitment.

Community-Based Participatory Research Contributions to Intervention Research: The Intersection of Science and Practice to Improve Health Equity

PubMed Central

Duran, Bonnie

2010-01-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has emerged in the last decades as a transformative research paradigm that bridges the gap between science and practice through community engagement and social action to increase health equity. CBPR expands the potential for the translational sciences to develop, implement, and disseminate effective interventions across diverse communities through strategies to redress power imbalances; facilitate mutual benefit among community and academic partners; and promote reciprocal knowledge translation, incorporating community theories into the research. We identify the barriers and challenges within the intervention and implementation sciences, discuss how CBPR can address these challenges, provide an illustrative research example, and discuss next steps to advance the translational science of CBPR. PMID:20147663

Child Labour: The View from the North.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKechnie, Jim; Hobbs, Sandy

1999-01-01

Reports British research findings that challenge the bias that child labor is a problem of only economically underdeveloped countries. Argues that child employment is evident within developed countries, but is largely invisible. Addresses positive and negative effects, and challenges to child labor/child work dichotomy. Debates underlying causes…

Factors Affecting Third Culture Kids' (TCKs) Transition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morales, Antonio

2015-01-01

(TCKs) transition becomes challenging for both the student and the school. The programs implemented, or lack thereof, are imperative to the successful transition of TCKs into their new, diverse, multicultural environment. Research has been written on the positive effects and challenges faced by TCKs' transient lifestyle. Although international…

EPA LABORATORIES IMPLEMENT EMS PROGRAM

EPA Science Inventory

This paper highlights the breadth and magnitude of carrying out an effective Environmental Management System (EMS) program at the U.S. EPA's research and development laboratories. Federal research laboratories have unique operating challenges compared to more centralized industr...

Assessing the Assignment Policy for Army Women

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the...research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the...the battlefield while locating and closing with the enemy to defeat them by fire, maneuver, or shock effect . 1 Les Aspin, Secretary of Defense

Challenges in Analyzing the Biological Effects of Resveratrol

PubMed Central

Erdogan, Cihan Suleyman; Vang, Ole

2016-01-01

The suggested health effects (e.g., disease prevention) of dietary bioactive compounds such as resveratrol are challenging to prove in comparison to man-made drugs developed for therapeutic purposes. Dietary bioactive compounds have multiple cellular targets and therefore have a variety of biological effects. Extrapolating the biological effects of dietary compounds from in vitro and in vivo animal experiments to humans may lead to over- or under-estimation of the effect and role of these compounds. The present paper will discuss a few of these challenges and suggest directions for future research. Questions we address include: (1) Is the combinatorial effect of resveratrol and other compounds real? (2) What are the real and relevant doses of resveratrol after administration? and (3) Is it possible to estimate the preventive effect of resveratrol by clinical trials using standard experimental designs? The examples concerning resveratrol taken from the scientific literature are mainly from 2010 and later. The challenges pointed out in this review are similar to most naturally occurring bioactive compounds. PMID:27294953

Advancing HIV research with pregnant women: navigating challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Krubiner, Carleigh B; Faden, Ruth R; Cadigan, R Jean; Gilbert, Sappho Z; Henry, Leslie M; Little, Margaret O; Mastroianni, Anna C; Namey, Emily E; Sullivan, Kristen A; Lyerly, Anne D

2016-09-24

Concerns about including pregnant women in research have led to a dearth of evidence to guide safe and effective treatment and prevention of HIV in pregnancy. To better understand why these evidence gaps persist and inform guidance for responsible inclusion of pregnant women in the HIV research agenda, we aimed to learn what HIV experts perceive as barriers and constraints to conducting this research. We conducted a series of group and one-on-one consultations with 62 HIV investigators and clinicians to elicit their views and experiences conducting HIV research involving pregnant women. Thematic analysis was used to identify priorities and perceived barriers to HIV research with pregnant women. Experts discussed a breadth of needed research, including safety, efficacy, and appropriate dosing of: newer antiretrovirals for pregnant women, emerging preventive strategies, and treatment for coinfections. Challenges to conducting research on pregnancy and HIV included ethical concerns, such as how to weigh risks and benefits in pregnancy; legal concerns, such as restrictive interpretations of current regulations and liability issues; financial and professional disincentives, including misaligned funder priorities and fear of reputational damage; and analytical and logistical complexities, such as challenges recruiting and retaining pregnant women to sufficiently power analyses. Investigators face numerous challenges to conducting needed HIV research with pregnant women. Advancing such research will require clearer guidance regarding ethical and legal uncertainties; incentives that encourage rather than discourage investigators to undertake such research; and a commitment to earlier development of safety and efficacy data through creative trial designs.

Generic Behavioural Criteria of Managerial Effectiveness: An Empirical and Comparative Case Study of UK Local Government

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamlin, Robert G.; Serventi, Susan A.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a "partnership-research" study of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour within the "local government" setting of the Wolverhampton City Council Social Care Department, and to describe how the research supports and challenges the organisation's existing…

Addressing Three Common Issues in Research on Youth Activities: An Integrative Approach for Operationalizing and Analyzing Involvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Busseri, Michael A.; Rose-Krasnor, Linda

2010-01-01

Youth activity involvement has been operationalized and analyzed using a wide range of approaches. Researchers face the challenges of distinguishing between the effects of involvement versus noninvolvement and intensity of involvement in a particular activity, accounting simultaneously for cumulative effects of involvement, and addressing multiple…

The Effectiveness of Staff Training Focused on Increasing Emotional Intelligence and Improving Interaction between Support Staff and Clients

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zijlmans, L. J. M.; Embregts, P. J. C. M.; Gerits, L.; Bosman, A. M. T.; Derksen, J. J. L.

2015-01-01

Background: Recent research addressed the relationship between staff behaviour and challenging behaviour of individuals with an intellectual disability (ID). Consequently, research on interventions aimed at staff is warranted. The present study focused on the effectiveness of a staff training aimed at emotional intelligence and interactions…

Challenges in studying the effects of scientific societies on research integrity.

PubMed

Levine, Felice J; Iutcovich, Joyce M

2003-04-01

Beyond impressionistic observations, little is known about the role and influence of scientific societies on research conduct. Acknowledging that the influence of scientific societies is not easily disentangled from other factors that shape norms and practices, this article addresses how best to study the promotion of research integrity generally as well as the role and impact of scientific societies as part of that process. In setting forth the parameters of a research agenda, the article addresses four issues: (1) how to conceptualize research on scientific societies and research integrity; (2) challenges and complexities in undertaking basic research; (3) strategies for undertaking basic research that is attentive to individual, situational, organizational, and environmental levels of analysis; and (4) the need for evaluation research as integral to programmatic change and to assessment of the impact of activities by scientific societies.

Evaluating the Real-World Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Efficacy Research on Eating Disorders: A Case Study from a Community-based Clinical Setting

PubMed Central

Lowe, Michael R.; Bunnell, Douglas W.; Neeren, Amy M.; Chernyak, Yelena; Greberman, Laurel

2009-01-01

Objective There is a growing consensus that there is a need to test the real-world effectiveness of eating disorder therapies that show promise in efficacy research. The current paper provides a narrative account of an NIMH-funded study that attempted to apply efficacy findings from CBT research to an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) at the largest community-based eating disorder program in the United States. Method We describe the study as originally envisioned as well as the various challenges that the researchers and the IOP staff encountered in implementing this study. Results The different training, assumptions, and “ways of knowing” of the research team and the treatment staff in regard to the nature of eating disorders and their treatment created multiple challenges for both groups during the study period. We describe valuable lessons learned about how to - and how not to -implement effectiveness designs in clinical settings that are relatively unfamiliar with empirically-based research findings. Discussion It is hoped that our experience in attempting to apply efficacy-based research findings on eating disorders treatment in a community-based clinical setting will prove helpful to other researchers and service providers engaging in such translational research. PMID:20063375

Researcher, Teacher, Education Researcher: The Evolution of a University Geoscience Instructor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Katharine D.; Steer, David; McConnell, David

2006-01-01

This case study describes a professor's evolution from geoscience researcher to effective teacher to education researcher. The article details his initial beliefs about teaching, looks at the factors that prompted him to seek a different teaching approach, and enumerates the supports and challenges that he had on his journey. Factors essential to…

A Model for Strengthening Collaborative Research Capacity: Illustrations from the Atlanta Clinical Translational Science Institute

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodgers, Kirsten C.; Akintobi, Tabia; Thompson, Winifred Wilkins; Evans, Donoria; Escoffery, Cam; Kegler, Michelle C.

2014-01-01

Introduction: Community-engaged research is effective in addressing health disparities but may present challenges for both academic institutions and community partners. Therefore, the need to build capacity for conducting collaborative research exists. The purpose of this study is to present a model for building research capacity in…

2012 Science Accomplishments Report of the Pacific Northwest Research Station

Treesearch

Rhonda Mazza

2013-01-01

Research Benefits Society. Forest Service research helps society make choices about water, wildlife, and natural resources. Scientific understanding gained from research transforms the way land managers rise to challenges. For example, the tools and information used daily by managers and policymakers to make cost-effective and environmentally sound fire management...

Communication Processes in the Field Research Interview Setting: A Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mason, Susan A.

For those involved in research of any type, the gathering of complete, relevant, and untainted information is the ultimate goal. The collection of valuable information is particularly challenging in the social sciences, which often call for qualitative field research. The effective field research interviewer must not only be knowledgeable of the…

Engaging MSW Students in Faculty Research: Students' Perspectives of Involvement in a Program Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Rebecca L.; Chiarelli-Helminiak, Christina M.; Barrette, Kyle; Ferraj, Brunilda

2016-01-01

Engaging social work students in research is challenging, in part, because of the way research is taught in the classroom and the need for learners to effectively develop connections between the "abstract world" of research concepts with the "real world" of professional experiences. This article describes the experiences of…

The effects of presession manipulations on automatically maintained challenging behavior and task responding.

PubMed

Chung, Yi-Chieh; Cannella-Malone, Helen I

2010-11-01

This study examined the effects of presession exposure to attention, response blocking, attention with response blocking, and noninteraction conditions on subsequent engagement in automatically maintained challenging behavior and correct responding in four individuals with significant intellectual disabilities. Following a functional analysis, the effects of the four presession conditions were examined using multielement designs. Results varied across the 4 participants (e.g., presession noninteraction acted as an abolishing operation for 2 participants, but as an establishing operation for the other 2 participants). As such, both the results replicated and contradicted previous research examining the effects of motivating operations on automatically maintained challenging behavior. Although the results varied across participants, at least one condition resulting in a decrease in challenging behavior and an increase in correct responding were identified for each participant. These findings suggested that presession manipulations resulted in decreases in subsequent automatically maintained challenging behavior and simultaneous increases in correct responding might need to be individually identified when the maintaining contingencies cannot be identified.

Summary of "Using Student Growth to Evaluate Educators of Students with Disabilities: Issues, Challenges, and Next Steps": A Forum of State Special Education and Teacher Effectiveness Experts and Researchers. Forum Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holdheide, Lynn; Browder, Diane; Warren, Sandra; Buzick, Heather; Jones, Nathan

2012-01-01

With the current emphasis in educational policy on improving teacher effectiveness, states and school districts are quickly developing and implementing new models of teacher evaluation. However, few models address the unique challenges in accurately measuring achievement growth of students with disabilities (including those participating in…

Tasty THC: Promises and Challenges of Cannabis Edibles.

PubMed

Barrus, Daniel G; Capogrossi, Kristen L; Cates, Sheryl C; Gourdet, Camille K; Peiper, Nicholas C; Novak, Scott P; Lefever, Timothy W; Wiley, Jenny L

2016-11-01

Food products containing cannabis extract (edibles) have emerged as a popular and lucrative facet of the legalized market for both recreational and medicinal cannabis. The many formulations of cannabis extracts used in edibles present a unique regulatory challenge for policy makers. Though edibles are often considered a safe, discreet, and effective means of attaining the therapeutic and/or intoxicating effects of cannabis without exposure to the potentially harmful risks of cannabis smoking, little research has evaluated how ingestion differs from other methods of cannabis administration in terms of therapeutic efficacy, subjective effects, and safety. The most prominent difference between ingestion and inhalation of cannabis extracts is the delayed onset of drug effect with ingestion. Consumers often do not understand this aspect of edible use and may consume a greater than intended amount of drug before the drug has taken effect, often resulting in profoundly adverse effects. Written for the educated layperson and for policy makers, this paper explores the current state of research regarding edibles, highlighting the promises and challenges that edibles present to both users and policy makers, and describes the approaches that four states in which recreational cannabis use is legal have taken regarding regulating edibles.

Tasty THC: Promises and Challenges of Cannabis Edibles

PubMed Central

Barrus, Daniel G.; Capogrossi, Kristen L.; Cates, Sheryl C.; Gourdet, Camille K.; Peiper, Nicholas C.; Novak, Scott P.; Lefever, Timothy W.; Wiley, Jenny L.

2016-01-01

Food products containing cannabis extract (edibles) have emerged as a popular and lucrative facet of the legalized market for both recreational and medicinal cannabis. The many formulations of cannabis extracts used in edibles present a unique regulatory challenge for policy makers. Though edibles are often considered a safe, discreet, and effective means of attaining the therapeutic and/or intoxicating effects of cannabis without exposure to the potentially harmful risks of cannabis smoking, little research has evaluated how ingestion differs from other methods of cannabis administration in terms of therapeutic efficacy, subjective effects, and safety. The most prominent difference between ingestion and inhalation of cannabis extracts is the delayed onset of drug effect with ingestion. Consumers often do not understand this aspect of edible use and may consume a greater than intended amount of drug before the drug has taken effect, often resulting in profoundly adverse effects. Written for the educated layperson and for policy makers, this paper explores the current state of research regarding edibles, highlighting the promises and challenges that edibles present to both users and policy makers, and describes the approaches that four states in which recreational cannabis use is legal have taken regarding regulating edibles. PMID:28127591

Formal Versus Informal Interventions for Challenging Behaviour in Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feldman, M. A.; Atkinson, L.; Foti-Gervais, L.; Condillac, R.

2004-01-01

Although effective, humane treatments exist for persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) who have challenging behaviour, little research has examined the extent to which clients receive formal, documented vs. undocumented interventions. Caregivers (of 625 persons with ID living in community and institutional residences in Ontario, Canada) were…

Exploring Interoperability as a Multidimensional Challenge for Effective Emergency Response

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santisteban, Hiram

2010-01-01

Purpose. The purpose of this research was to further an understanding of how the federal government is addressing the challenges of interoperability for emergency response or crisis management (FEMA, 2009) by informing the development of standards through the review of current congressional law, commissions, studies, executive orders, and…

The DOD Humanitarian and Civic Assistance Program Concepts, Trends, Medical Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-03-01

program improvements; measuring program performance and effectiveness; and defining military roles relevant to training, long term benefits, and the...support conclusions relevant to trends, benefits, challenges, suggested improvements, and suggested areas for future research. 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16...a Long Term Medical Benefit ................ 28 CONCLUSION

Female Faculty: Challenges and Choices in the United States and Beyond

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samble, Jennifer N.

2008-01-01

Substantial amounts of research and data detail the challenges female faculty face in the academy. These include unequal pay for similarly situated individuals, disparities between female representation within the professoriate and student population, and perceptions and accepted modes of behavior that have the effect of disenfranchising women as…

Music Performance Assessment: Exploring Three Approaches for Quality Rubric Construction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeLuca, Christopher; Bolden, Benjamin

2014-01-01

Assessing student performance is a central challenge for music educators. In alignment with previous research, this article asserts that rubrics provide a viable and useful structure for assessing music performance. To expand the potential of rubrics in music education, challenges to effective rubric construction are identified and addressed…

Effective Strategies for Talking about Climate Change in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Busch, K. C.; Osborne, Jonathan

2014-01-01

Teaching about climate science presents some unique challenges. Unlike many other science topics, mitigation and adaptation to climate change will require students to take action. This article outlines five major challenges to communicating about climate change in the classroom, drawing on research in environmental psychology: scepticism,…

Big Data Goes Personal: Privacy and Social Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonomi, Luca

2015-01-01

The Big Data phenomenon is posing new challenges in our modern society. In addition to requiring information systems to effectively manage high-dimensional and complex data, the privacy and social implications associated with the data collection, data analytics, and service requirements create new important research problems. First, the high…

Student Mobility: Changing Patterns Challenging Policymakers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pusser, Brian; Turner, Julie Kirsten

2004-01-01

Over the past decade, the understanding of student mobility patterns has increased considerably through research based in the analysis of longitudinal data sets. A significant challenge to crafting effective policies on student mobility emerges from most states focusing on full-time, 18-to-24-year-old students. While fewer than half of…

Educational Equity: Challenges for Educator Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Best, Jane; Winslow, Emily

2015-01-01

With increasingly diverse student populations, educational equity is a bigger challenge than ever for public schools across the United States. While federal government, states, and school districts work to identify and address the root causes of equity gaps, efforts are often hampered by a limited body of research-based strategies and approaches…

Addressing informatics challenges in Translational Research with workflow technology.

PubMed

Beaulah, Simon A; Correll, Mick A; Munro, Robin E J; Sheldon, Jonathan G

2008-09-01

Interest in Translational Research has been growing rapidly in recent years. In this collision of different data, technologies and cultures lie tremendous opportunities for the advancement of science and business for organisations that are able to integrate, analyse and deliver this information effectively to users. Workflow-based integration and analysis systems are becoming recognised as a fast and flexible way to build applications that are tailored to scientific areas, yet are built on a common platform. Workflow systems are allowing organisations to meet the key informatics challenges in Translational Research and improve disease understanding and patient care.

The economic demography of passenger intermodal transportation : opportunities and challenges.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-01

The research on intermodal transportation is vast. However, most efforts have focused on freight transportation. There is much less research on intermodal passenger transportationlargely due to lack of a comprehensive dataset for effectively study...

Potential environmental effects of the leading edge hydrokinetic energy technology.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-05-01

The Volpe Center evaluated potential environmental challenges and benefits of the ARPA-E funded research project, Marine Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting Using Cyber-Physical Systems, led by Brown University. The Leading Edge research team develo...

Anticipated Ethics and Regulatory Challenges in PCORnet: The National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

PubMed

Ali, Joseph; Califf, Robert; Sugarman, Jeremy

2016-01-01

PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, seeks to establish a robust national health data network for patient-centered comparative effectiveness research. This article reports the results of a PCORnet survey designed to identify the ethics and regulatory challenges anticipated in network implementation. A 12-item online survey was developed by leadership of the PCORnet Ethics and Regulatory Task Force; responses were collected from the 29 PCORnet networks. The most pressing ethics issues identified related to informed consent, patient engagement, privacy and confidentiality, and data sharing. High priority regulatory issues included IRB coordination, privacy and confidentiality, informed consent, and data sharing. Over 150 IRBs and five different approaches to managing multisite IRB review were identified within PCORnet. Further empirical and scholarly work, as well as practical and policy guidance, is essential if important initiatives that rely on comparative effectiveness research are to move forward.

Challenges to replicating evidence-based research in real-world settings: training African-American peers as patient navigators for colon cancer screening.

PubMed

Sly, Jamilia R; Jandorf, Lina; Dhulkifl, Rayhana; Hall, Diana; Edwards, Tiffany; Goodman, Adam J; Maysonet, Elithea; Azeez, Sulaiman

2012-12-01

Many cancer-prevention interventions have demonstrated effectiveness in diverse populations, but these evidenced-based findings slowly disseminate into practice. The current study describes the process of disseminating and replicating research (i.e., peer patient navigation for colonoscopy screening) in real-world settings. Two large metropolitan hospitals collaborated to replicate a peer patient navigation model within their existing navigation systems. Six African-American peer volunteers were recruited and trained to navigate patients through colonoscopy scheduling and completion. Major challenges included: (1) operating within multiple institutional settings; (2) operating within nonacademic/research infrastructures; (3) integrating into an established navigation system; (4) obtaining support of hospital staff without overburdening; and (5) competing priorities and time commitments. Bridging the gap between evidence-based research and practice is critical to eliminating many cancer health disparities; therefore, it is crucial that researchers and practitioners continue to work to achieve both diffusion and fusion of evidence-based findings. Recommendations for addressing these challenges are discussed.

Methods and metrics challenges of delivery-system research

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Many delivery-system interventions are fundamentally about change in social systems (both planned and unplanned). This systems perspective raises a number of methodological challenges for studying the effects of delivery-system change--particularly for answering questions related to whether the change will work under different conditions and how the change is integrated (or not) into the operating context of the delivery system. Methods The purpose of this paper is to describe the methodological and measurement challenges posed by five key issues in delivery-system research: (1) modeling intervention context; (2) measuring readiness for change; (3) assessing intervention fidelity and sustainability; (4) assessing complex, multicomponent interventions; and (5) incorporating time in delivery-system models to discuss recommendations for addressing these issues. For each issue, we provide recommendations for how research may be designed and implemented to overcome these challenges. Results and conclusions We suggest that a more refined understanding of the mechanisms underlying delivery-system interventions (treatment theory) and the ways in which outcomes for different classes of individuals change over time are fundamental starting points for capturing the heterogeneity in samples of individuals exposed to delivery-system interventions. To support the research recommendations outlined in this paper and to advance understanding of the "why" and "how" questions of delivery-system change and their effects, funding agencies should consider supporting studies with larger organizational sample sizes; longer duration; and nontraditional, mixed-methods designs. A version of this paper was prepared under contract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), US Department of Health and Human Services for presentation and discussion at a meeting on "The Challenge and Promise of Delivery System Research," held in Sterling, VA, on February 16-17, 2011. The opinions in the paper are those of the author and do not represent the views or recommendations of AHRQ or the US Department of Health and Human Services.1 PMID:22409885

Methodological Challenges in Studies Examining the Effects of Breakfast on Cognitive Performance and Appetite in Children and Adolescents.

PubMed

Adolphus, Katie; Bellissimo, Nick; Lawton, Clare L; Ford, Nikki A; Rains, Tia M; Totosy de Zepetnek, Julia; Dye, Louise

2017-01-01

Breakfast is purported to confer a number of benefits on diet quality, health, appetite regulation, and cognitive performance. However, new evidence has challenged the long-held belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This review aims to provide a comprehensive discussion of the key methodological challenges and considerations in studies assessing the effect of breakfast on cognitive performance and appetite control, along with recommendations for future research. This review focuses on the myriad challenges involved in studying children and adolescents specifically. Key methodological challenges and considerations include study design and location, sampling and sample section, choice of objective cognitive tests, choice of objective and subjective appetite measures, merits of providing a fixed breakfast compared with ad libitum, assessment and definition of habitual breakfast consumption, transparency of treatment condition, difficulty of isolating the direct effects of breakfast consumption, untangling acute and chronic effects, and influence of confounding variables. These methodological challenges have hampered a clear substantiation of the potential positive effects of breakfast on cognition and appetite control and contributed to the debate questioning the notion that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

Methodological Challenges in Studies Examining the Effects of Breakfast on Cognitive Performance and Appetite in Children and Adolescents123

PubMed Central

Bellissimo, Nick; Ford, Nikki A; Rains, Tia M

2017-01-01

Breakfast is purported to confer a number of benefits on diet quality, health, appetite regulation, and cognitive performance. However, new evidence has challenged the long-held belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This review aims to provide a comprehensive discussion of the key methodological challenges and considerations in studies assessing the effect of breakfast on cognitive performance and appetite control, along with recommendations for future research. This review focuses on the myriad challenges involved in studying children and adolescents specifically. Key methodological challenges and considerations include study design and location, sampling and sample section, choice of objective cognitive tests, choice of objective and subjective appetite measures, merits of providing a fixed breakfast compared with ad libitum, assessment and definition of habitual breakfast consumption, transparency of treatment condition, difficulty of isolating the direct effects of breakfast consumption, untangling acute and chronic effects, and influence of confounding variables. These methodological challenges have hampered a clear substantiation of the potential positive effects of breakfast on cognition and appetite control and contributed to the debate questioning the notion that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. PMID:28096143

Challenges encountered in the conduct of Optimal Health: A patient-centered comparative effectiveness study of interventions for adults with serious mental illness.

PubMed

Kogan, Jane N; Schuster, James; Nikolajski, Cara; Schake, Patricia; Carney, Tracy; Morton, Sally C; Kang, Chaeryon; Reynolds, Charles F

2017-02-01

The aim of patient-centered comparative effectiveness research is to conduct stakeholder-driven investigations that identify which interventions are most effective for which patients under specific circumstances. Conducting this research in real-world settings comes with unique experiences and challenges. We provide the study design, challenges confronted, and the solutions we devised for Optimal Health, a stakeholder-informed patient-centered comparative effectiveness study focused on the needs of seriously mentally ill individuals receiving case management services in community mental health centers across Pennsylvania. Optimal Health, supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, is a cluster-randomized trial of two evidence-based interventions for improving health and wellness across 11 provider sites. Participants were followed for 18-24 months, with repeated measurements of self-reported health status and activation in care and administrative measurements of primary and specialty health service utilization. Health-related quality of life, engagement in care, and service utilization are to be compared via random effects mixed models. Stakeholders were, and continue to be, engaged via focus groups, interviews, and stakeholder advisory board meetings. A learning collaborative model was used to support shared learning and implementation fidelity across provider sites. From 1 November 2013 through 15 July 2014, we recruited 1229 adults with serious mental illness, representing 85.1% of those eligible for study participation. Of these, 713 are in the Provider-Supported arm of the study and 516 in Patient Self-Directed Care. Across five data collection time points, we retained 86% and 83% of the participants in the Provider-Supported and Self-Directed arms, respectively. Lessons learned relate to estimation of the size of our study population, the value of multiple data sources, and intervention training and implementation. The use of historical claims data can lead to an overestimation of eligible participants and, subsequently, a reduced study sample and an imbalance between intervention arms. Disruptions in continuity of care in real-world settings can pose challenges to on-site self-report data collection, although the inclusion of multiple data sources in study design can improve data completeness. Geographic dispersion of rural provider sites and staff turnover can lead to training and intervention fidelity challenges that can be overcome with the use of a "train-the-trainer" model, "wellness champions," and the use of a Learning Collaborative approach. Stakeholder engagement in mitigating these challenges proved to be critical to study progress. Conducting real-world patient-centered comparative effectiveness research in healthcare systems that care for seriously mentally ill persons is an important yet challenging undertaking, one which requires flexibility in identifying potential adaptations within all major study phases. Advice from a wide range of stakeholders is critical in development of successful strategies.

Tools of the trade: theory and method in mindfulness neuroscience.

PubMed

Tang, Yi-Yuan; Posner, Michael I

2013-01-01

Mindfulness neuroscience is an emerging research field that investigates the underlying mechanisms of different mindfulness practices, different stages and different states of practice as well as different effects of practice over the lifespan. Mindfulness neuroscience research integrates theory and methods from eastern contemplative traditions, western psychology and neuroscience, and from neuroimaging techniques, physiological measures and behavioral tests. We here review several key theoretical and methodological challenges in the empirical study of mindfulness neuroscience and provide suggestions for overcoming these challenges.

Maximizing research study effectiveness in malaria elimination settings: a mixed methods study to capture the experiences of field-based staff.

PubMed

Canavati, Sara E; Quintero, Cesia E; Haller, Britt; Lek, Dysoley; Yok, Sovann; Richards, Jack S; Whittaker, Maxine Anne

2017-09-11

In a drug-resistant, malaria elimination setting like Western Cambodia, field research is essential for the development of novel anti-malarial regimens and the public health solutions necessary to monitor the spread of resistance and eliminate infection. Such field studies often face a variety of similar implementation challenges, but these are rarely captured in a systematic way or used to optimize future study designs that might overcome similar challenges. Field-based research staff often have extensive experience and can provide valuable insight regarding these issues, but their perspectives and experiences are rarely documented and seldom integrated into future research protocols. This mixed-methods analysis sought to gain an understanding of the daily challenges encountered by research field staff in the artemisinin-resistant, malaria elimination setting of Western Cambodia. In doing so, this study seeks to understand how the experiences and opinions of field staff can be captured, and used to inform future study designs. Twenty-two reports from six field-based malaria studies conducted in Western Cambodia were reviewed using content analysis to identify challenges to conducting the research. Informal Interviews, Focus Group Discussions and In-depth Interviews were also conducted among field research staff. Thematic analysis of the data was undertaken using Nvivo 9 ® software. Triangulation and critical case analysis was also used. There was a lack of formalized avenues through which field workers could report challenges experienced when conducting the malaria studies. Field research staff faced significant logistical barriers to participant recruitment and data collection, including a lack of available transportation to cover long distances, and the fact that mobile and migrant populations (MMPs) are usually excluded from studies because of challenges in follow-up. Cultural barriers to communication also hindered participant recruitment and created unexpected delays. Field staff often paid a physical, emotional and financial cost, going beyond their duty in order to keep the study running. Formal monthly reports filled out by field study staff could be a key tool for capturing field study staff experiences effectively, but require specific report fields to encourage staff to outline their challenges and to propose potential solutions. Forging strong bonds with communities and their leaders may improve communication, and decrease barriers to participant recruitment. Study designs that make it feasible for MMPs to participate should be pursued; in addition to increasing the potential participant pool, this will ensure that the most malaria-endemic demographic is taken into account in research studies. Overlaps between clinical care and research create ethical dilemmas for study staff, a fact that warrants careful consideration. Lessons learned from study field staff should be used to create a set of locally-relevant recommendations to inform future study designs.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of the 2006 Air Force Materiel Command Test and Evaluation Proposal

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors...distribution unlimited The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the...paper) 1. United States. Air Force Materiel Command—Reorganization—Cost effectiveness . I. Thirtle, Michael R., 1967– UG633.2.C67 2008

Subtlety of Ambient-Language Effects in Babbling: A Study of English- and Chinese-Learning Infants at 8, 10, and 12 Months

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chia-Cheng; Jhang, Yuna; Chen, Li-mei; Relyea, George; Oller, D. Kimbrough

2017-01-01

Prior research on ambient-language effects in babbling has often suggested infants produce language-specific phonological features within the first year. These results have been questioned in research failing to find such effects and challenging the positive findings on methodological grounds. We studied English- and Chinese-learning infants at 8,…

A proposed reductionist solution to address the methodological challenges of inconsistent reflexology maps and poor experimental controls in reflexology research: a discussion paper.

PubMed

Jones, Jenny; Thomson, Patricia; Lauder, William; Leslie, Stephen J

2013-03-01

Reflexology is a complex massage intervention, based on the concept that specific areas of the feet (reflex points) correspond to individual internal organs within the body. Reflexologists trained in the popular Ingham reflexology method claim that massage to these points, using massage techniques unique to reflexology, stimulates an increase in blood supply to the corresponding organ. Reflexology researchers face two key methodological challenges that need to be addressed if a specific treatment-related hemodynamic effect is to be scientifically demonstrated. The first is the problem of inconsistent reflexology foot maps; the second is the issue of poor experimental controls. This article proposes a potential experimental solution that we believe can address both methodological challenges and in doing so, allow any specific hemodynamic treatment effect unique to reflexology to experimentally reveal itself.

Parents with Intellectual Disabilities Experiencing Challenging Child Routines: A Pilot Study Using Embedded Self-Determination Practices.

PubMed

Knowles, Christen; Blakely, Allison; Hansen, Sarah; Machalicek, Wendy

2017-05-01

Practices to facilitate self-determination have not received appropriate attention in research concerning parents with intellectual disabilities (ID). Likewise, parenting interventions for adults with intellectual disabilities have seldom observed both parent and child behavioural outcomes. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a parenting intervention embedded with self-determination facilitation practices for two dyads of a parent with intellectual disabilities and their young child. The interventions focused on increasing parents' ability to correctly implement steps of a parenting routine while reducing occurrence of challenging child behaviour. The results of the study demonstrated two basic effects of correctly completed steps of the parenting routine and a reduction of challenging child behaviour. Parents also reported decreased feelings of stress during the routine following completion of the intervention. Implications for future research and replication of this pilot study are discussed. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Role of comparative effectiveness research in cancer funding decisions in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Hoch, Jeffrey S; Hodgson, David C; Earle, Craig C

2012-12-01

Recently, the evidence-based drug funding process in Ontario, Canada, was challenged by a young mother with a breast tumor too small, based on the evidence that existed at the time, to qualify for an expensive drug. In reality, this is only the latest in a number of challenges the publicly funded health care system has had to deal with in the face of an evolving drug policy landscape. This article defines comparative effectiveness research (CER), considering how it is viewed differently in the United States and Canada. It also reviews the role CER now plays in the Ontario drug funding process and concludes with a review of the challenges and opportunities of using observational data to conduct CER and incorporate it into policy making within a universal health care system. Many of the issues faced by Ontario are relevant beyond Canada, including in the United States during this period of health care reform.

Making things happen through challenging goals: leader proactivity, trust, and business-unit performance.

PubMed

Crossley, Craig D; Cooper, Cecily D; Wernsing, Tara S

2013-05-01

Building on decades of research on the proactivity of individual performers, this study integrates research on goal setting and trust in leadership to examine manager proactivity and business unit sales performance in one of the largest sales organizations in the United States. Results of a moderated-mediation model suggest that proactive senior managers establish more challenging goals for their business units (N = 50), which in turn are associated with higher sales performance. We further found that employees' trust in the manager is a critical contingency variable that facilitates the relationship between challenging sales goals and subsequent sales performance. This research contributes to growing literatures on trust in leadership and proactivity by studying their joint effects at a district-unit level of analysis while identifying district managers' tendency to set challenging goals as a process variable that helps translate their proactivity into the collective performance of their units. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Live Theatre: A Dynamic Medium for Engaging with Intercultural Education Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Cynthia D.

2013-01-01

In this paper, I discuss live theatre as a highly effective and dynamic medium for facilitating meaningful engagement with research on intercultural education. I make the case that ethnographic, or research-based, theatre can productively showcase challenging social issues and the sometimes confusing, poignant and humorous complexities of…

The Potential of Grant Applications as Team Building Exercises: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siemens, Lynne

2010-01-01

Faced with increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated research questions, academics are working with others through collaboration and research teams. To be effective, these research teams need to maximize the factors that contribute to success while minimizing the potentially negative impact of associated challenges. One particular…

Meta-Analysis: An Approach to Interview Success.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCaslin, Mark; Carlson, Nancy M.

An initial research step, developing an effective interview strategy, presents unique challenges for novice and master research alike. To focus qualitative research in the human ecology of the study, the strategy presented in this paper used an initial interview protocol and preanalysis process, called meta-analysis, prior to developing the formal…

Enabling comparative effectiveness research with informatics: show me the data!

PubMed

Safdar, Nabile M; Siegel, Eliot; Erickson, Bradley J; Nagy, Paul

2011-09-01

Both outcomes researchers and informaticians are concerned with information and data. As such, some of the central challenges to conducting successful comparative effectiveness research can be addressed with informatics solutions. Specific informatics solutions which address how data in comparative effectiveness research are enriched, stored, shared, and analyzed are reviewed. Imaging data can be made more quantitative, uniform, and structured for researchers through the use of lexicons and structured reporting. Secure and scalable storage of research data is enabled through data warehouses and cloud services. There are a number of national efforts to help researchers share research data and analysis tools. There is a diverse arsenal of informatics tools designed to meet the needs of comparative effective researchers. Copyright © 2011 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Campus Community Involvement in an Experimental Food Research Project Increases Students' Motivation and Improves Perceived Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goto, K.; Bianco-Simeral, S.

2009-01-01

Although the effects of pedagogical strategies using collaborative learning on students' perceived learning outcomes have been studied, little has been examined about possible benefits and challenges in collaborating with the campus community in a food science research project conducted by nutrition majors. We examined the effects of involving…

Moving toward the Market and Away from Public Service? Effects of Resource Dependency and Academic Capitalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaeger, Audrey J.; Thronton, Courtney H.

2005-01-01

Research-extensive land-grant institutions face the unique challenge of asking faculty to fulfill a historic mission of public service in a time of scarce resources. This article discusses the parallel between the effects of resource dependency and academic capitalism on the research enterprise and on public service endeavors through the…

Affording Explicit-Reflective Science Teaching by Using an Educative Teachers' Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Shu-Fen; Lieu, Sang-Chong; Chen, Sufen; Huang, Mao-Tsai; Chang, Wen-Hua

2012-01-01

Although researchers have achieved some success in effective nature of science (NOS) teaching, helping teachers teach NOS continues to be a great challenge. The development of an educative teachers' guide would provide support for NOS teaching. In this study, we explored the effects that a research-based guide had on affording elementary school…

Using a Stance Corpus to Learn about Effective Authorial Stance-Taking: A Textlinguistic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Peichin

2012-01-01

Presenting a persuasive authorial stance is a major challenge for second language (L2) writers in writing academic research. Failure to present an effective authorial stance often results in poor evaluation, which compromises a writer's research potential. This study proposes a "textlinguistic" approach to advanced academic writing to complement a…

Impact Challenges in Community Science-with-Practice: Lessons from PROSPER on Transformative Practitioner-Scientist Partnerships and Prevention Infrastructure Development

PubMed Central

Greenberg, Mark

2011-01-01

At present, evidence-based programs (EBPs) to reduce youth violence are failing to translate into widespread community practice, despite their potential for impact on this pervasive public health problem. In this paper we address two types of challenges in the achievement of such impact, drawing upon lessons from the implementation of a partnership model called PROSPER. First, we address five key challenges in the achievement of community-level impact through effective community planning and action: readiness and mobilization of community teams; maintaining EBP implementation quality; sustaining community teams and EBPs; demonstrating community-level impact; and continuous, proactive technical assistance. Second, we consider grand challenges in the large-scale translation of EBPs: (1) building, linking and expanding existing infrastructures to support effective EBP delivery systems, and (2) organizing networks of practitioner-scientist partnerships—networks designed to integrate diffusion of EBPs with research that examines effective strategies to do so. The PROSPER partnership model is an evidence-based delivery system for community-based prevention and has evolved through two decades of NIH-funded research, assisted by land grant universities' Cooperative Extension Systems. Findings and lessons of relevance to each of the challenges are summarized. In this context, we outline how practitioner-scientist partnerships can serve to transform EBP delivery systems, particularly in conjunction with supportive federal policy. PMID:21222151

Impact challenges in community science-with-practice: lessons from PROSPER on transformative practitioner-scientist partnerships and prevention infrastructure development.

PubMed

Spoth, Richard; Greenberg, Mark

2011-09-01

At present, evidence-based programs (EBPs) to reduce youth violence are failing to translate into widespread community practice, despite their potential for impact on this pervasive public health problem. In this paper we address two types of challenges in the achievement of such impact, drawing upon lessons from the implementation of a partnership model called PROSPER. First, we address five key challenges in the achievement of community-level impact through effective community planning and action: readiness and mobilization of community teams; maintaining EBP implementation quality; sustaining community teams and EBPs; demonstrating community-level impact; and continuous, proactive technical assistance. Second, we consider grand challenges in the large-scale translation of EBPs: (1) building, linking and expanding existing infrastructures to support effective EBP delivery systems, and (2) organizing networks of practitioner-scientist partnerships-networks designed to integrate diffusion of EBPs with research that examines effective strategies to do so. The PROSPER partnership model is an evidence-based delivery system for community-based prevention and has evolved through two decades of NIH-funded research, assisted by land grant universities' Cooperative Extension Systems. Findings and lessons of relevance to each of the challenges are summarized. In this context, we outline how practitioner-scientist partnerships can serve to transform EBP delivery systems, particularly in conjunction with supportive federal policy.

Lessons learned from recruiting nursing homes to a quantitative cross-sectional pilot study.

PubMed

Tzouvara, Vasiliki; Papadopoulos, Chris; Randhawa, Gurch

2016-03-01

A growing older adult population is leading to increased admission rates to long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and residential care homes. Assisted healthcare services should be flexible, integrated, and responsive to older adults' needs. However, there is a limited body of empirical evidence because of the recruitment challenges in these settings. To describe the barriers and challenges faced in recruiting to a recent pilot study, consider previously implemented and proposed recruitment strategies, and propose a new multi-method approach to maximising recruitment of care homes. The proposed multi-method approach harnesses key recruitment strategies previously highlighted as effective in navigating the many challenges and barriers that are likely to be encountered, such as mistrust, scepticism and concerns about disruption to routines. This includes making strategic use of existing personal and professional connections within the research team, engaging with care homes that have previously engaged with the research process, forming relationships of trust, and employing a range of incentives. Implementing carefully planned recruitment strategies is likely to improve relationships between nursing homes and researchers. As a consequence, recruitment can be augmented which can enable the production of rigorous evidence required for achieving effective nursing practice and patient wellbeing. Boosting recruitment rates is crucial in helping to build new and less biased research evidence and for informing and underpinning all forms of evidence-based practice. The lessons learned from our pilot and the review of the literature highlight these issues and better enable investigators to access research settings that commonly possess many complex recruitment barriers and challenges.

eHealth recruitment challenges.

PubMed

Thompson, Debbe; Canada, Ashanti; Bhatt, Riddhi; Davis, Jennifer; Plesko, Lisa; Baranowski, Tom; Cullen, Karen; Zakeri, Issa

2006-11-01

Little is known about effective eHealth recruitment methods. This paper presents recruitment challenges associated with enrolling African-American girls aged 8-10 years in an eHealth obesity prevention program, their effect on the recruitment plan, and potential implications for eHealth research. Although the initial recruitment strategy was literature-informed, it failed to enroll the desired number of girls within a reasonable time period. Therefore, the recruitment strategy was reformulated to incorporate principles of social marketing and traditional marketing techniques. The resulting plan included both targeted, highly specific strategies (e.g., selected churches), and more broad-based approaches (e.g., media exposure, mass mailings, radio advertisements). The revised plan enabled recruitment goals to be attained. Media appeared to be particularly effective at reaching the intended audience. Future research should identify the most effective recruitment strategies for reaching potential eHealth audiences.

Building Interdisciplinary Research Capacity: a Key Challenge for Ecological Approaches in Public Health.

PubMed

Galway, Lindsay P; Parkes, Margot W; Allen, Diana; Takaro, Tim K

2016-01-01

The shortcomings of public health research informed by reductionist and fragmented biomedical approaches and the emergence of wicked problems are fueling a renewed interest in ecological approaches in public health. Despite the central role of interdisciplinarity in the context of ecological approaches in public health research, inadequate attention has been given to the specific challenge of doing interdisciplinary research in practice. As a result, important knowledge gaps exist with regards to the practice of interdisciplinary research. We argue that explicit attention towards the challenge of doing interdisciplinary research is critical in order to effectively apply ecological approaches to public health issues. This paper draws on our experiences developing and conducting an interdisciplinary research project exploring the links among climate change, water, and health to highlight five specific insights which we see as relevant to building capacity for interdisciplinary research specifically, and which have particular relevance to addressing the integrative challenges demanded by ecological approaches to address public health issues. These lessons include: (i) the need for frameworks that facilitate integration; (ii) emphasize learning-by-doing; (iii) the benefits of examining issues at multiple scales; (iv) make the implicit, explicit; and (v) the need for reflective practice. By synthesizing and sharing experiences gained by engaging in interdisciplinary inquiries using an ecological approach, this paper responds to a growing need to build interdisciplinary research capacity as a means for advancing the ecological public health agenda more broadly.

Building Interdisciplinary Research Capacity: a Key Challenge for Ecological Approaches in Public Health

PubMed Central

Galway, Lindsay P.; Parkes, Margot W.; Allen, Diana; Takaro, Tim K.

2016-01-01

The shortcomings of public health research informed by reductionist and fragmented biomedical approaches and the emergence of wicked problems are fueling a renewed interest in ecological approaches in public health. Despite the central role of interdisciplinarity in the context of ecological approaches in public health research, inadequate attention has been given to the specific challenge of doing interdisciplinary research in practice. As a result, important knowledge gaps exist with regards to the practice of interdisciplinary research. We argue that explicit attention towards the challenge of doing interdisciplinary research is critical in order to effectively apply ecological approaches to public health issues. This paper draws on our experiences developing and conducting an interdisciplinary research project exploring the links among climate change, water, and health to highlight five specific insights which we see as relevant to building capacity for interdisciplinary research specifically, and which have particular relevance to addressing the integrative challenges demanded by ecological approaches to address public health issues. These lessons include: (i) the need for frameworks that facilitate integration; (ii) emphasize learning-by-doing; (iii) the benefits of examining issues at multiple scales; (iv) make the implicit, explicit; and (v) the need for reflective practice. By synthesizing and sharing experiences gained by engaging in interdisciplinary inquiries using an ecological approach, this paper responds to a growing need to build interdisciplinary research capacity as a means for advancing the ecological public health agenda more broadly. PMID:29546171

Issues and Challenges in the Design of Culturally Adapted Evidence-Based Interventions

PubMed Central

Castro, Felipe González; Barrera, Manuel; Holleran Steiker, Lori K.

2014-01-01

This article examines issues and challenges in the design of cultural adaptations that are developed from an original evidence-based intervention (EBI). Recently emerging multistep frameworks or stage models are examined, as these can systematically guide the development of culturally adapted EBIs. Critical issues are also presented regarding whether and how such adaptations may be conducted, and empirical evidence is presented regarding the effectiveness of such cultural adaptations. Recent evidence suggests that these cultural adaptations are effective when applied with certain subcultural groups, although they are less effective when applied with other subcultural groups. Generally, current evidence regarding the effectiveness of cultural adaptations is promising but mixed. Further research is needed to obtain more definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of culturally adapted EBIs. Directions for future research and recommendations are presented to guide the development of a new generation of culturally adapted EBIs. PMID:20192800

Bio-Terrorism: Steps to Effective Public Health Risk Communication and Fear Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-06-01

outline the challenges of communicating risk prior to, during and following a bio-terrorism event as well as the relationship between the content of...particularly challenging for a system based on thorough research and data analysis. Risk communication in a bio-terrorism event will involve...Ultimately, the Anthrax events confirmed the difficulty in communicating risk when scientific data is not available. Adding to the challenges imposed by an

Ocean Science Video Challenge Aims to Improve Science Communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

2013-10-01

Given today's enormous management and protection challenges related to the world's oceans, a new competition calls on ocean scientists to effectively communicate their research in videos that last up to 3 minutes. The Ocean 180 Video Challenge, named for the number of seconds in 3 minutes, aims to improve ocean science communication while providing high school and middle school teachers and students with new and interesting educational materials about current science topics.

Evaluating teams in extreme environments: from issues to answers.

PubMed

Bishop, Sheryl L

2004-07-01

The challenge to effectively evaluating teams in extreme environments necessarily involves a wide range of physiological, psychological, and psychosocial factors. The high reliance on technology, the growing frequency of multinational and multicultural teams, and the demand for longer duration missions all further compound the complexity of the problem. The primary goal is the insurance of human health and well-being with expectations that such priorities will naturally lead to improved chances for performance and mission success. This paper provides an overview of some of the most salient immediate challenges for selecting, training, and supporting teams in extreme environments, gives exemplars of research findings concerning these challenges, and discusses the need for future research.

Overcoming Practical Challenges to Conducting Clinical Research in the Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation Setting

PubMed Central

Campbell, Grace B.; Skidmore, Elizabeth R.; Whyte, Ellen M.; Matthews, Judith T.

2015-01-01

There is a shortage of published empirical studies conducted in acute inpatient stroke rehabilitation, though such studies are greatly needed in order to shed light on the most efficacious inpatient stroke rehabilitation interventions. The inherent challenges of inpatient research may dissuade researchers from undertaking this important work. This paper describes our institution’s experience devising practical solutions to research barriers in this setting. Our efforts facilitated five simultaneous inpatient stroke rehabilitation studies, and led to several benefits, including increased effectiveness of research participant identification and enrollment, novel collaborative projects, innovative clinical care initiatives, and enhanced emotional and practical support for patients and their families. We provide recommendations based on lessons learned during our experience, and discuss benefits of this collaboration for our research participants, clinical staff, and the research team. PMID:25775955

Practical Strategies for School Counsellor Leadership: The Leadership Challenge Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shillingford, Margaret

2013-01-01

It is crucial to the progression of the school counselling profession that counsellors-in-training receive the training, knowledge, and practice in leadership that they need to counter systemic challenges that they may face. Effective leadership practices have been shown in research to be instrumental in promoting program delivery success in the…

Challenging Behaviors in Early Childhood Settings: Creating a Place for All Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hart Bell, Susan; Carr, Victoria W.; Denno, Dawn; Johnson, Lawrence J.; Phillips, Louise R.

2004-01-01

Learn to manage a wide range of challenging behaviors in early childhood settings with this strategy-filled resource for teachers and other professionals. Based on the latest research and the authors' classroom experience, the book helps early childhood teams assess the classroom environment and link effective behavioral interventions to…

CC-LR: Providing Interactive, Challenging and Attractive Collaborative Complex Learning Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caballé, S.; Mora, N.; Feidakis, M.; Gañán, D.; Conesa, J.; Daradoumis, T.; Prieto, J.

2014-01-01

Many researchers argue that students must be meaningfully engaged in the learning resources for effective learning to occur. However, current online learners still report a problematic lack of attractive and challenging learning resources that engage them in the learning process. This endemic problem is even more evident in online collaborative…

Key Challenges of Using Video When Investigating Social Practices in Education: Contextualization, Magnification, and Representation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blikstad-Balas, Marte

2017-01-01

Audio- and video-recordings are increasingly popular data sources in contemporary qualitative research, making discussions about methodological implications of such recordings timelier than ever. This article goes beyond discussing practical issues and issues of "camera effect" and reactivity to identify three major challenges of using…

Boundary-Spanning Actors in Urban 4-H: An Action Research Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

David, Victoria Dotson

2014-01-01

Today's Cooperative Extension organization continues to face challenges of providing relevant, quality programming in urban communities. Challenges include the ability to build capacity in Extension's urban youth educators to assess and interpret the unique, variable needs of urban clients and to communicate effectively the identified…

Improving Teacher Retention in California Public Schools. Research Brief. Issue #107

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Public Policy Institute of California, 2006

2006-01-01

California public schools face a number of challenges, including low academic performance and a shortage of fully credentialed teachers. One way to address these particular challenges is through teacher retention. Experienced teachers are more effective at raising student test scores, on average, than are teachers in their first year or two of…

A Quantitative Quality Control Model for Parallel and Distributed Crowdsourcing Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Shaojian

2014-01-01

Crowdsourcing is an emerging research area that has experienced rapid growth in the past few years. Although crowdsourcing has demonstrated its potential in numerous domains, several key challenges continue to hinder its application. One of the major challenges is quality control. How can crowdsourcing requesters effectively control the quality…

Treatment of Challenging Behavior Exhibited by Children with Prenatal Drug Exposure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurtz, Patricia F.; Chin, Michelle D.; Rush, Karena S.; Dixon, Dennis R.

2008-01-01

A large body of literature exists describing the harmful effects of prenatal drug exposure on infant and child development. However, there is a paucity of research examining strategies to ameliorate sequelae such as externalizing behavior problems. In the present study, functional analysis procedures were used to assess challenging behavior…

True Tension Traverse: What Research Shows about the Antidepressant Effects of Challenge Course Experiences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunting, Camille

2000-01-01

A study of five undergraduate physical education classes explored the influence on positive and negative affect of different types of physical activity. Results indicated that running, skiing, and challenge course activities, especially the 14-foot wall, increased positive affect more than other activities. Implications for physical education…

Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ensuring that research results are reported accurately and effectively is an eternal challenge for scientists. The book Science Writing = Thinking in Words (David Lindsay, 2011. CSIRO Publishing) is a primer for researchers who seek to improve their impact through better written (and oral) presentat...

Challenges in researching violence affecting health service delivery in complex security environments.

PubMed

Foghammar, Ludvig; Jang, Suyoun; Kyzy, Gulzhan Asylbek; Weiss, Nerina; Sullivan, Katherine A; Gibson-Fall, Fawzia; Irwin, Rachel

2016-08-01

Complex security environments are characterized by violence (including, but not limited to "armed conflict" in the legal sense), poverty, environmental disasters and poor governance. Violence directly affecting health service delivery in complex security environments includes attacks on individuals (e.g. doctors, nurses, administrators, security guards, ambulance drivers and translators), obstructions (e.g. ambulances being stopped at checkpoints), discrimination (e.g. staff being pressured to treat one patient instead of another), attacks on and misappropriation of health facilities and property (e.g. vandalism, theft and ambulance theft by armed groups), and the criminalization of health workers. This paper examines the challenges associated with researching the context, scope and nature of violence directly affecting health service delivery in these environments. With a focus on data collection, it considers how these challenges affect researchers' ability to analyze the drivers of violence and impact of violence. This paper presents key findings from two research workshops organized in 2014 and 2015 which convened researchers and practitioners in the fields of health and humanitarian aid delivery and policy, and draws upon an analysis of organizational efforts to address violence affecting healthcare delivery and eleven in-depth interviews with representatives of organizations working in complex security environments. Despite the urgency and impact of violence affecting healthcare delivery, there is an overall lack of research that is of health-specific, publically accessible and comparable, as well as a lack of gender-disaggregated data, data on perpetrator motives and an assessment of the 'knock-on' effects of violence. These gaps limit analysis and, by extension, the ability of organizations operating in complex security environments to effectively manage the security of their staff and facilities and to deliver health services. Increased research collaboration among aid organizations, researchers and multilateral organizations, such as the WHO, is needed to address these challenges. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overcoming practical challenges to conducting clinical research in the inpatient stroke rehabilitation setting.

PubMed

Campbell, Grace B; Skidmore, Elizabeth R; Whyte, Ellen M; Matthews, Judith T

2015-10-01

There is a shortage of published empirical studies conducted in acute inpatient stroke rehabilitation, though such studies are greatly needed in order to shed light on the most efficacious inpatient stroke rehabilitation interventions. The inherent challenges of inpatient research may dissuade researchers from undertaking this important work. This paper describes our institution's experience devising practical solutions to research barriers in this setting. Through concentrated efforts to overcome research barriers, such as by cultivating collaborative relationships and capitalizing on unanticipated benefits, we successfully facilitated conduct of five simultaneous inpatient stroke studies. Tangible benefits realized include increased effectiveness of research participant identification and enrollment, novel collaborative projects, innovative clinical care initiatives, and enhanced emotional and practical support for patients and their families. We provide recommendations based on lessons learned during our experience, and discuss benefits of this collaboration for our research participants, clinical staff, and the research team.

Experiences of Structured Elicitation for Model-Based Cost-Effectiveness Analyses.

PubMed

Soares, Marta O; Sharples, Linda; Morton, Alec; Claxton, Karl; Bojke, Laura

2018-06-01

Empirical evidence supporting the cost-effectiveness estimates of particular health care technologies may be limited, or it may even be missing entirely. In these situations, additional information, often in the form of expert judgments, is needed to reach a decision. There are formal methods to quantify experts' beliefs, termed as structured expert elicitation (SEE), but only limited research is available in support of methodological choices. Perhaps as a consequence, the use of SEE in the context of cost-effectiveness modelling is limited. This article reviews applications of SEE in cost-effectiveness modelling with the aim of summarizing the basis for methodological choices made in each application and recording the difficulties and challenges reported by the authors in the design, conduct, and analyses. The methods used in each application were extracted along with the criteria used to support methodological and practical choices and any issues or challenges discussed in the text. Issues and challenges were extracted using an open field, and then categorised and grouped for reporting. The review demonstrates considerable heterogeneity in methods used, and authors acknowledge great methodological uncertainty in justifying their choices. Specificities of the context area emerging as potentially important in determining further methodological research in elicitation are between- expert variation and its interpretation, the fact that substantive experts in the area may not be trained in quantitative subjects, that judgments are often needed on various parameter types, the need for some form of assessment of validity, and the need for more integration with behavioural research to devise relevant debiasing strategies. This review of experiences of SEE highlights a number of specificities/constraints that can shape the development of guidance and target future research efforts in this area. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The untapped potential of genetically-engineered mouse models in chemoprevention research: Opportunities and challenges

PubMed Central

Abate-Shen, Cory; Brown, Powel H.; Colburn, Nancy H.; Gerner, Eugene W.; Green, Jeffery E.; Lipkin, Martin; Nelson, William G.; Threadgill, David

2009-01-01

Summary The past decade has witnessed the unveiling of a powerful new generation of genetically-engineered mouse (GEM) models of human cancer, which are proving to be highly effective for elucidating cancer mechanisms and interrogating novel experimental therapeutics. This new generation of GEM models are well-suited for chemoprevention research, particularly for investigating progressive stages of carcinogenesis, identifying biomarkers for early detection and intervention, and pre-clinical assessment of novel agents or combinations of agents. Here we discuss opportunities and challenges for the application of GEM models in prevention research, as well as strategies to maximize their relevance for human cancer. PMID:19138951

Small Wastewater Systems Research

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Small communities face barriers to building and maintaining effective wastewater treatment services, challenges include financial/economic limitations, lack of managerial training and geographic isolation/remoteness.

Alcohol portrayals in movies, music videos and soap operas and alcohol use of young people: current status and future challenges.

PubMed

Koordeman, Renske; Anschutz, Doeschka J; Engels, Rutger C M E

2012-01-01

To provide an overview of studies of the effects of alcohol portrayals in movies, music videos and soap operas on alcohol consumption among young people. Moreover, we highlight important issues that need to be addressed in future research. This paper reviews the current literature on alcohol portrayals on-screen and the associated gaps and challenges in alcohol media research. Thirteen longitudinal studies, 8 cross-sectional studies and 6 experimental studies examined the effects of alcohol portrayals on-screen on alcohol consumption among young people. They showed a relation between on-screen alcohol exposure and onset and progression of alcohol consumption. A distinction can be made between long-term effects and immediate effects on alcohol consumption. Only lately, more attention has been paid to processes underlying the effects of on-screen alcohol exposure. Replication of findings and development of new research designs is essential. On-screen alcohol exposure does not affect everyone. It is important to test individual differences in susceptibility to on-screen alcohol portrayals. Further, not all media alcohol portrayal might provoke similar effects. It is therefore essential to test the effect of different types of alcohol portrayals.

School Leaders' Engagement with the Concept of Evidence-Based Practice as a Management Tool for School Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheard, Mary K.; Sharples, Jonathan

2016-01-01

Strategies that encourage direct linkage and exchange between researchers and practitioners are more likely to support changes in educational practice informed by research evidence. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain in linking effectiveness education research to real-world practice: addressing the knowing-doing gap. The paper describes…

Small Group Dynamics in Cross-Cultural Collaborative Field Research: Voices from the Field

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Karen A.; Gahungu, Athanase

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine (a) factors that influence effective cross-cultural collaboration, and (b) challenges and issues that face researchers in cross-cultural collaboration. During the summer of 2010, 20 researchers and student interns from Ghana Education Service, Chicago State University (CSU-USA), Winneba University of…

Students in Transition: Research and Practice in Career Development. The First-Year Experience Monograph Series No. 55

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gore, Paul A., Jr., Ed.; Carter, Louisa P., Ed.

2011-01-01

Offering a primer on action research methodologies and examples of practice, "Students in Transition: Research and Practice in Career Development" responds to a dual challenge facing career development educators--designing cutting-edge career development interventions and demonstrating their effectiveness. Overviews of quantitative and qualitative…

Aggression and Young Children. Research in Practice Series. Volume 11, Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szarkowicz, Diane Louise

2004-01-01

The "Research in Practice Series" is a practical, easy-to-read resource, offering effective new approaches for those challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children. Early Childhood Australia's "Research in Practice Series" is an essential resource for those involved in the early childhood field.…

Developing a Sustainable Research Culture in an Independent Academic Medical Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joyce, Jeffrey N.

2013-01-01

Independent academic medical centers (IAMC) are challenged to develop and support a research enterprise and maintain primary goals of healthcare delivery and financial solvency. Strategies for promoting translational research have been shown to be effective at institutions in the top level of federal funding, but not for smaller IAMCs. The…

The science of teams in the military: Contributions from over 60 years of research.

PubMed

Goodwin, Gerald F; Blacksmith, Nikki; Coats, Meredith R

2018-01-01

Teams are the foundational building blocks of the military, which uses a hierarchical structure built on and around teams to form larger units. Consequently, team effectiveness has been a substantial focus of research within the military for decades to ensure military teams have the human capabilities to complete their missions and address future challenges successfully. This research has contributed greatly to broader team theory and informed the development of evidence-based interventions. Team-focused research supported or executed by the military has yielded major insights into the nature of team performance, advanced the methods for measuring and improving team performance, and broken new ground in understanding the assembly of effective teams. Furthermore, military research has made major contributions to advancing methodological and statistical techniques for studying teams. We highlight the military contributions to the broader team literature and conclude with a discussion of critical areas of future research on teams and enduring challenges for both the military and team science as a whole. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Technologies to Support Community-Dwelling Persons With Dementia: A Position Paper on Issues Regarding Development, Usability, Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness, Deployment, and Ethics

PubMed Central

Innes, Anthea; Mountain, Gail; Robinson, Louise; van der Roest, Henriëtte; García-Casal, J Antonio; Gove, Dianne; Thyrian, Jochen René; Evans, Shirley; Dröes, Rose-Marie; Kelly, Fiona; Kurz, Alexander; Casey, Dympna; Szcześniak, Dorota; Dening, Tom; Craven, Michael P; Span, Marijke; Felzmann, Heike; Tsolaki, Magda; Franco-Martin, Manuel

2017-01-01

Background With the expected increase in the numbers of persons with dementia, providing timely, adequate, and affordable care and support is challenging. Assistive and health technologies may be a valuable contribution in dementia care, but new challenges may emerge. Objective The aim of our study was to review the state of the art of technologies for persons with dementia regarding issues on development, usability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, deployment, and ethics in 3 fields of application of technologies: (1) support with managing everyday life, (2) support with participating in pleasurable and meaningful activities, and (3) support with dementia health and social care provision. The study also aimed to identify gaps in the evidence and challenges for future research. Methods Reviews of literature and expert opinions were used in our study. Literature searches were conducted on usability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and ethics using PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO databases with no time limit. Selection criteria in our selected technology fields were reviews in English for community-dwelling persons with dementia. Regarding deployment issues, searches were done in Health Technology Assessment databases. Results According to our results, persons with dementia want to be included in the development of technologies; there is little research on the usability of assistive technologies; various benefits are reported but are mainly based on low-quality studies; barriers to deployment of technologies in dementia care were identified, and ethical issues were raised by researchers but often not studied. Many challenges remain such as including the target group more often in development, performing more high-quality studies on usability and effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, creating and having access to high-quality datasets on existing technologies to enable adequate deployment of technologies in dementia care, and ensuring that ethical issues are considered an important topic for researchers to include in their evaluation of assistive technologies. Conclusions Based on these findings, various actions are recommended for development, usability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, deployment, and ethics of assistive and health technologies across Europe. These include avoiding replication of technology development that is unhelpful or ineffective and focusing on how technologies succeed in addressing individual needs of persons with dementia. Furthermore, it is suggested to include these recommendations in national and international calls for funding and assistive technology research programs. Finally, practitioners, policy makers, care insurers, and care providers should work together with technology enterprises and researchers to prepare strategies for the implementation of assistive technologies in different care settings. This may help future generations of persons with dementia to utilize available and affordable technologies and, ultimately, to benefit from them. PMID:28582262

Psychological research with Muslim Americans in the age of Islamophobia: trends, challenges, and recommendations.

PubMed

Amer, Mona M; Bagasra, Anisah

2013-04-01

Like other minority groups in North America, Muslim Americans have been largely ignored in the psychological literature. The overwhelming pressures faced by this group, including surveillance, hate crimes, and institutional discrimination, stimulate an urgent need for psychologists to better understand and ensure the well-being of this population. This article reviews challenges in conducting research with Muslim Americans in order to offer recommendations for culturally sensitive approaches that can enhance the growth of future scholarship. We first contextualize this endeavor by assessing trends in psychological scholarship pertinent to Muslims in North America over the past two decades. A total of 559 relevant publications were identified through a PsycINFO database search. The 10 years post 9/11 saw a more than 900% increase in the annual number of publications, paralleling a national interest in the Muslim American community subsequent to the World Trade Center attacks. Researchers who conducted these studies faced numerous barriers, including unclear definition of the target sample, unavailability of culturally sensitive measures, sampling difficulties, and obstacles to participant recruitment. To navigate these challenges, we provide a framework for effective research design along the continuum of the research process from study conceptualization to dissemination of results. The challenges and recommendations are illustrated with examples from previous studies.

Introduction to the special section on "Hormones and cognition: perspectives, controversies, and challenges for future research".

PubMed

Frick, Karyn M

2012-02-01

The research of the past two decades has firmly established that hormones modulate numerous aspects of cognitive function, including memory, attention, decision-making, and sensory processing. That such a wide variety of hormones influence cognition mediated by multiple nonhypothalamic brain regions illustrates the critical importance of hormones to neural and cognitive function. The diversity of hormonal effects on cognition is evident in the collection of reviews and original research articles assembled for this special section. Together, these articles provide an overview of recent research on varied topics in hormones and cognition, address controversial issues in the field, and discuss challenges that must be overcome in future research to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms through which hormones modulate cognitive function.

Using the Delphi Method for Selecting Effective Rehabilitation Practices for Case Study Research: Methods, Challenges, and Solutions and Implications for Future Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleming, Allison R.; Boeltzig-Brown, Heike; Foley, Susan M.

2015-01-01

Purpose: We describe a modified Delphi method used to select effective state vocational rehabilitation agency practices to prioritize rehabilitation services for individuals with most significant disabilities within the context of Order of Selection, an area where there is little known and published. Specifically, we describe how we applied the…

Evidence-Based Practice in Autism Educational Research: Can We Bridge the Research and Practice Gap?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guldberg, Karen

2017-01-01

In order to develop deeper and better understandings of what constitutes effective educational practices, and to bridge the gap between research and practice, there is a need for a paradigm shift in autism educational research. The contribution of this paper is to examine the key methodological challenges that stand in the way of autism…

Journaling: identification of challenges and reflection on strategies.

PubMed

Hayman, Brenda; Wilkes, Lesley; Jackson, Debra

2012-01-01

To identify the challenges associated with using journaling as a method of data collection and to offer strategies for effectively managing those challenges. While journaling can be used for a variety of reasons, in the context of this paper, journaling refers to the process of participants sharing thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences through writing and/or other media. Journaling is used in phenomenological research studies to record participant experiences in their natural contexts. The findings are based on the experiences of the researchers during a qualitative study that explored the experiences of lesbian mothers and used journaling as one method of data collection. This is a methodological paper. Three main challenges affect journaling as a method of data collection: poor participation, feeling exposed and staying on track. Six strategies to promote participation in journaling are: coaching participants, limiting the journaling period, providing follow-up contact, promoting comfort, ensuring safety and providing clear content expectations. Each strategy is discussed and methods of implementing the strategies are offered. Journaling as a method of data collection has long been accepted as a valid method of accessing rich qualitative data. By acknowledging the common challenges associated with the process of journaling that are experienced by the participants, researchers employing this data collection method can promote constructive and valuable participation. Further research examining participants' experiences of journaling as a method of qualitative data collection would be useful in determining challenges, barriers and benefits of the method.

Nurse Scientists Overcoming Challenges to Lead Transdisciplinary Research Teams

PubMed Central

Kneipp, Shawn M.; Gilleskie, Donna; Sheely, Amanda; Schwartz, Todd; Gilmore, Robert M.; Atkinson, Daryl

2017-01-01

Increasingly, scientific funding agencies are requiring that researchers move toward an integrated, transdisciplinary team science paradigm. While the barriers to and rewards of conducting this type of research have been discussed in the literature, examples of how nurse investigators have led these teams to reconcile the differences in theoretical, methodological, and/or analytic perspectives that inevitably exist are lacking. In this article, we describe these developmental trajectory challenges through a case study of one transdisciplinary team, focusing on team member characteristics and the leadership tasks associated with successful transdisciplinary science teams in the literature. Specifically, we describe how overcoming these challenges has been essential to examining the complex, and potentially cumulative effects that key intersections between legal, social welfare, and labor market systems may have on the health of disadvantaged women. Finally, we discuss this difficult, but rewarding work within the context of lessons learned and transdisciplinary team research in relation to the future of nursing science. PMID:25015404

Challenges in adopting evidence-based school drug education programmes.

PubMed

Cahill, Helen W

2007-11-01

The paper discusses the school-based challenges that may moderate the implementation of evidence-based drug education in schools. Knowledge about what constitutes an effective evidence-based drug education programme is discussed in relation to the challenge of delivery in the school setting. Research demonstrates that drug education should be engaging, incorporate interactive learning strategies, stimulate higher-order thinking, promote learning and be transferable to real life circumstances. This may difficult to accomplish in practice, as a range of contextual challenges and ideological assumptions may moderate the teacher's capacity to deliver a programme of this nature. Collaborative learning strategies are not the norm in schools and therefore teachers may find interactive drug education programmes difficult to adopt. Conflicting ideological assumptions about effective epistemological approaches to drug education may also direct the way in which teachers modify programmes in the local context. Teachers need professional training and support if they are to adopt successfully evidence-based school drug education programmes. This support may be enhanced if it includes whole school approaches to effective pedagogy and the development of pro-social classroom environments. Drug education research should take account of the complexities of implementation in the school setting and investigate further the professional and organisational support that teachers require in order to maintain high-quality provision in the school context.

Challenges and strategies pertaining to recruitment and retention of frail elderly in research studies: a systematic review.

PubMed

Provencher, Véronique; Mortenson, W Ben; Tanguay-Garneau, Laurence; Bélanger, Karine; Dagenais, Marion

2014-01-01

Recruitment and retention of frail elderly in research studies can be difficult. To identify challenges and strategies pertaining to recruitment and retention of frail elderly in research studies. A systematic review was conducted. Four databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, AgeLine, Embase) were searched from January 1992 to December 2012. Empirical studies were included if they explored barriers to or strategies for recruitment or retention of adults aged 60-plus who were identified as frail, vulnerable or housebound. Two researchers independently determined the eligibility of each abstract reviewed and assessed the level of evidence presented. Data concerning challenges encountered (type and impact) and strategies used (type and impact) were abstracted. Of 916 articles identified in the searches, 15 met the inclusion criteria. The level of evidence of the studies retained varied from poor to good. Lack of perceived benefit, distrust of research staff, poor health and mobility problems were identified as common challenges. The most frequently reported strategies used were to establish a partnership with staff that participants knew and trusted, and be flexible about the time and place of the study. However, few studies performed analyses to compare the impact of specific challenges and strategies on refusal or drop-out rates. This review highlights the need to improve knowledge about the impact of barriers and strategies on recruitment and retention of frail older adults. This knowledge will help to develop innovative and cost-effective ways to increase and maintain participation, which may improve the generalizability of research findings to this population. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Jumping over the hurdles to effectively communicate the Operational Earthquake Forecast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McBride, S.; Wein, A. M.; Becker, J.; Potter, S.; Tilley, E. N.; Gerstenberger, M.; Orchiston, C.; Johnston, D. M.

2016-12-01

Probabilities, uncertainties, statistics, science, and threats are notoriously difficult topics to communicate with members of the public. The Operational Earthquake Forecast (OEF) is designed to provide an understanding of potential numbers and sizes of earthquakes and the communication of it must address all of those challenges. Furthermore, there are other barriers to effective communication of the OEF. These barriers include the erosion of trust in scientists and experts, oversaturation of messages, fear and threat messages magnified by the sensalisation of the media, fractured media environments and online echo chambers. Given the complexities and challenges of the OEF, how can we overcome barriers to effective communication? Crisis and risk communication research can inform the development of communication strategies to increase the public understanding and use of the OEF, when applied to the opportunities and challenges of practice. We explore ongoing research regarding how the OEF can be more effectively communicated - including the channels, tools and message composition to engage with a variety of publics. We also draw on past experience and a study of OEF communication during the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES). We demonstrate how research and experience has guided OEF communications during subsequent events in New Zealand, including the M5.7 Valentine's Day earthquake in 2016 (CES), M6.0 Wilberforce earthquake in 2015, and the Cook Strait/Lake Grassmere earthquakes in 2013. We identify the successes and lessons learned of the practical communication of the OEF. Finally, we present future projects and directions in the communication of OEF, informed by both practice and research.

Physics Education Research efforts to promote diversity: Challenges and opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brahmia, Suzanne

2015-04-01

We begin this talk with a brief description of the gender and ethnic diversity of the physics community. We then discuss several current efforts within Physics Education Research that have the potential to further our understanding of issues surrounding underrepresentation. These efforts include research into (1) the role of community and strategies for developing effective communities; (2) physics identity and self-efficacy; (3) the affordances that students from underrepresented groups bring to physics learning; (4) socioeconomics and its impact on mathematization. One of the challenges to conducting this research is the relatively small proportion of underrepresented minority students in current physics classes, and the small number of women in physics and engineering majors. In collaboration with Stephen Kanim, New Mexico State University.

Increasing College Students' Interest and Engagement in STEM: A Comparison of Strategies for Challenging STEM Stereotypes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Jiyun Elizabeth L.

Increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates has become an important part of the education agenda in the U.S. in recent years. Stereotypes about STEM (i.e., belief that STEM abilities are innate, and that European American men are best suited for STEM) have been identified as one of the critical factors that may contribute to low recruitment and retention of STEM students. Drawing from the literatures on biological essentialism and role models, this study compared different strategies for challenging STEM stereotypes among undergraduate students in STEM and non-STEM fields. STEM stereotypes were challenged directly with research articles that provided non-biological explanations for STEM success and interest (a strategy used in the essentialism research) and indirectly with biographies of successful STEM role models who are underrepresented in their field and who succeeded through hard work (a strategy used in the role model research). Contrary to the predictions, exposure to the role model biographies, research articles, or combination of both did not have statistically significant effects on participants' reported STEM interest and academic intentions. Possible explanations for the lack of significant findings as well as suggestions for developing effective interventions to promote STEM engagement among students are discussed.

Networked Governance in Three Policy Areas with Implications for the Common Core State Standards Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manna, Paul

2010-01-01

Policy makers and researchers now recognize that designing effective institutions to govern policy networks is a major challenge of the 21st Century. Presently, the Common Core State Standards Initiative resembles an emerging network of organizations united around the goal of developing clear and challenging academic expectations for students in…

Digital Guidance for Susceptible Readers: Effects on Fifth Graders' Reading Motivation and Incidental Vocabulary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielen, Thijs M. J.; Smith, Glenn G.; Sikkema-de Jong, Maria T.; Drobisz, Jack; van Horne, Bill; Bus, Adriana G.

2018-01-01

In this digital era, a fundamental challenge is to design digital reading materials in such a way that they improve children's reading skills. Since reading books is challenging for many fifth graders--particularly for those genetically susceptible to attention problems--the researchers hypothesized that guidance from a digital Pedagogical Agent…

School Leadership Challenges along Kenya's Borabu-Sotik Border

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abaya, Joel

2016-01-01

This article is based on a qualitative multi-case study carried out in southwestern Kenya along the border areas of Nyanza and Rift Valley province. The purpose of the research was to examine the challenges public secondary school principals faced in their leadership roles and suggest efforts they might adopt to minimize the effects of these…

Effects of a Low-Element Challenge Course on Abstinence Self-Efficacy and Group Cohesion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clem, Jamie M.; Smith, Thomas E.; Richards, Kristin V.

2012-01-01

Substance abuse researchers identify self-efficacy and group cohesion as important components in alcohol and other drug-dependency treatment. Objectives: The purpose of this single-group, pretest-posttest study is to explore the therapeutic value of a challenge course intervention on the self-efficacy and group cohesion of nine chemically…

Using challenge cost-share partnerships to communicate with ethnically diverse recreation users in southern California

Treesearch

Thomas W. Spencer; Robert E. Pfister

1995-01-01

Recreation managers have established more effective communication with dispersed recreation users of the Angeles National Forest in southern California, through the development and use of Challenge Cost-Share Partnerships with regional non-profit organizations. From 1988 to 1990, researchers conducted a series of surveys of recreation visitor populations in the heavily...

Modulation of the metabolic response to an endotoxin challenge in Brahman heifers through OmniGen-AF supplementation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study examined the effect of feeding OmniGen-AF (OG; Prince Agri Products) on the metabolic response of newly-weaned heifers to an endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) challenge. Brahman heifers (n=24; 183±5 kilograms) from the Texas AgriLife Research Center in Overton, TX, were separated into 2...

OmniGen-AF supplementation modulated the physiological and acute phase responses of Brahman heifers to an endotoxin challenge

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study examined the effect of feeding OmniGen-AF (OG; Prince Agri Products) on the physiological and acute phase responses (APR) of newly-weaned heifers to an endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) challenge. Brahman heifers (n=24; 183±5 kilograms) from the Texas AgriLife Research Center in Overton...

Ultrasound body composition traits response to an endotoxin challenge in Brahman heifers supplemented with Omnigen-AF

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study examined the effect of feeding OmniGen-AF (OG; Prince Agri Products) on the body composition traits response of newly-weaned heifers to an endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) challenge. Brahman heifers (n=24; 183 ± 5 kg) from the Texas AgriLife Research Center in Overton, TX, were separat...

Shifting Challenges in Teacher-Education Research and Accreditation: Lessons Learned from Limitations on Studying Program Impact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Contopidis, Ellen; DaBoll-Lavoie, Kathleen; Dunn, Kerry; Darling, Deana; Wieczorek, Kim

2017-01-01

A critical issue in educator preparation is how to ascertain if program graduates are sufficiently prepared to be effective through the acquisition of meaningful evidence of graduates' impact on their students. Challenges to proving specific impact of educator-preparation programs on student learning include identifying and following program…

Towards Achieving a Critical Thinking Society in Malaysia: A Challenge to School Libraries and Educational Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yaacob, Raja Abdullah; Seman, Norma Abur

One of the challenges facing Malaysia amidst its economic development is the achievement of a critical thinking society. This would enhance and guarantee the success of research and development programs in addition to having other socioeconomic effects. This paper covers the following topics: Vision 2020, Malaysia's goal to reach developed nation…

Using Personnel and Financial Data for Reporting Purposes: What Are the Challenges to Using Such Data Accurately?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valcik, Nicolas A.; Stigdon, Andrea D.

2008-01-01

Although institutional researchers devote a great deal of time mining and using student data to fulfill mandatory federal and state reports and analyze institutional effectiveness, financial and personnel information is also necessary for such endeavors. In this article, the authors discuss the challenges that arise from extracting data from…

The Electronic Data Methods (EDM) forum for comparative effectiveness research (CER).

PubMed

Holve, Erin; Segal, Courtney; Lopez, Marianne Hamilton; Rein, Alison; Johnson, Beth H

2012-07-01

AcademyHealth convened the Electronic Data Methods (EDM) Forum to collect, synthesize, and share lessons from eleven projects that are building infrastructure and using electronic clinical data for comparative effectiveness research (CER) and patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR). This paper provides a brief review of participating projects and provides a framework of common challenges. EDM Forum staff conducted a text review of relevant grant programs' funding opportunity announcements; projects' research plans; and available information on projects' websites. Additional information was obtained from presentations provided by each project; phone calls with project principal investigators, affiliated partners, and staff from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); and six site visits. Projects participating in the EDM Forum are building infrastructure and developing innovative strategies to address a set of methodological, and data and informatics challenges, here identified in a common framework. The eleven networks represent more than 20 states and include a range of partnership models. Projects vary substantially in size, from 11,000 to more than 7.5 million individuals. Nearly all of the AHRQ priority populations and conditions are addressed. In partnership with the projects, the EDM Forum is focused on identifying and sharing lessons learned to advance the national dialogue on the use of electronic clinical data to conduct CER and PCOR. These efforts have the shared goal of addressing challenges in traditional research studies and data sources, and aim to build infrastructure and generate evidence to support a learning health care system that can improve patient outcomes.

Translating research findings of chronic kidney disease management to clinical practice: Challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Stevens, Lesley Ann; Levin, Adeera

2004-01-01

Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) has been identified as a public health epidemic, fueled in part by improved outcomes of both diabetic and cardiac patient populations, as well as by the increasing recognition that it is possible to identify CKD at earlier stages. The estimated 8 to 10 million Americans that have CKD, with its concomitant morbidity and mortality, have the potential to overwhelm the current system of specialty practice medicine and health care resources. How can clinicians, clinician scientists, and health care administrators translate research findings into clinical practice in an effective manner to improve the care of this burgeoning patient group? The challenge of translating research into clinical care requires identification of that which we do and do not know, communication of knowledge between those who do and do not know, and efficient collection of information for systematic evaluation. This article will describe the challenges of translating current research findings into clinical practice. There is a need to identify the complexity of CKD disease processes and issues associated with delivery of care and to describe the difficulties in the dissemination of new knowledge to physicians. Because of the propensity of CKD to affect identifiable groups of patients, we will discuss the potential challenges of these strategies given the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in North America. A potential solution to these challenges is a new paradigm of "process-based medicine" that integrates clinical and basic science research findings with multidisciplinary and shared care models of health care delivery. In this context, attention to advances in information technology, the cognitive processes that underlie physician learning, and the findings of outcome research may ensure true integration of clinical research and clinical practice.

The Interpersonal Challenges of Instructional Leadership: Principals' Effectiveness in Conversations about Performance Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Le Fevre, Deidre M.; Robinson, Viviane M. J.

2015-01-01

Purpose: Principals commonly struggle to have effective conversations about staff performance issues, tending to tolerate, protect, and work around such issues rather than effectively addressing them. This article evaluates principals' effectiveness in having "difficult" conversations with parents and with teachers. Research Methodology:…

Relabelling behaviour. The effects of psycho-education on the perceived severity and causes of challenging behaviour in people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

PubMed

Poppes, P; van der Putten, A; Post, W; Frans, N; Ten Brug, A; van Es, A; Vlaskamp, C

2016-12-01

Prevalence rates of challenging behaviour are high in children and adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). Moreover, many of these behaviours are observed daily. Direct support staff report that most challenging behaviour identified has little impact on the person with PIMD and attribute challenging behaviour in children and adults with PIMD mainly to a biomedical model. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether an intervention (psycho-education) had any effect on direct support staff's assessment of challenging behaviour in terms of its severity and their biomedical causal explanations (attributions) for this behaviour. A stepped wedge study design was used to evaluate the effects of a psycho-education intervention on the perceived severity and the attributions offered for challenging behaviour of people with PIMD by 198 direct support staff. We used questionnaires assessing the perceived severity of challenging behaviour and staff views of its causes. Data on the dependent variables were collected at four 1-month intervals. The intervention was found to have an effect on the perceived severity of challenging behaviour identified in people with PIMD in the sense that staff generally scored challenging behaviour as more severe in its consequences after the intervention. However, this effect was very small. No significant effects were found in terms of reduction in the biomedical scale scores. No evidence for the effectiveness of a psycho-educational approach on the assessment of challenging behaviour in terms of severity and the biomedical attributions for behaviour was found. More research is required to explore further the effects of more elaborate training using methods to enable direct support staff to reflect on the behaviour of people with PIMD and on their own behaviour. © 2016 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Health technology assessment: research trends and future priorities in Europe.

PubMed

Nielsen, Camilla Palmhøj; Funch, Tina Maria; Kristensen, Finn Børlum

2011-07-01

To provide an overview of health services research related to health technology assessment (HTA) and to identify research priorities from a European perspective. Several methods were used: systematic review of articles indexed with the MeSH term 'technology assessment' in PubMed from February 1999-2009; online survey among experts; and conference workshop discussions. Research activity in HTA varies considerably across Europe. The research was categorised into six areas: (1) the breadth of analysis in HTA (such as economic, organizational and social aspects); (2) HTA products developed to meet the needs of policy-makers (such as horizon scanning, mini-HTA, and core HTA); (3) handling life-cycle perspectives in relation to technologies; (4) topics that challenge existing methods and for which HTA should be developed to address the themes more comprehensively (such as public health interventions and organizational interventions); (5) development of HTA capacity and programmes; and (6) links between policy and HTA. An online survey showed that the three areas that were given priority were the relationship between HTA and policy-making (71%), the impact of HTA (62%) and incorporating patient aspects in HTA (50%). Policy-makers highlighted HTA and innovation processes as their main research priority (42%). Areas that the systematic review identified as future priorities include issues within the six existing research areas such as disinvestment, developing evidence for new technologies, assessing the wider effects of technology use, and determining how HTA affects decision-making. In addition, relative effectiveness and individualized treatments are areas of growing interest. The research priorities identified are important for obtaining high quality and cost-effective health care in Europe. Managing the introduction, use and phasing out of technologies challenges health services throughout Europe, and these processes need to be improved to successfully manage future more general challenges. An ageing population and a diminishing workforce both require strong efforts to ensure effective and well-organized use of human resources and technologies. Furthermore, Europe needs to focus on innovation. This is closely linked to use of technologies and calls for future research.

Timely publication and sharing of trial data: opportunities and challenges for comparative effectiveness research in cardiovascular disease.

PubMed

Naci, Huseyin; Cooper, Jacob; Mossialos, Elias

2015-11-01

There is growing enthusiasm for the timely publication and sharing of clinical trial data. The rationale for open access includes greater transparency, reproducibility, and efficiency of the research enterprise. In cardiovascular diseases, routinely sharing clinical trial data would create opportunities for undertaking comparative effectiveness research, providing much needed evidence on how different interventions compare to each other on key outcomes. Access to individual patient-level data would strengthen the validity of such research. Novel methodological approaches like network meta-analyses using individual patient-level data could reliably compare interventions that have not been compared with each other in head-to-head trials. However, there are significant practical, methodological, financial, and legal challenges to this utopian open access that need to be continually addressed. Sharing clinical trial data openly will only occur when the previously tolerated process of clinical research involving direct ownership and secrecy is abandoned for a new culture in which medical science is open to all of its stakeholders. With this new culture, data will be accessible, reanalysis will be considered commonplace, and comparative effectiveness research through novel synthesis approaches, such as network meta-analyses, can thrive-as long as measures are taken to adequately ensure the goal remains to promote public health.

Overview of Variable-Speed Power-Turbine Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Welch, Gerard E.

2011-01-01

The vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and high-speed cruise capability of the NASA Large Civil Tilt-Rotor (LCTR) notional vehicle is envisaged to enable increased throughput in the national airspace. A key challenge of the LCTR is the requirement to vary the main rotor speeds from 100% at take-off to near 50% at cruise as required to minimize mission fuel burn. The variable-speed power-turbine (VSPT), driving a fixed gear-ratio transmission, provides one approach for effecting this wide speed variation. The key aerodynamic and rotordynamic challenges of the VSPT were described in the FAP Conference presentation. The challenges include maintaining high turbine efficiency at high work factor, wide (60 deg.) of incidence variation in all blade rows due to the speed variation, and operation at low Reynolds numbers (with transitional flow). The PT -shaft of the VSPT must be designed for safe operation in the wide speed range required, and therefore poses challenges associated with rotordynamics. The technical challenges drive research activities underway at NASA. An overview of the NASA SRW VSPT research activities was provided. These activities included conceptual and preliminary aero and mechanical (rotordynamics) design of the VSPT for the LCTR application, experimental and computational research supporting the development of incidence tolerant blading, and steps toward component-level testing of a variable-speed power-turbine of relevance to the LCTR application.

Participation in HIV Behavioral Research: Unanticipated Benefits and Burdens.

PubMed

Tross, Susan; Pinho, Veronica; Lima, Jennifer E; Ghiroli, Megan; Elkington, Katherine S; Strauss, David H; Wainberg, Milton L

2018-04-30

HIV behavioral research has provided an invaluable knowledge base for effective approaches to behavioral challenges along the HIV care cascade. Little attention has been paid to tracking unanticipated effects of research participation, whether negative or positive. We used qualitative methods to elicit impressions of unanticipated effects of participation in behavioral research. An instrument was developed and piloted to assess positive (emotional gains, practical gains, HIV prevention knowledge and skills gains) and negative (emotional stress, discomfort with research) unanticipated effects. Participants (N = 25) from five projects, including men who have sex with men, adults who use substances, and youth, reported multiple positive unanticipated effects (sexual and drug risk reduction, goal setting, improvements in self-esteem and mood, relationship gains, health care behavior gains, knowledge and introspection gains) and rare unanticipated negative effects. Developing a systematic tool of unanticipated positive and negative effects of participation in behavioral research is a crucial next step.

Evidence-Based Practice and Research: A Challenge to the Development of Adapted Physical Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutzler, Yeshayahu Shayke

2011-01-01

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a growing movement in the health and educational disciplines that recommends emphasis on research outcomes during decision making in practice. EBP is made possible through evidence based research (EBR), which attempts to synthesize the volume and scientific rigor of intervention effectiveness. With the purpose of…

Researching Possible Futures to Guide Leaders towards More Effective Tertiary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Niki; Higgins, Andrew

2015-01-01

This research aimed to inform institutional leaders by producing and disseminating a system wide view of what tertiary education might look like in Aotearoa New Zealand, five years into the future. The researchers were responding to a challenge in a speech at the DEANZ 2010 conference by a highly respected national leader (Dr. Peter Coolbear). The…

Educational challenges of molecular life science: Characteristics and implications for education and research.

PubMed

Tibell, Lena A E; Rundgren, Carl-Johan

2010-01-01

Molecular life science is one of the fastest-growing fields of scientific and technical innovation, and biotechnology has profound effects on many aspects of daily life-often with deep, ethical dimensions. At the same time, the content is inherently complex, highly abstract, and deeply rooted in diverse disciplines ranging from "pure sciences," such as math, chemistry, and physics, through "applied sciences," such as medicine and agriculture, to subjects that are traditionally within the remit of humanities, notably philosophy and ethics. Together, these features pose diverse, important, and exciting challenges for tomorrow's teachers and educational establishments. With backgrounds in molecular life science research and secondary life science teaching, we (Tibell and Rundgren, respectively) bring different experiences, perspectives, concerns, and awareness of these issues. Taking the nature of the discipline as a starting point, we highlight important facets of molecular life science that are both characteristic of the domain and challenging for learning and education. Of these challenges, we focus most detail on content, reasoning difficulties, and communication issues. We also discuss implications for education research and teaching in the molecular life sciences.

Challenges of implementing intervention research in persons with dementia: example of a glider swing intervention.

PubMed

Snyder, M; Tseng, Y H; Brandt, C; Croghan, C; Hanson, S; Constantine, R; Kirby, L

2001-01-01

Intervention studies for persons with dementia present many challenges. This article describes challenges encountered in conducting a glider swing intervention study for persons with dementia and the strategies used to manage the problems encountered. The overall purpose of a quasi-experimental study was to explore the effects of a glider swing intervention on emotions, relaxation, and aggressive behaviors in nursing home residents with dementia. Suggestions for investigators conducting intervention studies for persons with dementia are provided.

Where Is Current Research on Blockchain Technology?—A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Yli-Huumo, Jesse; Ko, Deokyoon; Park, Sooyong; Smolander, Kari

2016-01-01

Blockchain is a decentralized transaction and data management technology developed first for Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The interest in Blockchain technology has been increasing since the idea was coined in 2008. The reason for the interest in Blockchain is its central attributes that provide security, anonymity and data integrity without any third party organization in control of the transactions, and therefore it creates interesting research areas, especially from the perspective of technical challenges and limitations. In this research, we have conducted a systematic mapping study with the goal of collecting all relevant research on Blockchain technology. Our objective is to understand the current research topics, challenges and future directions regarding Blockchain technology from the technical perspective. We have extracted 41 primary papers from scientific databases. The results show that focus in over 80% of the papers is on Bitcoin system and less than 20% deals with other Blockchain applications including e.g. smart contracts and licensing. The majority of research is focusing on revealing and improving limitations of Blockchain from privacy and security perspectives, but many of the proposed solutions lack concrete evaluation on their effectiveness. Many other Blockchain scalability related challenges including throughput and latency have been left unstudied. On the basis of this study, recommendations on future research directions are provided for researchers. PMID:27695049

Where Is Current Research on Blockchain Technology?-A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Yli-Huumo, Jesse; Ko, Deokyoon; Choi, Sujin; Park, Sooyong; Smolander, Kari

2016-01-01

Blockchain is a decentralized transaction and data management technology developed first for Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The interest in Blockchain technology has been increasing since the idea was coined in 2008. The reason for the interest in Blockchain is its central attributes that provide security, anonymity and data integrity without any third party organization in control of the transactions, and therefore it creates interesting research areas, especially from the perspective of technical challenges and limitations. In this research, we have conducted a systematic mapping study with the goal of collecting all relevant research on Blockchain technology. Our objective is to understand the current research topics, challenges and future directions regarding Blockchain technology from the technical perspective. We have extracted 41 primary papers from scientific databases. The results show that focus in over 80% of the papers is on Bitcoin system and less than 20% deals with other Blockchain applications including e.g. smart contracts and licensing. The majority of research is focusing on revealing and improving limitations of Blockchain from privacy and security perspectives, but many of the proposed solutions lack concrete evaluation on their effectiveness. Many other Blockchain scalability related challenges including throughput and latency have been left unstudied. On the basis of this study, recommendations on future research directions are provided for researchers.

Effects of High Fidelity Simulation on Knowledge Acquisition, Self-Confidence, and Satisfaction with Baccalaureate Nursing Students Using the Solomon-Four Research Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Rachel Mattson

2013-01-01

High Fidelity Simulation is a teaching strategy that is becoming well-entrenched in the world of nursing education and is rapidly expanding due to the challenges and demands of the health care environment. The problem addressed in this study is the conflicting research results regarding the effectiveness of HFS for students' knowledge acquisition…

An Elusive Policy Imperative: Data and Methodological Challenges When Using Growth in Student Achievement to Evaluate Teacher Education Programs' "Value-Added"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey; Lawton, Kerry; Ronan, Katherine

2017-01-01

In this study researchers examined the effectiveness of one of the largest teacher education programs located within the largest research-intensive universities within the US. They did this using a value-added model as per current federal educational policy imperatives to assess the measurable effects of teacher education programs on their teacher…

Incorporating intersectionality theory into population health research methodology: challenges and the potential to advance health equity.

PubMed

Bauer, Greta R

2014-06-01

Intersectionality theory, developed to address the non-additivity of effects of sex/gender and race/ethnicity but extendable to other domains, allows for the potential to study health and disease at different intersections of identity, social position, processes of oppression or privilege, and policies or institutional practices. Intersectionality has the potential to enrich population health research through improved validity and greater attention to both heterogeneity of effects and causal processes producing health inequalities. Moreover, intersectional population health research may serve to both test and generate new theories. Nevertheless, its implementation within health research to date has been primarily through qualitative research. In this paper, challenges to incorporation of intersectionality into population health research are identified or expanded upon. These include: 1) confusion of quantitative terms used metaphorically in theoretical work with similar-sounding statistical methods; 2) the question of whether all intersectional positions are of equal value, or even of sufficient value for study; 3) distinguishing between intersecting identities, social positions, processes, and policies or other structural factors; 4) reflecting embodiment in how processes of oppression and privilege are measured and analysed; 5) understanding and utilizing appropriate scale for interactions in regression models; 6) structuring interaction or risk modification to best convey effects, and; 7) avoiding assumptions of equidistance or single level in the design of analyses. Addressing these challenges throughout the processes of conceptualizing and planning research and in conducting analyses has the potential to improve researchers' ability to more specifically document inequalities at varying intersectional positions, and to study the potential individual- and group-level causes that may drive these observed inequalities. A greater and more thoughtful incorporation of intersectionality can promote the creation of evidence that is directly useful in population-level interventions such as policy changes, or that is specific enough to be applicable within the social contexts of affected communities. Copyright © 2014 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Big Data: the challenge for small research groups in the era of cancer genomics

PubMed Central

Noor, Aisyah Mohd; Holmberg, Lars; Gillett, Cheryl; Grigoriadis, Anita

2015-01-01

In the past decade, cancer research has seen an increasing trend towards high-throughput techniques and translational approaches. The increasing availability of assays that utilise smaller quantities of source material and produce higher volumes of data output have resulted in the necessity for data storage solutions beyond those previously used. Multifactorial data, both large in sample size and heterogeneous in context, needs to be integrated in a standardised, cost-effective and secure manner. This requires technical solutions and administrative support not normally financially accounted for in small- to moderate-sized research groups. In this review, we highlight the Big Data challenges faced by translational research groups in the precision medicine era; an era in which the genomes of over 75 000 patients will be sequenced by the National Health Service over the next 3 years to advance healthcare. In particular, we have looked at three main themes of data management in relation to cancer research, namely (1) cancer ontology management, (2) IT infrastructures that have been developed to support data management and (3) the unique ethical challenges introduced by utilising Big Data in research. PMID:26492224

Challenges and future direction of molecular research in air pollution-related lung cancers.

PubMed

Shahadin, Maizatul Syafinaz; Ab Mutalib, Nurul Syakima; Latif, Mohd Talib; Greene, Catherine M; Hassan, Tidi

2018-04-01

Hazardous air pollutants or chemical release into the environment by a variety of natural and/or anthropogenic activities may give adverse effects to human health. Air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), heavy metals and particulate matter (PM) affect number of different human organs, especially the respiratory system. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reported that ambient air pollution is a cause of lung cancer. Recently, the agency has classified outdoor air pollution as well as PM air pollution as Group 1 carcinogens. In addition, several epidemiological studies have shown a positive association between air pollutants to lung cancer risks and mortality. However, there are only a few studies examining the molecular effects of air pollution exposure specifically in lung cancer due to multiple challenges to mimic air pollution exposure in basic experimentation. Another major issue is the lack of adequate adjustments for exposure misclassification as air pollution may differ temporo-spatially and socioeconomically. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to review the current molecular understanding of air pollution-related lung cancer and potential future direction in this challenging yet important research field. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Sex and gender: five challenges for epidemiologists].

PubMed

Doyal, L

2004-03-01

This paper explores the challenges posed by sex and gender for epidemiologists as they try to integrate sex and gender concerns into their work in more appropriate and effective ways. The first challenge is one of conceptual clarification with considerable confusion still surrounding the use of the terms sex and gender themselves. The second challenge is to develop a broader understanding of the links between biological sex and health. The third challenge is to create a more comprehensive understanding of the ways in which social gender shapes the health of both women and men. The fourth challenge is to ensure that all research designs are both sex and gender sensitive. And the final challenge is to find a strategy for integrating findings on both sex and gender into wider equality agendas. This paper will examine each of these challenges in turn.

The European General Data Protection Regulation: challenges and considerations for iPSC researchers and biobanks

PubMed Central

Morrison, Michael; Bell, Jessica; George, Carol; Harmon, Shawn; Munsie, Megan; Kaye, Jane

2017-01-01

Increasingly, human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and their associated genetic and clinical information are being used in a wide range of applications, with large biobanks being established to support and increase their scientific use. The new European General Data Protection Regulations, which comes into effect in 2018, will have implications for biobanks that generate, store and allow research access to iPSC. This paper describes some of the challenges that iPSC biobanks face and suggests some points for the development of appropriate governance structures to address these new requirements. These suggestions also have implications for iPSC research in general. PMID:28976812

Challenges for environmental epidemiology research: are biomarker concentrations altered by kidney function or urine concentration adjustment?

EPA Science Inventory

Biological monitoring has become a standard approach to exposure assessment in occupational and environmental epidemiology. The use of biological effect markers to identify early adverse changes in target organs has also become widely adopted. Recently, nephrotoxicant research us...

Making Presentations. ERIC Topical Bibliography and Commentary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Carl B., Ed.

This topical bibliography and commentary consists of research summaries which address the challenges of creating an effective public presentation. The research articles discussed in the bibliography/commentary are geared toward teaching students to better present information with an emphasis on the primary importance of content above empty…

Underlying Paradigms in Student Affairs Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guido, Florence M.; Chavez, Alicia Fedelina; Lincoln, Yvonna S.

2010-01-01

Student affairs professionals benefit from understanding paradigms, worldviews, and ways of being among diverse faculty, staff, and students. It is challenging to understand core differences of paradigms, design student affairs practice and research in congruence with or across specific philosophies, and work effectively with individuals operating…

Reporting Qualitative Research: Standards, Challenges, and Implications for Health Design.

PubMed

Peditto, Kathryn

2018-04-01

This Methods column describes the existing reporting standards for qualitative research, their application to health design research, and the challenges to implementation. Intended for both researchers and practitioners, this article provides multiple perspectives on both reporting and evaluating high-quality qualitative research. Two popular reporting standards exist for reporting qualitative research-the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) and the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR). Though compiled using similar procedures, they differ in their criteria and the methods to which they apply. Creating and applying reporting criteria is inherently difficult due to the undefined and fluctuating nature of qualitative research when compared to quantitative studies. Qualitative research is expansive and occasionally controversial, spanning many different methods of inquiry and epistemological approaches. A "one-size-fits-all" standard for reporting qualitative research can be restrictive, but COREQ and SRQR both serve as valuable tools for developing responsible qualitative research proposals, effectively communicating research decisions, and evaluating submissions. Ultimately, tailoring a set of standards specific to health design research and its frequently used methods would ensure quality research and aid reviewers in their evaluations.

Real-Time Human Ambulation, Activity, and Physiological Monitoring: Taxonomy of Issues, Techniques, Applications, Challenges and Limitations

PubMed Central

Khusainov, Rinat; Azzi, Djamel; Achumba, Ifeyinwa E.; Bersch, Sebastian D.

2013-01-01

Automated methods of real-time, unobtrusive, human ambulation, activity, and wellness monitoring and data analysis using various algorithmic techniques have been subjects of intense research. The general aim is to devise effective means of addressing the demands of assisted living, rehabilitation, and clinical observation and assessment through sensor-based monitoring. The research studies have resulted in a large amount of literature. This paper presents a holistic articulation of the research studies and offers comprehensive insights along four main axes: distribution of existing studies; monitoring device framework and sensor types; data collection, processing and analysis; and applications, limitations and challenges. The aim is to present a systematic and most complete study of literature in the area in order to identify research gaps and prioritize future research directions. PMID:24072027

Lessons Learned in Evaluating a Multisite, Comprehensive Teen Dating Violence Prevention Strategy: Design and Challenges of the Evaluation of Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships.

PubMed

Niolon, Phyllis Holditch; Taylor, Bruce G; Latzman, Natasha E; Vivolo-Kantor, Alana M; Valle, Linda Anne; Tharp, Andra T

2016-03-01

This paper describes the multisite, longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) design of the evaluation of the Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Relationships initiative, and discusses challenges faced in conducting this evaluation. Health departments in 4 communities are partnering with middle schools in high-risk, urban communities to implement 2 models of teen dating violence (TDV) prevention over 4 years. Schools were randomized to receive either the Dating Matters comprehensive strategy or the "standard of care" strategy (an existing, evidence-based TDV prevention curriculum). Our design permits comparison of the relative effectiveness of the comprehensive and standard of care strategies. Multiple cohorts of students from 46 middle schools are surveyed in middle school and high school, and parents and educators from participating schools are also surveyed. Challenges discussed in conducting a multisite RCT include site variability, separation of implementation and evaluation responsibilities, school retention, parent engagement in research activities, and working within the context of high-risk urban schools and communities. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our approaches to these challenges in the hopes of informing future research. Despite multiple challenges, the design of the Dating Matters evaluation remains strong. We hope this paper provides researchers who are conducting complex evaluations of behavioral interventions with thoughtful discussion of the challenges we have faced and potential solutions to such challenges.

Lessons Learned in Evaluating a Multisite, Comprehensive Teen Dating Violence Prevention Strategy: Design and Challenges of the Evaluation of Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships

PubMed Central

Niolon, Phyllis Holditch; Taylor, Bruce G.; Latzman, Natasha E.; Vivolo-Kantor, Alana M.; Valle, Linda Anne; Tharp, Andra T.

2018-01-01

Objective This paper describes the multisite, longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) design of the evaluation of the Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Relationships initiative, and discusses challenges faced in conducting this evaluation. Method Health departments in 4 communities are partnering with middle schools in high-risk, urban communities to implement 2 models of teen dating violence (TDV) prevention over 4 years. Schools were randomized to receive either the Dating Matters comprehensive strategy or the “standard of care” strategy (an existing, evidence-based TDV prevention curriculum). Our design permits comparison of the relative effectiveness of the comprehensive and standard of care strategies. Multiple cohorts of students from 46 middle schools are surveyed in middle school and high school, and parents and educators from participating schools are also surveyed. Results Challenges discussed in conducting a multisite RCT include site variability, separation of implementation and evaluation responsibilities, school retention, parent engagement in research activities, and working within the context of high-risk urban schools and communities. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our approaches to these challenges in the hopes of informing future research. Conclusions Despite multiple challenges, the design of the Dating Matters evaluation remains strong. We hope this paper provides researchers who are conducting complex evaluations of behavioral interventions with thoughtful discussion of the challenges we have faced and potential solutions to such challenges. PMID:29607239

Continence technologies whitepaper: Informing new engineering science research.

PubMed

Culmer, Pete; Alazmani, Ali; Bryant, Mike; Mancuso, Elena; King, Sarah; Mapunde, Vee; Jeays-Ward, Katherine; Heron, Nicola; Pearson, Russell; Vollebregt, Paul F; Corner, Lynne; Day, Richard

2018-06-01

Advances in healthcare technology for continence have historically been limited compared to other areas of medicine, reflecting the complexities of the condition and social stigma which act as a barrier to participation. This whitepaper has been developed to inspire and direct the engineering science community towards research opportunities that exist for continence technologies that address unmet needs in diagnosis, treatment and long-term management. Our aim is to pinpoint key challenges and highlight related research opportunities for novel technological advances. To do so, we draw on experience and expertise from academics, clinicians, patients and patient groups linked to continence healthcare. This is presented in four areas of consideration: the clinical pathway, patient perspective, research challenges and effective innovation. In each we introduce seminal research, background information and demonstrative case-studies, before discussing their relevance to engineering science researchers who are interested in approaching this overlooked but vital area of healthcare.

Challenges Facing Higher Education at the Millennium. American Council on Education/Oryx Press Series on Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirsch, Werner Z., Ed.; Weber, Luc E., Ed.

This collection of 17 essays focuses on the major changes that higher education needs to make so that it can effectively pursue teaching and research and significantly contribute public service in a rapidly changing world. The essays include: (1) "Survey of the Main Challenges Facing Higher Education at the Millennium" (Luc E. Weber);…

Restructuring Public Higher Education Governance to Succeed in a Highly Competitive Environment. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.6.15

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyatt, James A.

2015-01-01

Given diminished governmental support, competition from private counterparts, and public demands for access to services, public universities need to respond in an effective manner to take advantage of opportunities and meet the challenges of today's highly competitive environment. A critical factor in meeting these challenges is the manner in…

Comparative effectiveness research for the clinician researcher: a framework for making a methodological design choice.

PubMed

Williams, Cylie M; Skinner, Elizabeth H; James, Alicia M; Cook, Jill L; McPhail, Steven M; Haines, Terry P

2016-08-17

Comparative effectiveness research compares two active forms of treatment or usual care in comparison with usual care with an additional intervention element. These types of study are commonly conducted following a placebo or no active treatment trial. Research designs with a placebo or non-active treatment arm can be challenging for the clinician researcher when conducted within the healthcare environment with patients attending for treatment.A framework for conducting comparative effectiveness research is needed, particularly for interventions for which there are no strong regulatory requirements that must be met prior to their introduction into usual care. We argue for a broader use of comparative effectiveness research to achieve translatable real-world clinical research. These types of research design also affect the rapid uptake of evidence-based clinical practice within the healthcare setting.This framework includes questions to guide the clinician researcher into the most appropriate trial design to measure treatment effect. These questions include consideration given to current treatment provision during usual care, known treatment effectiveness, side effects of treatments, economic impact, and the setting in which the research is being undertaken.

Strategies to address management challenges in larger intensive care units.

PubMed

Matlakala, M C; Bezuidenhout, M C; Botha, A D H

2015-10-01

To illustrate the need for and suggest strategies that will enhance sustainable management of a large intensive care unit (ICU). The challenges faced by intensive care nursing in South Africa are well documented. However, there appear to be no strategies available to assist nurses to manage large ICUs or for ICU managers to deal with problems as they arise. Data sources to illustrate the need for strategies were challenges described by ICU managers in the management of large ICUs. A purposive sample of managers was included in individual interviews during compilation of evidence regarding the challenges experienced in the management of large ICUs. The challenges were presented at the Critical Care Society of Southern Africa Congress held on 28 August to 2 September 2012 in Sun City North-West province, South Africa. Five strategies are suggested for the challenges identified: divide the units into sections; develop a highly skilled and effective nursing workforce to ensure delivery of quality nursing care; create a culture to retain an effective ICU nursing team; manage assets; and determine the needs of ICU nurses. ICUs need measures to drive the desired strategies into actions to continuously improve the management of the unit. Future research should be aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the strategies identified. This research highlights issues relating to large ICUs and the strategies will assist ICU managers to deal with problems related to large unit sizes, shortage of trained ICU nurses, use of agency nurses, shortage of equipment and supplies and stressors in the ICU. The article will make a contribution to the body of nursing literature on management of ICUs. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Getting educated: e-learning resources in the design and execution of surgical trials.

PubMed

Bains, Simrit

2009-01-01

An evidence-based approach to research, which includes important aspects such as critical appraisal, is essential for the effective conduct of clinical trials. Researchers who are interested in educating themselves about its principles in order to incorporate them into their trials face challenges when attempting to acquire this information from traditional learning sources. E-learning resources offer an intriguing possibility of overcoming the challenges posed by traditional learning, and show promise as a way to expand accessibility to quality education about evidence-based principles. An assessment of existing e-learning resources reveals positive educational avenues for researchers, although significant flaws exist. The Global EducatorTM by Global Research Solutions addresses many of these flaws and is an e-learning resource that combines convenience with comprehensiveness.

Overview of Contemporary Issues of Forest Research and Management in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Hong S.; Shifley, Stephen R.; Thompson, Frank R.

2011-12-01

With 207 million ha of forest covering 22% of its land area, China ranks fifth in the world in forest area. Rapid economic growth, climate change, and forest disturbances pose new, complex challenges for forest research and management. Progress in meeting these challenges is relevant beyond China, because China's forests represent 34% of Asia's forests and 5% of the worlds' forests. To provide a broader understanding of these management challenges and of research and policies that address them, we organized this special issue on contemporary forest research and management issues in China. At the national level, papers review major forest types and the evolution of sustainable forestry, the development of China's forest-certification efforts, the establishment of a forest inventory system, and achievements and challenges in insect pest control in China. Papers focused on Northern China address historical, social, and political factors that have shaped the region's forests; the use of forest landscape models to assess how forest management can achieve multiple objectives; and analysis and modeling of fuels and fire behavior. Papers addressing Central and South China describe the "Grain for Green" program, which converts low productivity cropland to grassland and woodland to address erosion and soil carbon sequestration; the potential effects of climate change on CO2 efflux and soil respiration; and relationships between climate and net primary productivity. China shares many forest management and research issues with other countries, but in other cases China's capacity to respond to forest management challenges is unique and bears watching by the rest of the world.

The current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging: Methods

PubMed Central

Stroman, P.W.; Wheeler-Kingshott, C.; Bacon, M.; Schwab, J.M.; Bosma, R.; Brooks, J.; Cadotte, D.; Carlstedt, T.; Ciccarelli, O.; Cohen-Adad, J.; Curt, A.; Evangelou, N.; Fehlings, M.G.; Filippi, M.; Kelley, B.J.; Kollias, S.; Mackay, A.; Porro, C.A.; Smith, S.; Strittmatter, S.M.; Summers, P.; Tracey, I.

2015-01-01

A first-ever spinal cord imaging meeting was sponsored by the International Spinal Research Trust and the Wings for Life Foundation with the aim of identifying the current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging, the current greatest challenges, and greatest needs for future development. This meeting was attended by a small group of invited experts spanning all aspects of spinal cord imaging from basic research to clinical practice. The greatest current challenges for spinal cord imaging were identified as arising from the imaging environment itself; difficult imaging environment created by the bone surrounding the spinal canal, physiological motion of the cord and adjacent tissues, and small cross-sectional dimensions of the spinal cord, exacerbated by metallic implants often present in injured patients. Challenges were also identified as a result of a lack of “critical mass” of researchers taking on the development of spinal cord imaging, affecting both the rate of progress in the field, and the demand for equipment and software to manufacturers to produce the necessary tools. Here we define the current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging, discuss the underlying theory and challenges, and present the evidence for the current and potential power of these methods. In two review papers (part I and part II), we propose that the challenges can be overcome with advances in methods, improving availability and effectiveness of methods, and linking existing researchers to create the necessary scientific and clinical network to advance the rate of progress and impact of the research. PMID:23685159

Gender Issues in the University Research Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alpay, E.; Hari, A.; Kambouri, M.; Ahearn, A. L.

2010-01-01

Recruiting and retaining females within science, engineering and technology continues to challenge many European higher education institutions. This study looks at female self-perceptions relating to effective research work and career progression. Focus groups are used to examine the attitudes and experiences of females and a questionnaire is used…

Pedagogical Education: Current Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sokolova, I. I.

2011-01-01

Research on the teaching profession in Russia shows that its prestige and effectiveness are becoming weaker. The research on the influence of the teaching and upbringing process on the state of students' health has shown that negative deviations in respiratory and cardiovascular systems, ability to work, and fatigue are not connected with…

Rhetorical Variation across Research Article Abstracts in Environmental Science and Applied Linguistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saeeaw, Supachai; Tangkiengsirisin, Supong

2014-01-01

Abstract is of a pivotal genre in scientific communication, assisting not only highly selective readers with judgment of the pertinent articles but also researchers in disseminating new knowledge and intellectual discoveries. Difficult yet challenging, however, is the task of writing effective abstracts particularly among non-English speaking…

Community Dissemination of the Early Start Denver Model: Implications for Science and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vismara, Laurie A.; Young, Gregory S.; Rogers, Sally J.

2013-01-01

The growing number of Autism Spectrum Disorder cases exceeds the services available for these children. This increase challenges both researchers and service providers to develop systematic, effective dissemination strategies for transporting university research models to community early intervention (EI) programs. The current study developed an…

iTEC: Conceptualising, Realising and Recognising Pedagogical and Technological Innovation in European Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cranmer, Sue; Lewin, Cathy

2017-01-01

Innovation, a complex concept, underpinned a four-year pan-European research project designed to increase the effective use of technology in school classrooms. This article revisits evaluation data collected during the project and explores the challenges of conceptualising, realising and researching "innovation." The authors describe how…

Untied Efforts: The Challenges for Improved Research, Extension and Education Linkages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eneyew, Adugna

2013-01-01

Ethiopian agriculture is characterized by smallholders farming whose access to modern technology and basic education is very limited. Research, extension, education and farmers are the main pillars of agricultural knowledge systems and their effectiveness largely depends on strong linkage among each other. However, the existing…

Educational Perspectives on Digital Communications Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brett, Clare

2009-01-01

This article examines key issues in how new technologies are impacting upon how we teach, learn and collaborate, and uses an educational research project called GRAIL (Graduate Researcher's Academic Identity Online) under development to illustrate some fundamental issues in adopting new technologies. A significant challenge to the effective use of…

Integrating Pronunciation into the English Language Curriculum: A Framework for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGregor, Alison; Reed, Marnie

2018-01-01

Research provides evidence of effective factors in pronunciation teaching and learning. However, incorporating research into classroom practice is a challenge left to instructors, often without the help of a systematic framework for integrating pronunciation into a curriculum. This article, informed by work with international teaching assistants,…

Dramatic Developments in the Neurosciences Challenge Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sylwester, Robert

1986-01-01

Recent dramatic developments in brain research and technology suggest that a comprehensive understanding of how the human brain works may soon be within reach. Just as the ability of the medical profession to treat patients improved dramatically with the advent of effective research skills and technology concerning the structure, biochemistry, and…

The Challenges of Defining and Measuring Student Engagement in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinatra, Gale M.; Heddy, Benjamin C.; Lombardi, Doug

2015-01-01

Engagement is one of the hottest research topics in the field of educational psychology. Research shows that multifarious benefits occur when students are engaged in their own learning, including increased motivation and achievement. However, there is little agreement on a concrete definition and effective measurement of engagement. This special…

Revisiting Interpretation of Canonical Correlation Analysis: A Tutorial and Demonstration of Canonical Commonality Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nimon, Kim; Henson, Robin K.; Gates, Michael S.

2010-01-01

In the face of multicollinearity, researchers face challenges interpreting canonical correlation analysis (CCA) results. Although standardized function and structure coefficients provide insight into the canonical variates produced, they fall short when researchers want to fully report canonical effects. This article revisits the interpretation of…

Heterogeneity among Violence-Exposed Women: Applying Person-Oriented Research Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nurius, Paula S.; Macy, Rebecca J.

2008-01-01

Variability of experience and outcomes among violence-exposed people pose considerable challenges toward developing effective prevention and treatment protocols. To address these needs, the authors present an approach to research and a class of methodologies referred to as person oriented. Person-oriented tools support assessment of meaningful…

Literacy Coaching in the United States: Implications for Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lo, Mei-lan

2012-01-01

Literacy coaching has become a popular professional development approach in the United States over the last decade. To date, there has been little research on the different lived experiences and challenges of literacy coaches working in different contexts. Furthermore, research findings regarding the effectiveness of literacy coaching are…

Participatory Research Challenges in Drug Abuse Studies Among Transnational Mexican Migrants

PubMed Central

Garcia, Victor; Gonzalez, Laura

2011-01-01

Participatory research is essential in public health studies, but using this methodology to examine sensitive public health problems among vulnerable populations is a challenge. We share some of our trials and tribulations in attempting to use participatory research in our substance abuse studies among transnational Mexican migrants in southeastern Pennsylvania. Major challenges did not permit partnerships across the community in all phases of research, including the dissemination of findings. Especially difficult was including transnational migrants and nearby relatives as partners in the research, similar to partnerships created with others in the community. The sensitive nature of our research and associated human subject concerns did not permit a more participatory methodology. Another problem involved partnerships with members of the larger community, given the apathy and ambivalence towards drug use by transnational migrants. Finally, collaborating with community stakeholders to develop and implement research-based recommendations was also problematic. As we learned, there are more to generating substance abuse recommendations in partnership with stakeholders than simply working together on recommendations, which also require an effective implementation strategy. Based on these experiences, we elaborate useful suggestions in development and application of local-level programs aimed at curtailing substance abuse among transnational migrant workers while they are at their work sites in Pennsylvania. PMID:22003376

A New Model for a Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Summer Research Program for High School Seniors: Program Overview, Effectiveness, and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kittur, H.; Shaw, L.; Herrera, W.

2017-01-01

The High School Summer Research Program (HSSRP) is a rigorous eight-week research experience that challenges high school students to a novel scientific question in an engineering laboratory at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The program collates highly…

The British Services Dhaulagiri Medical Research Expedition 2016: a unique military and civilian research collaboration.

PubMed

Mellor, Adrian; Bakker-Dyos, J; Howard, M; Boos, C; Cooke, M; Vincent, E; Scott, P; O'Hara, J; Clarke, S B; Barlow, M; Matu, J; Deighton, K; Hill, N; Newman, C; Cruttenden, R; Holdsworth, D; Woods, D

2017-12-01

High-altitude environments lead to a significant physiological challenge and disease processes which can be life threatening; operational effectiveness at high altitude can be severely compromised. The UK military research is investigating ways of mitigating the physiological effects of high altitude. The British Service Dhaulagiri Research Expedition took place from March to May 2016, and the military personnel were invited to consent to a variety of study protocols investigating adaptation to high altitudes and diagnosis of high-altitude illness. The studies took place in remote and austere environments at altitudes of up to 7500 m. This paper gives an overview of the individual research protocols investigated, the execution of the expedition and the challenges involved. 129 servicemen and women were involved at altitudes of up to 7500 m; 8 research protocols were investigated. The outputs from these studies will help to individualise the acclimatisation process and inform strategies for pre-acclimatisation should troops ever need to deploy at high altitude at short notice. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Advancing Data Assimilation in Operational Hydrologic Forecasting: Progresses, Challenges, and Emerging Opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Yuqiong; Weerts, A.; Clark, M.; Hendricks Franssen, H.-J; Kumar, S.; Moradkhani, H.; Seo, D.-J.; Schwanenberg, D.; Smith, P.; van Dijk, A. I. J. M.;

Outside The Box: What Would a Scientist Do with a Dashboard?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blakeley, Christopher M.

2013-01-01

Growing plants on the International Space Station has always been a challenge, but it is research that must continue in order to support long duration missions. A rotating plant system is now undergoing tests at Kennedy Space Center to help mitigate the challenges of getting water and nutrients effectively to plant roots. Traditionally, lab test data is gathered and presented via spreadsheets which can be confusing and cumbersome to deal with. Using SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (formerly Xcelsius), see how NASA utilizes this visualization software to help monitor and present a clear picture of the research results.

Gambling disorder in adolescents: prevalence, new developments, and treatment challenges

PubMed Central

Floros, Georgios D

2018-01-01

Research on adolescence gambling over the past twenty years has revealed significant incidence and prevalence rates and highlighted the possible negative effects on an adolescent’s well-being. Several risk and protective factors have also been identified. Over the course of the past few years, technological advances have heralded the advent of new avenues for gambling as well as new opportunities to gamble without any direct monetary exchange. This review article examines those established trends as well as the new issues that we are faced with, in order to accurately portray the current challenges in research, prevention, and treatment. PMID:29535564

Gambling disorder in adolescents: prevalence, new developments, and treatment challenges.

PubMed

Floros, Georgios D

2018-01-01

Research on adolescence gambling over the past twenty years has revealed significant incidence and prevalence rates and highlighted the possible negative effects on an adolescent's well-being. Several risk and protective factors have also been identified. Over the course of the past few years, technological advances have heralded the advent of new avenues for gambling as well as new opportunities to gamble without any direct monetary exchange. This review article examines those established trends as well as the new issues that we are faced with, in order to accurately portray the current challenges in research, prevention, and treatment.

Regulation of stem cell-based therapies in Canada: current issues and concerns.

PubMed

von Tigerstrom, Barbara; Nguyen, Thu Minh; Knoppers, Bartha Maria

2012-09-01

Stem cell therapies offer enormous potential for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and conditions. Despite the excitement over such advances, regulators are faced with the challenge of determining criteria to ensure stem cells and their products are safe and effective for human use. However, stem cell-based products and therapies present unique regulatory challenges because standard drug development models do not wholly apply given the complexity and diversity of these products and therapies. As a result, regulatory requirements are often unclear and ambiguous creating unnecessary barriers for research. In order to better understand the barriers that might affect Canadian stem cell researchers, we sought feedback from stakeholders regarding areas of uncertainty or concern about existing regulatory oversight of cell therapies. A selection of Canadian researchers and clinicians working in the area of stem cell research were interviewed to assess certain key questions: 1) whether current regulatory requirements are easily accessible and well understood; 2) whether regulatory requirements create important challenges or barriers; and 3) whether there is a need for further guidance on the issue. The results of this survey are summarized and compared to issues and concerns experienced in other countries, as reported in the literature, to identify challenges which may be on the horizon and to provide possible solutions for regulatory reform.

Designing and Scaling Highly Effective Interventions That Produce BIG Improvement: "Counter-Intuitive Lessons from the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Project." Conference Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pogrow, Stanley

2015-01-01

There is little discussion in the Design-Based Research (DBR) literature on how to design an intervention that has the potential to be highly effective. The act of designing is usually viewed as engineering something from theory or research on best practices. This paper challenges that universal belief and presents successful design as an…

Resveratrol and cancer: Challenges for clinical translation

PubMed Central

Singh, Chandra K.; Ndiaye, Mary A.; Ahmad, Nihal

2014-01-01

Significant work has been done towards identifying the health-beneficial effects of the grape antioxidant resveratrol in a variety of bioassay- and disease- models, with much research being focused on its possible application to cancer management. Despite the large number of preclinical studies dealing with different aspects of the biological effects of resveratrol, it’s translation to clinics is far from reality due to a variety of challenges. In this review, we discuss the issues and questions associated with resveratrol becoming an effective in vivo anticancer drug, from basic metabolic issues to the problems faced by incomplete understanding of the mechanism(s) of action in the body. We also explore efforts taken by researchers, both public and private, to contend with some of these issues. By examining the published data and previous clinical trials, we have attempted to identify the problems and issues that hinder the clinical translation of resveratrol for cancer management. PMID:25446990

Using Twitter™ to drive research impact: A discussion of strategies, opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Schnitzler, Katy; Davies, Nigel; Ross, Fiona; Harris, Ruth

2016-07-01

Researchers have always recognised the importance of disseminating the findings of their work, however, recently the need to proactively plan and drive the impact of those findings on the wider society has become a necessity. Firstly, this is because funders require evidence of return from investment and secondly and crucially because national research assessments are becoming powerful determinants of future funding. In research studies associated with nursing, impact needs to be demonstrated by showing the effect on a range of stakeholders including service users, patients, carers, the nursing workforce and commissioners. Engaging these groups is a well-known challenge influenced by lack of access to academic journals, lack of time to read long complex research papers and lack of opportunities to interact directly with the researchers. This needs to be addressed urgently to enable nursing research to increase the impact that it has on health delivery and the work of clinical practitioners. Social media is potentially a novel way of enabling research teams to both communicate about research as studies progress and to disseminate findings and research funders are increasingly using it to publicise information about research programmes and studies they fund. A search of the healthcare literature reveals that advice and guidance on the use of social media for research studies is not well understood or exploited by the research community. This paper, therefore, explores how using social networking platforms, notably Twitter™ offers potential new ways for communicating research findings, accessing diverse and traditionally hard-to-reach audiences, knowledge exchange at an exponential rate, and enabling new means of capturing and demonstrating research impact. The paper discusses approaches to initiate the setup of social networking platforms in research projects and considers the practical challenges of using Twitter™ in nursing and healthcare research. The discussion is illuminated with examples from our current research. In summary, we suggest that the use of social media micro-blogging platforms is a contemporary, fast, easy and cost effective way to augment existing ways of disseminating research which helps drive impact. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating Digital Health Interventions: Key Questions and Approaches.

PubMed

Murray, Elizabeth; Hekler, Eric B; Andersson, Gerhard; Collins, Linda M; Doherty, Aiden; Hollis, Chris; Rivera, Daniel E; West, Robert; Wyatt, Jeremy C

2016-11-01

Digital health interventions have enormous potential as scalable tools to improve health and healthcare delivery by improving effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility, safety, and personalization. Achieving these improvements requires a cumulative knowledge base to inform development and deployment of digital health interventions. However, evaluations of digital health interventions present special challenges. This paper aims to examine these challenges and outline an evaluation strategy in terms of the research questions needed to appraise such interventions. As they are at the intersection of biomedical, behavioral, computing, and engineering research, methods drawn from all of these disciplines are required. Relevant research questions include defining the problem and the likely benefit of the digital health intervention, which in turn requires establishing the likely reach and uptake of the intervention, the causal model describing how the intervention will achieve its intended benefit, key components, and how they interact with one another, and estimating overall benefit in terms of effectiveness, cost effectiveness, and harms. Although RCTs are important for evaluation of effectiveness and cost effectiveness, they are best undertaken only when: (1) the intervention and its delivery package are stable; (2) these can be implemented with high fidelity; and (3) there is a reasonable likelihood that the overall benefits will be clinically meaningful (improved outcomes or equivalent outcomes at lower cost). Broadening the portfolio of research questions and evaluation methods will help with developing the necessary knowledge base to inform decisions on policy, practice, and research. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fifteen Challenges in Establishing a Multidisciplinary Research Program on eHealth Research in a University Setting: A Case Study

PubMed Central

Johansson, Birgitta; Held, Claes; Sjöström, Jonas; Lindahl Norberg, Annika; Hovén, Emma; Sanderman, Robbert; van Achterberg, Theo; von Essen, Louise

2017-01-01

Background U-CARE is a multidisciplinary eHealth research program that involves the disciplines of caring science, clinical psychology, health economics, information systems, and medical science. It was set up from scratch in a university setting in 2010, funded by a governmental initiative. While establishing the research program, many challenges were faced. Systematic documentation of experiences from establishing new research environments is scarce. Objective The aim of this paper was to describe the challenges of establishing a publicly funded multidisciplinary eHealth research environment. Methods Researchers involved in developing the research program U-CARE identified challenges in the formal documentation and by reflecting on their experience of developing the program. The authors discussed the content and organization of challenges into themes until consensus was reached. Results The authors identified 15 major challenges, some general to establishing a new research environment and some specific for multidisciplinary eHealth programs. The challenges were organized into 6 themes: Organization, Communication, Implementation, Legislation, Software development, and Multidisciplinarity. Conclusions Several challenges were faced during the development of the program and several accomplishments were made. By sharing our experience, we hope to help other research groups embarking on a similar journey to be prepared for some of the challenges they are likely to face on their way. PMID:28536090

Healthy ageing supported by technology--a cross-disciplinary research challenge.

PubMed

Koch, Sabine

2010-01-01

During the last decade, the challenges of an ageing society became focus for extensive scientific, public and political discussions. From discussions in scientific fora within each discipline, there is now a shift towards cross-disciplinary scientific approaches. The aim of this article is therefore, to collect and describe different scientific viewpoints in this regard and to point out research gaps to be addressed in the future. The article is based on a number of review articles and keynote lectures given by the author, and complemented with informal interviews of experts from different scientific fields engaged in the field of technology and ageing. Results show that research has emerged from being technology-focussed to scenario-based taking different scientific perspectives into account. However, the biggest challenge still is to accommodate the need for a holistic integrated service which means to provide personalised services and adapt technology and content to individual needs of different stakeholders. Further, cross-disciplinary research is needed that relates informatics and technology to different stages of the aging process and that evaluates the effects of proposed technical solutions.

Nutritional Interventions in Primary Mitochondrial Disorders: Developing an Evidence Base✰

PubMed Central

Camp, Kathryn M.; Krotoski, Danuta; Parisi, Melissa A.; Gwinn, Katrina A.; Cohen, Bruce H.; Cox, Christine S.; Enns, Gregory M.; Falk, Marni J.; Goldstein, Amy C.; Gopal-Srivastava, Rashmi; Gorman, Gráinne S.; Hersh, Stephen P.; Hirano, Michio; Hoffman, Freddie Ann; Karaa, Amel; MacLeod, Erin L.; McFarland, Robert; Mohan, Charles; Mulberg, Andrew E.; Odenkirchen, Joanne C.; Parikh, Sumit; Rutherford, Patricia J.; Suggs-Anderson, Shawne K.; Tang, W.H. Wilson; Vockley, Jerry; Wolfe, Lynne A.; Yannicelli, Steven; Yeske, Philip E.; Coates, Paul M.

2016-01-01

In December 2014, a workshop entitled “Nutritional Interventions in Primary Mitochondrial Disorders: Developing an Evidence Base” was convened at the NIH with the goals of exploring the use of nutritional interventions in primary mitochondrial disorders (PMD) and identifying knowledge gaps regarding their safety and efficacy; identifying research opportunities; and forging collaborations among researchers, clinicians, patient advocacy groups, and federal partners. Sponsors included the NIH, the Wellcome Trust, and the United Mitochondrial Diseases Foundation. Dietary supplements have historically been used in the management of PMD due to their potential benefits and perceived low risk, even though little evidence exists regarding their effectiveness. PMD are rare and clinically, phenotypically, and genetically heterogeneous. Thus patient recruitment for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has proven to be challenging. Only a few RCTs examining dietary supplements, singly or in combination with other vitamins and cofactors, are reported in the literature. Regulatory issues pertaining to the use of dietary supplements as treatment modalities further complicate the research and patient access landscape. As a preface to exploring a research agenda, the workshop included presentations and discussions on what PMD are; how nutritional interventions are used in PMD; challenges and barriers to their use; new technologies and approaches to diagnosis and treatment; research opportunities and resources; and perspectives from patient advocacy, industry, and professional organizations. Seven key areas were identified during the workshop. These areas were: 1) defining the disease, 2) clinical trial design, 3) biomarker selection, 4) mechanistic approaches, 5) challenges in using dietary supplements, 6) standards of clinical care, and 7) collaboration issues. Short and long-term goals within each of these areas were identified. An example of an overarching goal is the enrollment of all individuals with PMD in a natural history study and a patient registry to enhance research capability. The workshop demonstrates an effective model for fostering and enhancing collaborations among NIH and basic research, clinical, patient, pharmaceutical industry, and regulatory stakeholders in the mitochondrial disease community to address research challenges on the use of dietary supplements in PMD. PMID:27665271

The Relationship Between Challenging Behaviour, Cognitions and Stress in Mothers of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.

PubMed

Rose, John; Nelson, Lisa; Hardiman, Rebecca

2016-11-01

Cognitions are starting to receive more prominence as important when examining a number of factors including the topography of challenging behaviour. This study examined the relationships between maternal stress, challenging behaviour (aggressive and self-injurious behaviours) and parental cognitions and specifically whether maternal cognitions mediated the effect of challenging behaviour on parenting stress. 46 mothers of children and young adults with ID completed questionnaires regarding their child's challenging behaviour, maternal cognitions and stress. Significant correlations were found between challenging behaviour and maternal stress. The overall mediation models for aggression and self-injurious behaviour were significant. The Challenging Behaviour Perception Questionnaire: Consequences client subscale was the only independent significant mediator for both behaviours. Cognitions do play an important part in mediating the relationship between challenging behaviour and stress. Further research is needed to examine the similarities and differences between the mediation models for aggression and self-injurious behaviour.

Developing Interdisciplinary Workforce to Meet Future Aerospace Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Misra, Ajay

2017-01-01

The presentation will focus on the importance of interdisciplinary research for addressing future aerospace challenges. Examples of current research activities at NASA's Glenn Research Center will be provided to illustrate the importance of interdisciplinary research. Challenges with conducting interdisciplinary research will be discussed.

Geomorphic and Hydrological challenges in Africa: implications for soil and water conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanmaercke, Matthias; Poesen, Jean

2017-04-01

Expected scenarios of climate change and population growth confront Africa with various important challenges related to food, water and energy security. Many of these challenges are closely linked to the impacts of soil erosion and other geomorphic processes, such as reduced crop yields, sedimentation of reservoirs and reduced freshwater quality. Despite the urgency and extent of many of these challenges, the causes and dynamics of these processes and their impacts remain severely understudied. This becomes apparent when the availability of e.g. soil erosion and catchment sediment export measurements for Africa is compared to that of other continents. Nonetheless, a substantial amount of geomorphic research has been conducted in Africa. Many of this work dates back from several decades ago, and were often only reported in 'gray literature' (e.g. internal reports). Here we present an overview of our current state of knowledge on soil erosion and its implications in Africa. We discuss which geomorphic process rate measurements are currently available and what can be learned from these with respect to the challenged raised above. We especially focus on our current understanding about the effectiveness of soil and water conservation techniques at various spatial and temporal scales. Based on specific case-studies (e.g. in Ethiopia and Uganda) and a meta-analysis of previous work, we highlight some research gaps, research needs and research opportunities when aiming to use Africa's soil and water resources sustainably and efficiently.

A Multilevel Meta-Analysis of Single-Case and Small-"n" Research on Interventions for Reducing Challenging Behavior in Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heyvaert, M.; Maes, B.; Van den Noortgate, W.; Kuppens, S.; Onghena, P.

2012-01-01

The effectiveness of different interventions for challenging behavior (CB) in persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) was reviewed by means of a two-phase study. First, a systematic review of 137 meta-analyses and reviews on group-study interventions for CB in persons with ID was conducted. Based on this review, hypotheses concerning the…

Does a Nurturing Approach That Uses an Outdoor Play Environment Build Resilience in Children from a Challenging Background?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McArdle, Karen; Harrison, Terri; Harrison, Daniel

2013-01-01

Children from challenging backgrounds were brought to a woodland for a programme that sought to promote resilience at Camphill School. This qualitative study of one programme uses an ethnographic approach to research the effectiveness of this type of intervention. Case studies of three of the children are used to illustrate the ways in which…

After Action Review Tools For Team Training with Chat Communications

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-11-01

collaborative learning environments. The most relevant work is being done by the CALO ( Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes) project, a joint...emoticons, and other common stylistic practices. To a lesser degree, some research has yielded methods and tools to analyze or visualize chat...information sources, and overall cognitive effort. AAR Challenges The most significant challenge to conducting an effective after action review of

Challenges in recruitment and retention of clinical trial subjects.

PubMed

Kadam, Rashmi Ashish; Borde, Sanghratna Umakant; Madas, Sapna Amol; Salvi, Sundeep Santosh; Limaye, Sneha Saurabh

2016-01-01

Successful recruitment of patients is known to be one of the most challenging aspects in conduct of randomized controlled trials. Inadequate patient retention during conduct of trial affects conclusive results. To assess the level of challenges faced by Indian investigators in recruitment and retention of trial subjects. We developed a survey questionnaire on challenges encountered by investigators in subject recruitment and retention which was hosted on a web portal. Seventy-three investigators from India participated in the survey. The frequently encountered challenges in subject recruitment were complexity of study protocol (38%), lack of awareness about clinical trials in patients (37%), and sociocultural issues related to trial participation (37%). About 63% of participants strongly agreed that creating a positive awareness about clinical trials among people through press and media, having a dedicated clinical research coordinator for trial (50.7%), and designing a recruitment strategy prior to study initiation (46.6%) would enhance recruitment. Almost 50.7% of participants agreed that interacting with medical community in vicinity of the study site and educating patients about clinical trials during routine outpatient department visits (46.6%) would enhance recruitment. Experiencing a serious adverse event, subject's fear for study procedures (47%) and side effects (44%) were thought to have a moderate effect on subject retention. Our survey has put forth factors related to negative publicity by media, lack of patient education about clinical trials; complex study designs are barriers to clinical trial recruitment in India. It is essential to devise innovative and effective strategies focusing on education of public and mass media about clinical research in India.

Methodological and Design Considerations in Evaluating the Impact of Prevention Programs on Violence and Related Health Outcomes.

PubMed

Massetti, Greta M; Simon, Thomas R; Smith, Deborah Gorman

2016-10-01

Drawing on research that has identified specific predictors and trajectories of risk for violence and related negative outcomes, a multitude of small- and large-scale preventive interventions for specific risk behaviors have been developed, implemented, and evaluated. One of the principal challenges of these approaches is that a number of separate problem-specific programs targeting different risk areas have emerged. However, as many negative health behaviors such as substance abuse and violence share a multitude of risk factors, many programs target identical risk factors. There are opportunities to understand whether evidence-based programs can be leveraged for potential effects across a spectrum of outcomes and over time. Some recent work has documented longitudinal effects of evidence-based interventions on generalized outcomes. This work has potential for advancing our understanding of the effectiveness of promising and evidence-based prevention strategies. However, conducting longitudinal follow-up of established interventions presents a number of methodological and design challenges. To answer some of these questions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened a panel of multidisciplinary experts to discuss opportunities to take advantage of evaluations of early prevention programs and evaluating multiple long-term outcomes. This special section of the journal Prevention Science includes a series of papers that begin to address the relevant considerations for conducting longitudinal follow-up evaluation research. This collection of papers is intended to inform our understanding of the challenges and strategies for conducting longitudinal follow-up evaluation research that could be used to drive future research endeavors.

A successful model for longitudinal community-engaged health research: the 2040 Partners for Health Student Program.

PubMed

Redman, Romany M; Reinsvold, Magdalena C; Reddy, Anireddy; Bennett, Paige E; Hoerauf, Janine M; Puls, Kristina M; Ovrutsky, Alida R; Ly, Alexandra R; White, Gregory; McNeil, Owetta; Meredith, Janet J

2017-06-01

Community-based participatory research [CBPR] is an emerging approach to collaborative research aimed at creating locally effective and sustainable interventions. The 2040 Partners for Health student program was developed as a unique model of longitudinal CBPR. Analysis of this program and its components illuminates both the challenges and the opportunities inherent in community engagement. The program rests on a foundation of a community-based, non-profit organization and a supportive academic university centre. Inter-professional health students and community members of underserved populations work together on different health projects by employing an adapted CBPR methodology. Three successful examples of sustainable CBPR projects are briefly described. The three projects are presented as primary outcomes resulting from this model. Benefits and challenges of the model as an approach to community-engaged research are discussed as well as secondary benefits of student participation. The 2040 Partners for Health student program represents a successful model of CBPR, illuminating common challenges and reiterating the profound value of community-engaged research. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Electronic health records to facilitate clinical research.

PubMed

Cowie, Martin R; Blomster, Juuso I; Curtis, Lesley H; Duclaux, Sylvie; Ford, Ian; Fritz, Fleur; Goldman, Samantha; Janmohamed, Salim; Kreuzer, Jörg; Leenay, Mark; Michel, Alexander; Ong, Seleen; Pell, Jill P; Southworth, Mary Ross; Stough, Wendy Gattis; Thoenes, Martin; Zannad, Faiez; Zalewski, Andrew

2017-01-01

Electronic health records (EHRs) provide opportunities to enhance patient care, embed performance measures in clinical practice, and facilitate clinical research. Concerns have been raised about the increasing recruitment challenges in trials, burdensome and obtrusive data collection, and uncertain generalizability of the results. Leveraging electronic health records to counterbalance these trends is an area of intense interest. The initial applications of electronic health records, as the primary data source is envisioned for observational studies, embedded pragmatic or post-marketing registry-based randomized studies, or comparative effectiveness studies. Advancing this approach to randomized clinical trials, electronic health records may potentially be used to assess study feasibility, to facilitate patient recruitment, and streamline data collection at baseline and follow-up. Ensuring data security and privacy, overcoming the challenges associated with linking diverse systems and maintaining infrastructure for repeat use of high quality data, are some of the challenges associated with using electronic health records in clinical research. Collaboration between academia, industry, regulatory bodies, policy makers, patients, and electronic health record vendors is critical for the greater use of electronic health records in clinical research. This manuscript identifies the key steps required to advance the role of electronic health records in cardiovascular clinical research.

Military children and families: strengths and challenges during peace and war.

PubMed

Park, Nansook

2011-01-01

Throughout history, military children and families have shown great capacity for adaptation and resilience. However, in recent years, unprecedented lengthy and multiple combat deployments of service members have posed multiple challenges for U.S. military children and families. Despite needs to better understand the impact of deployment on military children and families and to provide proper support for them, rigorous research is lacking. Programs exist that are intended to help, but their effectiveness is largely unknown. They need to be better coordinated and delivered at the level of individuals, families, and communities. Research and programs need to take a comprehensive approach that is strengths based and problem focused. Programs for military children and families often focus on the prevention or reduction of problems. It is just as important to recognize their assets and to promote them. This article reviews existing research on military children and families, with attention to their strengths as well as their challenges. Issues in need of further research are identified, especially research into programs that assist military children and families. Military children and families deserve greater attention from psychology. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Working with Research Integrity-Guidance for Research Performing Organisations: The Bonn PRINTEGER Statement.

PubMed

Forsberg, Ellen-Marie; Anthun, Frank O; Bailey, Sharon; Birchley, Giles; Bout, Henriette; Casonato, Carlo; Fuster, Gloria González; Heinrichs, Bert; Horbach, Serge; Jacobsen, Ingrid Skjæggestad; Janssen, Jacques; Kaiser, Matthias; Lerouge, Inge; van der Meulen, Barend; de Rijcke, Sarah; Saretzki, Thomas; Sutrop, Margit; Tazewell, Marta; Varantola, Krista; Vie, Knut Jørgen; Zwart, Hub; Zöller, Mira

2018-05-31

This document presents the Bonn PRINTEGER Consensus Statement: Working with Research Integrity-Guidance for research performing organisations. The aim of the statement is to complement existing instruments by focusing specifically on institutional responsibilities for strengthening integrity. It takes into account the daily challenges and organisational contexts of most researchers. The statement intends to make research integrity challenges recognisable from the work-floor perspective, providing concrete advice on organisational measures to strengthen integrity. The statement, which was concluded February 7th 2018, provides guidance on the following key issues: § 1. Providing information about research integrity § 2. Providing education, training and mentoring § 3. Strengthening a research integrity culture § 4. Facilitating open dialogue § 5. Wise incentive management § 6. Implementing quality assurance procedures § 7. Improving the work environment and work satisfaction § 8. Increasing transparency of misconduct cases § 9. Opening up research § 10. Implementing safe and effective whistle-blowing channels § 11. Protecting the alleged perpetrators § 12. Establishing a research integrity committee and appointing an ombudsperson § 13. Making explicit the applicable standards for research integrity.

Patient-powered research networks aim to improve patient care and health research.

PubMed

Fleurence, Rachael L; Beal, Anne C; Sheridan, Susan E; Johnson, Lorraine B; Selby, Joe V

2014-07-01

The era of big data, loosely defined as the development and analysis of large or complex data sets, brings new opportunities to empower patients and their families to generate, collect, and use their health information for both clinical and research purposes. In 2013 the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute launched a large national research network, PCORnet, that includes both clinical and patient-powered research networks. This article describes these networks, their potential uses, and the challenges they face. The networks are engaging patients, family members, and caregivers in four key ways: contributing data securely, with privacy protected; including diverse and representative groups of patients in research; prioritizing research questions, participating in research, and disseminating results; and participating in the leadership and governance of patient-powered research networks. If technical, regulatory, and organizational challenges can be overcome, PCORnet will allow research to be conducted more efficiently and cost-effectively and results to be disseminated quickly back to patients, clinicians, and delivery systems to improve patient health. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Adapting Cognitive Interviewing for Early Adolescent Hispanic Girls and Sensitive Topics

PubMed Central

Norris, Anne E.; Torres-Thomas, Sylvia; Williams, Ellita T.

2015-01-01

Cognitive interviewing is a research technique commonly used in survey research to improve measurement validity. However, this technique is useful to researchers planning to use self-report measures in intervention research because invalidity of such measures jeopardizes detection of intervention effects. Little research currently exists regarding the use of cognitive interviewing techniques with adolescent populations, particularly those who are Hispanic. This article describes common challenges to conducting cognitive interviewing with early adolescent girls and how these challenges are impacted by Hispanic culture and sensitive topics. A focus group approach is recommended over the traditional one-on-one cognitive interview format, and experiences from actual focus groups, conducted in preparation for an intervention study are used to illustrate strategies for accomplishing the goals of cognitive interviewing. Creative and careful planning, attention to developmental considerations, and incorporation of cultural values are essential to the success of this approach. PMID:25239207

A research agenda to guide progress on childhood obesity prevention in Latin America.

PubMed

Kline, L; Jones-Smith, J; Jaime Miranda, J; Pratt, M; Reis, R S; Rivera, J A; Sallis, J F; Popkin, B M

2017-07-01

Childhood obesity rates in Latin America are among the highest in the world. This paper examines and evaluates the many efforts underway in the region to reduce and prevent further increases in obesity, identifies and discusses unique research challenges and opportunities in Latin America, and proposes a research agenda in Latin America for the prevention of childhood obesity and concomitant non-communicable diseases. Identified research gaps include biological challenges to healthy growth across the life cycle, diet and physical activity dynamics, community interventions promoting healthy child growth, and rigorous evaluation of national food and activity programs and regulatory actions. Addressing these research gaps is critical to advance the evidence-based policy and practice in childhood obesity tailored to the Latin American context that will be effective in addressing obesity. © 2017 The Authors. Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of World Obesity.

Improving extreme-scale problem solving: assessing electronic brainstorming effectiveness in an industrial setting.

PubMed

Dornburg, Courtney C; Stevens, Susan M; Hendrickson, Stacey M L; Davidson, George S

2009-08-01

An experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of individual versus group electronic brainstorming to address difficult, real-world challenges. Although industrial reliance on electronic communications has become ubiquitous, empirical and theoretical understanding of the bounds of its effectiveness have been limited. Previous research using short-term laboratory experiments have engaged small groups of students in answering questions irrelevant to an industrial setting. The present experiment extends current findings beyond the laboratory to larger groups of real-world employees addressing organization-relevant challenges during the course of 4 days. Employees and contractors at a national laboratory participated, either in a group setting or individually, in an electronic brainstorm to pose solutions to a real-world problem. The data demonstrate that (for this design) individuals perform at least as well as groups in producing quantity of electronic ideas, regardless of brainstorming duration. However, when judged with respect to quality along three dimensions (originality, feasibility, and effectiveness), the individuals significantly (p < .05) outperformed the group. When quality is used to benchmark success, these data indicate that work-relevant challenges are better solved by aggregating electronic individual responses rather than by electronically convening a group. This research suggests that industrial reliance on electronic problem-solving groups should be tempered, and large nominal groups may be more appropriate corporate problem-solving vehicles.

Caribbean contributions to contemporary psychiatric psychopathology.

PubMed

Hickling, F W; Hutchinson, G

2012-07-01

The intellectual exploration of phenomenological and psychiatric discovery that has flowered in the Caribbean in the period of political independence from British colonization is a reflection of the scholarship that has emerged from the academic nurturance by The University of the West Indies. Burgeoning migration of Caribbean people to England in the twentieth century has resulted in high reported rates of psychosis for this migrant population. Caribbean research into this condition has revealed that there exist hostile racial and environmental challenges in Britain that have had a profound pathological effect on the mental health of African Caribbean migrants. These findings have significantly shifted the pendulum of understanding of the aetiology of this condition from a genetic to a biopsychosocial position. Research has also revealed longstanding psychopathological effects of slavery and colonialism in the Caribbean that have had significantly negative long term effects on the mental health of many within the Caribbean population. Current research suggests that there is a need to nurture protective strategies to enhance resilience and social capital, which would ensure the wellness and continued survival of Caribbean people in spite of the many challenges they face.

Challenges in Measuring Outcomes Following Digital Replantation

PubMed Central

Sebastin, Sandeep J.; Chung, Kevin C.

2013-01-01

In the early period of replantation surgery, the emphasis was on digit survival. Subsequently, with better microsurgical techniques and instrumentation, the focus has shifted to function and in recent years to consideration of cost-effectiveness. Despite over 40 years of effort in refining digital replantation surgery, a rigorous evaluation of the outcomes of digital replantation has not been performed. This is because of the many confounding variables that influence outcome comparisons. These variables include the mechanism of injury (guillotine, crush, avulsion), the injury itself (total, near total, subtotal, partial amputation), and the surgical procedure (replantation, revascularization). In addition, the traditional outcome measures (two-point discrimination, range of motion, grip strength, or the ability to return to work) are reported inconsistently and vary widely among publications. All these factors make meaningful comparison of outcomes difficult. The recent emphasis on outcome research and cost-effectiveness necessitates a rethinking in the way we report outcomes of digital replantation. In this article, the authors summarize the challenges in assessing outcomes of digital replantation and explain the need to measure outcomes using rigorous clinical research designs that incorporate cost-effectiveness studies in the research protocol. PMID:24872766

Institutional training programs for research personnel conducted by laboratory-animal veterinarians.

PubMed

Dyson, Melissa C; Rush, Howard G

2012-01-01

Research institutions are required by federal law and national standards to ensure that individuals involved in animal research are appropriately trained in techniques and procedures used on animals. Meeting these requirements necessitates the support of institutional authorities; policies for the documentation and enforcement of training; resources to support and provide training programs; and high-quality, effective educational material. Because of their expertise, laboratory-animal veterinarians play an essential role in the design, implementation, and provision of educational programs for faculty, staff, and students in biomedical research. At large research institutions, provision of a training program for animal care and use personnel can be challenging because of the animal-research enterprise's size and scope. At the University of Michigan (UM), approximately 3,500 individuals have direct contact with animals used in research. We describe a comprehensive educational program for animal care and use personnel designed and provided by laboratory-animal veterinarians at UM and discuss the challenges associated with its implementation.

OOSTT: a Resource for Analyzing the Organizational Structures of Trauma Centers and Trauma Systems

PubMed Central

Utecht, Joseph; Judkins, John; Otte, J. Neil; Colvin, Terra; Rogers, Nicholas; Rose, Robert; Alvi, Maria; Hicks, Amanda; Ball, Jane; Bowman, Stephen M.; Maxson, Robert T.; Nabaweesi, Rosemary; Pradhan, Rohit; Sanddal, Nels D.; Tudoreanu, M. Eduard; Winchell, Robert J.; Brochhausen, Mathias

2017-01-01

Organizational structures of healthcare organizations has increasingly become a focus of medical research. In the CAFÉ project we aim to provide a web-service enabling ontology-driven comparison of the organizational characteristics of trauma centers and trauma systems. Trauma remains one of the biggest challenges to healthcare systems worldwide. Research has demonstrated that coordinated efforts like trauma systems and trauma centers are key components of addressing this challenge. Evaluation and comparison of these organizations is essential. However, this research challenge is frequently compounded by the lack of a shared terminology and the lack of effective information technology solutions for assessing and comparing these organizations. In this paper we present the Ontology of Organizational Structures of Trauma systems and Trauma centers (OOSTT) that provides the ontological foundation to CAFÉ's web-based questionnaire infrastructure. We present the usage of the ontology in relation to the questionnaire and provide the methods that were used to create the ontology. PMID:28217041

Using Meta-analyses for Comparative Effectiveness Research

PubMed Central

Ruppar, Todd M.; Phillips, Lorraine J.; Chase, Jo-Ana D.

2012-01-01

Comparative effectiveness research seeks to identify the most effective interventions for particular patient populations. Meta-analysis is an especially valuable form of comparative effectiveness research because it emphasizes the magnitude of intervention effects rather than relying on tests of statistical significance among primary studies. Overall effects can be calculated for diverse clinical and patient-centered variables to determine the outcome patterns. Moderator analyses compare intervention characteristics among primary studies by determining if effect sizes vary among studies with different intervention characteristics. Intervention effectiveness can be linked to patient characteristics to provide evidence for patient-centered care. Moderator analyses often answer questions never posed by primary studies because neither multiple intervention characteristics nor populations are compared in single primary studies. Thus meta-analyses provide unique contributions to knowledge. Although meta-analysis is a powerful comparative effectiveness strategy, methodological challenges and limitations in primary research must be acknowledged to interpret findings. PMID:22789450

Building Effective Afterschool Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fashola, Olatokunbo S.

Through a comprehensive review of various afterschool programs across the United States, this resource provides a practical overview of the research and best practices that can be easily adapted and applied in the development of highly effective afterschool programs. chapters focus on: (1) "Why Afterschool Programs?" (benefits, challenges, and…

Assessing the comparative effectiveness of newly marketed medications: methodological challenges and implications for drug development.

PubMed

Schneeweiss, S; Gagne, J J; Glynn, R J; Ruhl, M; Rassen, J A

2011-12-01

Comparative-effectiveness research (CER) aims to produce actionable evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of medical products and interventions as they are used outside of controlled research settings. Although CER evidence regarding medications is particularly needed shortly after market approval, key methodological challenges include (i) potential bias due to channeling of patients to the newly marketed medication because of various patient-, physician-, and system-related factors; (ii) rapid changes in the characteristics of the user population during the early phase of marketing; and (iii) lack of timely data and the often small number of users in the first few months of marketing. We propose a mix of approaches to generate comparative-effectiveness data in the early marketing period, including sequential cohort monitoring with secondary health-care data and propensity score (PS) balancing, as well as extended follow-up of phase III and phase IV trials, indirect comparisons of placebo-controlled trials, and modeling and simulation of virtual trials.

Giving advice on cost effective measures for a cleaner Baltic Sea: a challenge for science.

PubMed

Wulff, F; Bonsdorff, E; Gren, I M; Johansson, S; Stigebrandt, A

2001-08-01

The Baltic Sea is one of the world's seas that is most severely affected by human activities. Although there is an international agreement that nutrient input to the Baltic should be reduced, the measures taken so far have not resulted in major reductions in nutrient inputs nor in environmental improvements. The reasons for this are partly due to lack of knowledge on large-scale relationships and couplings between physics, biogeochemistry and ecological properties. But there is also a lack of overall drainage basin-wide analyses on cost-effective measures. There is a danger in making the wrong decisions, e.g. implement reduction schemes that are at worst ineffective or at best, far from cost effective. Researchers from many disciplines are faced with a common challenge: To develop a decision-support system, which can be used as the scientific base for cost-effective measures for the entire Baltic Sea. Such an effort is now being made within the research program MARE (http://www.mare.su.se).

Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Education and Research in Weed Science

PubMed Central

Chauhan, Bhagirath S.; Matloob, Amar; Mahajan, Gulshan; Aslam, Farhena; Florentine, Singarayer K.; Jha, Prashant

2017-01-01

In modern agriculture, with more emphasis on high input systems, weed problems are likely to increase and become more complex. With heightened awareness of adverse effects of herbicide residues on human health and environment and the evolution of herbicide-resistant weed biotypes, a significant focus within weed science has now shifted to the development of eco-friendly technologies with reduced reliance on herbicides. Further, with the large-scale adoption of herbicide-resistant crops, and uncertain climatic optima under climate change, the problems for weed science have become multi-faceted. To handle these complex weed problems, a holistic line of action with multi-disciplinary approaches is required, including adjustments to technology, management practices, and legislation. Improved knowledge of weed ecology, biology, genetics, and molecular biology is essential for developing sustainable weed control practices. Additionally, judicious use of advanced technologies, such as site-specific weed management systems and decision support modeling, will play a significant role in reducing costs associated with weed control. Further, effective linkages between farmers and weed researchers will be necessary to facilitate the adoption of technological developments. To meet these challenges, priorities in research need to be determined and the education system for weed science needs to be reoriented. In respect of the latter imperative, closer collaboration between weed scientists and other disciplines can help in defining and solving the complex weed management challenges of the 21st century. This consensus will provide more versatile and diverse approaches to innovative teaching and training practices, which will be needed to prepare future weed science graduates who are capable of handling the anticipated challenges of weed science facing in contemporary agriculture. To build this capacity, mobilizing additional funding for both weed research and weed management education is essential. PMID:28928765

Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Education and Research in Weed Science.

PubMed

Chauhan, Bhagirath S; Matloob, Amar; Mahajan, Gulshan; Aslam, Farhena; Florentine, Singarayer K; Jha, Prashant

2017-01-01

In modern agriculture, with more emphasis on high input systems, weed problems are likely to increase and become more complex. With heightened awareness of adverse effects of herbicide residues on human health and environment and the evolution of herbicide-resistant weed biotypes, a significant focus within weed science has now shifted to the development of eco-friendly technologies with reduced reliance on herbicides. Further, with the large-scale adoption of herbicide-resistant crops, and uncertain climatic optima under climate change, the problems for weed science have become multi-faceted. To handle these complex weed problems, a holistic line of action with multi-disciplinary approaches is required, including adjustments to technology, management practices, and legislation. Improved knowledge of weed ecology, biology, genetics, and molecular biology is essential for developing sustainable weed control practices. Additionally, judicious use of advanced technologies, such as site-specific weed management systems and decision support modeling, will play a significant role in reducing costs associated with weed control. Further, effective linkages between farmers and weed researchers will be necessary to facilitate the adoption of technological developments. To meet these challenges, priorities in research need to be determined and the education system for weed science needs to be reoriented. In respect of the latter imperative, closer collaboration between weed scientists and other disciplines can help in defining and solving the complex weed management challenges of the 21st century. This consensus will provide more versatile and diverse approaches to innovative teaching and training practices, which will be needed to prepare future weed science graduates who are capable of handling the anticipated challenges of weed science facing in contemporary agriculture. To build this capacity, mobilizing additional funding for both weed research and weed management education is essential.

Researchers' perspectives on pediatric obesity research participant recruitment.

PubMed

Parikh, Yasha; Mason, Maryann; Williams, Karen

2016-12-01

Childhood obesity prevalence has tripled over the last three decades. Pediatric obesity has important implications for both adult health as well as the United States economy. In order to combat pediatric obesity, exploratory studies are necessary to create effective interventions. Recruitment is an essential part of any study, and it has been challenging for all studies, especially pediatric obesity studies. The objective of this study was to understand barriers to pediatric obesity study recruitment and review facilitators to overcome recruitment difficulties. Twenty four childhood obesity researchers were contacted. Complete data for 11 researchers were obtained. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. Grounded Theory methodological approach was used, as this was an exploratory study. Investigators YP and MM coded the interviews using 28 codes. Barriers to recruitment included: family and study logistics, family economics, lack of provider interest, invasive protocols, stigma, time restraints of clinicians, lack of patient motivation/interest, groupthink of students in a classroom, and participants who do not accept his or her own weight status. Facilitators to enhance recruitment practices included accommodating participants outside of regular clinic hours, incentivizing participants, cultivating relationships with communities, schools and clinics prior to study recruitment, emphasizing benefits of a study for the patient, and shifting language to focus on health rather than obesity. Pediatric obesity researchers face many standard and some unique challenges to recruitment, reflecting challenges common to clinical research as well as some specific to pediatrics and some specific to obesity research. Both pediatric studies as well as obesity studies are an added challenge to the already-difficult task of general study recruitment. Our findings can be used to make researchers more aware of potential difficulties, approaches and on-going needs for enhancing recruitment and enrollment practices, and in turn if applied, may result in increased study efficiency.

Opportunities and Challenges in Using Studies without a Control Group in Comparative Effectiveness Reviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paulus, Jessica K.; Dahabreh, Issa J.; Balk, Ethan M.; Avendano, Esther E.; Lau, Joseph; Ip, Stanley

2014-01-01

When examining the evidence on therapeutic interventions to answer a comparative effectiveness research question, one should consider all studies that are informative on the interventions' causal effects. "Single group studies" evaluate outcomes longitudinally in cohorts of subjects who are managed with a single treatment strategy.…

Examination of the Mechanisms Underlying Effectiveness of the Turtle Technique

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drogan, Robin R.; Kern, Lee

2014-01-01

A significant number of young children exhibit challenging behaviors in preschool settings. A tiered framework of intervention has documented effectiveness in elementary and secondary schools, and recently has been extended to preschool settings. Although there is emerging research to support the effectiveness of Tier 1 (universal) and Tier 3…

Educational Challenges of Molecular Life Science: Characteristics and Implications for Education and Research

PubMed Central

Rundgren, Carl-Johan

2010-01-01

Molecular life science is one of the fastest-growing fields of scientific and technical innovation, and biotechnology has profound effects on many aspects of daily life—often with deep, ethical dimensions. At the same time, the content is inherently complex, highly abstract, and deeply rooted in diverse disciplines ranging from “pure sciences,” such as math, chemistry, and physics, through “applied sciences,” such as medicine and agriculture, to subjects that are traditionally within the remit of humanities, notably philosophy and ethics. Together, these features pose diverse, important, and exciting challenges for tomorrow's teachers and educational establishments. With backgrounds in molecular life science research and secondary life science teaching, we (Tibell and Rundgren, respectively) bring different experiences, perspectives, concerns, and awareness of these issues. Taking the nature of the discipline as a starting point, we highlight important facets of molecular life science that are both characteristic of the domain and challenging for learning and education. Of these challenges, we focus most detail on content, reasoning difficulties, and communication issues. We also discuss implications for education research and teaching in the molecular life sciences. PMID:20194805

Research ethics and the plight of refugees in detention.

PubMed

Kirmayer, Laurence J; Rousseau, Cecile; Crepeau, Francois

2004-10-01

Health researchers may have a strategic role to play in confronting the predicament of refugee detainees because they can lend their analytic skills and authority to document the personal cost and impact of this practice. The justification for such 'subversive' research comes from the discrepancy between the sources of legitimacy and legality for government action. The practice of detention may be legal but illegitimate, judged against the standards of international human rights. Hence, research to explore the consequences of this policy is both morally and politically legitimate. Morally, it reflects a commitment to uncover and oppose unjustified violence against others; politically, it represents an attempt to identify and challenge abuses of power by the state. However, doing research without official approval or with the use of deception raises concerns for the safety of detainees as vulnerable research subjects as well as the credibility of researchers and the research enterprise. Researchers also may face sanctions that will limit their future effectiveness. An international network of researchers working on issues of human rights and the health of asylum seekers can provide an institutional basis to support work that challenges local practices.

Secondary Students' Conceptual Understanding of Engineering as a Field

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montfort, Devlin B.; Brown, Shane; Whritenour, Victoria

2013-01-01

Researchers have long been interested in how to recruit and retain more and more diverse students into engineering programs. One consistent challenge in this research is understanding the impacts of interventions from the point of view of the student, and how their preconceptions may influence that effectiveness. This study investigated how…

The Nature of Cyberbullying and What We Can Do about It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Peter K.

2015-01-01

Cyberbullying is a type of bullying, which in turn is a type of aggression. This paper gives a brief history of research, and discusses definitional issues around cyberbullying, and three challenges facing researchers; it then reviews some basic findings about prevalence, age and gender differences, predictors of involvement, and effects and…

S.O.S. for Information Literacy: A Tool for Improving Research and Information Skills Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnone, Marilyn P.; Small, Ruth V.

At no time in history has the ability to locate, organize, evaluate, manage and use information, skills collectively referred to as information literacy, been more important to today's learners. Classroom and technology teachers and library media specialists are challenged to find effective, innovative techniques for teaching research and…

After the Marketplace: Evidence, Social Science and Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luke, Allan

2003-01-01

This paper is an essay on the state of Australian education that frames new directions for educational research. It outlines three challenges faced by Australian educators: highly spatialised poverty with particularly strong mediating effects on primary school education; the need for intellectual and critical depth in pedagogy, with a focus in the…

Effective Library Research Instruction for High School Students: The Challenge of Engineering State.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, Rob; Dance, Betty

1994-01-01

Describes an exercise in library instruction at Utah State University for high school seniors in which students compete for college scholarships by writing a brief nontechnical research paper within a time limit utilizing encyclopedias, periodical indexes, and online catalogs. Development and evolution of the program, instruction solutions, and…

Quantifying the Consequences of Missing School: Linking School Nurses to Student Absences to Standardized Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottfried, Michael A.

2013-01-01

Background/Context: Parents, policymakers, and researchers uphold that missing school has negative implications on schooling success, particularly for students in urban schools. However, it has thus far been an empirical challenge within educational research to estimate the true effect that absences have on achievement outcomes. This study…

Implementation Fidelity: The Experience of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sloboda, Zili; Stephens, Peggy; Pyakuryal, Amod; Teasdale, Brent; Stephens, Richard C.; Hawthorne, Richard D.; Marquette, Jesse; Williams, Joseph E.

2009-01-01

While researchers have developed more effective programs and strategies to prevent the initiation of substance use and increasingly communities are delivering these interventions, determining the degree to which they are delivered as they were designed remains a significant research challenge. In the past several years, more attention has been…

Using Videoconferencing in a School-Scientist Partnership: Students' Perceptions and Scientists' Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falloon, Garry

2012-01-01

This research studied a series of videoconference teaching workshops and virtual labs, which formed a component of a school-scientist partnership involving a New Zealand science research institute and year 13 students at a Wellington high school. It explored students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the videoconferences as an interactive…

Conflicting Pressures That Impinge Upon the Operational Effectiveness of Institutional Researchers: Challenges to the Practitioner.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gubasta, Joseph L.

The numerous issues and problems facing college and university decisionmakers and the ever increasing information needs of external agency representatives place conflicting pressures on institutional research personnel, forcing them to make difficult decisions regarding the allocation of their resources. Outlined are several such pressures. It is…

"Just Imagine That…": A Solution Focused Approach to Doctoral Research Supervision in Health and Social Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Kenneth; Doherty, Kathleen; Andersen, Loretta; Bingham, Sharon; Crookes, Patrick; Ford, Karen; McSherry, Robert

2018-01-01

Effective supervision in doctoral research is critical to successful and timely completion. However, supervision is a complex undertaking with structural as well as relational challenges for both students and supervisors. This instructional paper describes an internationally applicable approach to supervision that we have developed in the health…

The Medicalization of Current Educational Research and Its Effects on Education Policy and School Reforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tröhler, Daniel

2015-01-01

This paper starts from the assumption of the emergence of an educationalized culture over the last 200 years according to which perceived social problems are translated into educational challenges. As a result, both educational institutions and educational research grew, and educational policy resulted from negotiations between professionals,…

Island Explorations: Discovering Effects of Environmental Research-Based Lab Activities on Analytical Chemistry Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomasik, Janice Hall; LeCaptain, Dale; Murphy, Sarah; Martin, Mary; Knight, Rachel M.; Harke, Maureen A.; Burke, Ryan; Beck, Kara; Acevedo-Polakovich, I. David

2014-01-01

Motivating students in analytical chemistry can be challenging, in part because of the complexity and breadth of topics involved. Some methods that help encourage students and convey real-world relevancy of the material include incorporating environmental issues, research-based lab experiments, and service learning projects. In this paper, we…

Impact of Hands-On Research Experience on Students' Learning in an Introductory Management Information System Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Yun; Sankar, Chetan S.

2013-01-01

Although students in Introductory Information Systems courses are taught new technology concepts, the complexity and constantly changing nature of these technologies makes it challenging to deliver the concepts effectively. Aiming to improve students' learning experiences, this research utilized the five phases of design science methodology to…

Translating Interviews, Translating Lives: Ethical Considerations in Cross-Language Narrative Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Yi

2011-01-01

Through two narrative inquiries, in this article I explore the challenges for qualitative researchers in working with multiple languages in capturing, translating, analyzing, and representing narratives. I discuss the effect on research when we engage in these processes considering what was happening as we translated both texts and experience from…

Advancements in the oral delivery of Docetaxel: challenges, current state-of-the-art and future trends

PubMed Central

Sohail, Muhammad Farhan; Rehman, Mubashar; Sarwar, Hafiz Shoaib; Naveed, Sara; Salman, Omer; Bukhari, Nadeem Irfan; Hussain, Irshad; Webster, Thomas J; Shahnaz, Gul

2018-01-01

The oral delivery of cancer chemotherapeutic drugs is challenging due to low bioavailability, gastrointestinal side effects, first-pass metabolism and P-glycoprotein efflux pumps. Thus, chemotherapeutic drugs, including Docetaxel, are administered via an intravenous route, which poses many disadvantages of its own. Recent advances in pharmaceutical research have focused on designing new and efficient drug delivery systems for site-specific targeting, thus leading to improved bioavailability and pharmacokinetics. A decent number of studies have been reported for the safe and effective oral delivery of Docetaxel. These nanocarriers, including liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, metallic nanoparticles, hybrid nanoparticles, dendrimers and so on, have shown promising results in research papers and clinical trials. The present article comprehensively reviews the research efforts made so far in designing various advancements in the oral delivery of Docetaxel. Different strategies to improve oral bioavailability, prevent first-pass metabolism and inhibition of efflux pumping leading to improved pharmacokinetics and anticancer activity are discussed. The final portion of this review article presents key issues such as safety of nanomaterials, regulatory approval and future trends in nanomedicine research. PMID:29922053

Advancements in the oral delivery of Docetaxel: challenges, current state-of-the-art and future trends.

PubMed

Sohail, Muhammad Farhan; Rehman, Mubashar; Sarwar, Hafiz Shoaib; Naveed, Sara; Salman, Omer; Bukhari, Nadeem Irfan; Hussain, Irshad; Webster, Thomas J; Shahnaz, Gul

2018-01-01

The oral delivery of cancer chemotherapeutic drugs is challenging due to low bioavailability, gastrointestinal side effects, first-pass metabolism and P-glycoprotein efflux pumps. Thus, chemotherapeutic drugs, including Docetaxel, are administered via an intravenous route, which poses many disadvantages of its own. Recent advances in pharmaceutical research have focused on designing new and efficient drug delivery systems for site-specific targeting, thus leading to improved bioavailability and pharmacokinetics. A decent number of studies have been reported for the safe and effective oral delivery of Docetaxel. These nanocarriers, including liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, metallic nanoparticles, hybrid nanoparticles, dendrimers and so on, have shown promising results in research papers and clinical trials. The present article comprehensively reviews the research efforts made so far in designing various advancements in the oral delivery of Docetaxel. Different strategies to improve oral bioavailability, prevent first-pass metabolism and inhibition of efflux pumping leading to improved pharmacokinetics and anticancer activity are discussed. The final portion of this review article presents key issues such as safety of nanomaterials, regulatory approval and future trends in nanomedicine research.

Assessing the cumulative environmental effects of marine renewable energy developments: Establishing common ground.

PubMed

Willsteed, Edward; Gill, Andrew B; Birchenough, Silvana N R; Jude, Simon

2017-01-15

Assessing and managing the cumulative impacts of human activities on the environment remains a major challenge to sustainable development. This challenge is highlighted by the worldwide expansion of marine renewable energy developments (MREDs) in areas already subject to multiple activities and climate change. Cumulative effects assessments in theory provide decision makers with adequate information about how the environment will respond to the incremental effects of licensed activities and are a legal requirement in many nations. In practise, however, such assessments are beset by uncertainties resulting in substantial delays during the licensing process that reduce MRED investor confidence and limit progress towards meeting climate change targets. In light of these targets and ambitions to manage the marine environment sustainably, reducing the uncertainty surrounding MRED effects and cumulative effects assessment are timely and vital. This review investigates the origins and evolution of cumulative effects assessment to identify why the multitude of approaches and pertinent research have emerged, and discusses key considerations and challenges relevant to assessing the cumulative effects of MREDs and other activities on ecosystems. The review recommends a shift away from the current reliance on disparate environmental impact assessments and limited strategic environmental assessments, and a move towards establishing a common system of coordinated data and research relative to ecologically meaningful areas, focussed on the needs of decision makers tasked with protecting and conserving marine ecosystems and services. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Methodological challenges surrounding direct-to-consumer advertising research--the measurement conundrum.

PubMed

Hansen, Richard A; Droege, Marcus

2005-06-01

Numerous studies have focused on the impact of direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising on consumer behavior and health outcomes. These studies have used various approaches to assess exposure to prescription drug advertising and to measure the subsequent effects of such advertisements. The objectives of this article are to (1) discuss measurement challenges involved in DTC advertising research, (2) summarize measurement approaches commonly identified in the literature, and (3) discuss contamination, time to action, and endogeneity as specific problems in measurement design and application. We conducted a review of the professional literature to identify illustrative approaches to advertising measurement. Specifically, our review of the literature focused on measurement of DTC advertising exposure and effect. We used the hierarchy-of-effects model to guide our discussion of processing and communication effects. Other effects were characterized as target audience action, sales, market share, and profit. Overall, existing studies have used a variety of approaches to measure advertising exposure and effect, yet the ability of measures to produce a valid and reliable understanding of the effects of DTC advertising can be improved. Our review provides a framework for conceptualizing DTC measurement, and can be used to identify gaps in the literature not sufficiently addressed by existing measures. Researchers should continue to explore correlations between exposure and effect of DTC advertising, but are obliged to improve and validate measurement in this area.

What do providers, payers and patients need from comparative effectiveness research on diagnostics? The case of HER2/Neu testing in breast cancer.

PubMed

Trosman, Julia R; Weldon, Christine B; Schink, Julian C; Gradishar, William J; Benson, Al B

2013-07-01

Comparing effectiveness of diagnostic tests is one of the highest priorities for comparative effectiveness research (CER) set by the Institute of Medicine. Our study aims to identify what information providers, payers and patients need from CER on diagnostics, and what challenges they encounter implementing comparative information on diagnostic alternatives in practice and policy. Using qualitative research methods and the example of two alternative protocols for HER2 testing in breast cancer, we conducted interviews with 45 stakeholders: providers (n = 25) from four academic and eight nonacademic institutions, executives (n = 13) from five major US private payers and representatives (n = 7) from two breast cancer patient advocacies. The need for additional scientific evidence to determine the preferred HER2 protocol was more common for advocates than payers (100 vs 54%; p = 0.0515) and significantly more common for advocates than providers (100 vs 40%; p = 0.0077). The availability of information allowing assessment of the implementation impact from alternative diagnostic protocols on provider institutions may mitigate the need for additional scientific evidence for some providers and payers (24 and 46%, respectively). The cost-effectiveness of alternative protocols from the societal perspective is important to payers and advocates (69 and 71%, respectively) but not to providers (0%; p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001). The lack of reporting laboratory practices is a more common implementation challenge for payers and advocates (77 and 86%, respectively) than for providers (32%). The absence of any mechanism for patient involvement was recognized as a challenge by payers and advocates (69 and 100%, respectively) but not by providers (0%; p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001). Comparative implementation research is needed to inform the stakeholders considering diagnostic alternatives. Transparency of laboratory practices is an important factor in enabling implementation of CER on diagnostics in practice and policy. The incongruent views of providers versus patient advocates and payers on involving patients in diagnostic decisions is a concerning challenge to utilizing the results of CER.

Anti-infective use in children and pregnancy: current deficiencies and future challenges

PubMed Central

Gwee, Amanda; Cranswick, Noel

2015-01-01

There are a number of challenges to using anti-infective agents in children and pregnant women. There is limited understanding of the altered pharmacokinetics of anti-infectives in these populations and as a result, optimized dosing regimens are yet to be established. The potential adverse effects of the drug on pregnancy outcome and the developing foetus is a major consideration, and the long term implications of drug side effects must be taken into account when drug exposure occurs early in life. These factors hinder research and licensing of new anti-infective drugs in these populations. We describe the current deficiencies and future challenges of anti-infective use in children and pregnant women, providing specific examples. PMID:24588467

Integrating Art and Science Through "Design Challenges"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conner, L.; Pompea, S. M.; Tzou, C.; Guthrie, M.; Tsurusaki, B.; Danielson, J.

2015-12-01

Combining art with science can be a powerful way to engage audiences, yet there is little published evidence about effective STEAM approaches. Through our NSF-funded effort "Project STEAM: Integrating Art with Science to Build Science Identities among Girls," our team has developed a "design challenge" approach that combines optics, biology, and art. During these challenges, participants explore scientific concepts and use their understandings to design artistic products. The project aims to ultimately increase female representation in careers that currently have a high gender disparity, such as the geosciences, by changing attitudes and dispositions towards science among pre-middle school girls. We present evaluation and research results that suggest that our approach is effective in engaging and building science identities in participants.

The Challenges of Developing Research Resources for Leading Vietnamese Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Thi Lan Huong

2013-01-01

This paper examines the challenges of developing research resources for leading Vietnamese universities. The first part of the paper presents the background to the study, including literature review on the challenges to research resources development, and describes the research questions and research methods. The next part provides empirical…

Considerations for Life Science experimentation on the Space Shuttle.

PubMed

Souza, K A; Davies, P; Rossberg Walker, K

1992-10-01

The conduct of Life Science experiments aboard the Shuttle Spacelab presents unaccustomed challenges to scientists. Not only is one confronted with the challenge of conducting an experiment in the unique microgravity environment of a orbiting spacecraft, but there are also the challenges of conducing experiments remotely, using equipment, techniques, chemicals, and materials that may differ from those standardly used in ones own laboratory. Then there is the question of "controls." How does one study the effects of altered gravitational fields on biological systems and control for other variables like vibration, acceleration, noise, temperature, humidity, and the logistics of specimen transport? Typically, the scientist new to space research has neither considered all of these potential problems nor has the data at hand with which to tackle the problems. This paper will explore some of these issues and provide pertinent data from recent Space Shuttle flights that will assist the new as well as the experienced scientist in dealing with the challenges of conducting research under spaceflight conditions.

Considerations for Life Science experimentation on the Space Shuttle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Souza, K. A.; Davies, P.; Rossberg Walker, K.

1992-01-01

The conduct of Life Science experiments aboard the Shuttle Spacelab presents unaccustomed challenges to scientists. Not only is one confronted with the challenge of conducting an experiment in the unique microgravity environment of a orbiting spacecraft, but there are also the challenges of conducing experiments remotely, using equipment, techniques, chemicals, and materials that may differ from those standardly used in ones own laboratory. Then there is the question of "controls." How does one study the effects of altered gravitational fields on biological systems and control for other variables like vibration, acceleration, noise, temperature, humidity, and the logistics of specimen transport? Typically, the scientist new to space research has neither considered all of these potential problems nor has the data at hand with which to tackle the problems. This paper will explore some of these issues and provide pertinent data from recent Space Shuttle flights that will assist the new as well as the experienced scientist in dealing with the challenges of conducting research under spaceflight conditions.

Pulsating star research from Antarctica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chadid, Merieme

2017-09-01

This invited talk discusses the pulsating star research from the heart of Antarctica and the scientific polar challenges in the extreme environment of Antarctica, and how the new polar technology could cope with unresolved stellar pulsation enigmas and evolutionary properties challenges towards an understanding of the mysteries of the Universe. PAIX, the first robotic photometer Antarctica program, has been successfully launched during the polar night 2007. This ongoing program gives a new insight to cope with unresolved stellar enigmas and stellar oscillation challenges with a great opportunity to benefit from an access to the best astronomical site on Earth, Dome C. PAIX achieves astrophysical measurement time-series of stellar fields, challenging photometry from space. A continuous and an uninterrupted series of multi-color photometric observations has been collected each polar night - 150 days - without regular interruption, Earth's rotation effect. PAIX shows the first light curve from Antarctica and first step for the astronomy in Antarctica giving new insights in remote polar observing runs and robotic instruments towards a new technology.

Pharmacological interventions for challenging behaviour in children with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

McQuire, Cheryl; Hassiotis, Angela; Harrison, Bronwyn; Pilling, Stephen

2015-11-26

Psychotropic medications are frequently used to treat challenging behaviour in children with intellectual disabilities, despite a lack of evidence for their efficacy. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of pharmacological interventions for challenging behaviour among children with intellectual disabilities. Electronic databases were searched and supplemented with a hand search of reference lists and trial registries. Randomised controlled trials of pharmacological interventions for challenging behaviour among children with intellectual disabilities were included. Data were analysed using meta-analysis or described narratively if meta-analysis was not possible. For quality assessment, the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach were used. Fourteen studies including 912 participants met inclusion criteria. Antipsychotic medication reduced challenging behaviour among children with intellectual disabilities in the short-term (SMD = -1.09, p < 0.001 for risperidone; SMD = -0.64, p <0.001 for aripiprazole). However, there were significant side-effects including elevated prolactin levels (SMD = 3.22, p < 0.001) and weight gain (SMD = 0.82, p < 0.001). Evidence was inconclusive regarding the effectiveness of anticonvulsants and antioxidants for reducing challenging behaviour. The quality of all evidence was low and there were no long term follow up studies. Antipsychotic medications appear to be effective for reducing challenging behaviour in the short-term among children with intellectual disabilities, but they carry a risk of significant side effects. Findings from this review must be interpreted with caution as studies were typically of low quality and most outcomes were based on a small number of studies. Further long-term, high-quality research is needed to determine the effectiveness and safety of psychotropic medication for reducing challenging behaviour.

USGS Science: Addressing Our Nation's Challenges

USGS Publications Warehouse

Larson, Tania M.

2009-01-01

With 6.6 billion people already living on Earth, and that number increasing every day, human influence on our planet is ever more apparent. Changes to the natural world combined with increasing human demands threaten our health and safety, our national security, our economy, and our quality of life. As a planet and a Nation, we face unprecedented challenges: loss of critical and unique ecosystems, the effects of climate change, increasing demand for limited energy and mineral resources, increasing vulnerability to natural hazards, the effects of emerging diseases on wildlife and human health, and growing needs for clean water. The time to respond to these challenges is now, but policymakers and decisionmakers face difficult choices. With competing priorities to balance, and potentially serious - perhaps irreversible - consequences at stake, our leaders need reliable scientific information to guide their decisions. As the Nation's earth and natural science agency, the USGS monitors and conducts scientific research on natural hazards and resources and how these elements and human activities influence our environment. Because the challenges we face are complex, the science needed to better understand and deal with these challenges must reflect the complex interplay among natural and human systems. With world-class expertise in biology, geology, geography, hydrology, geospatial information, and remote sensing, the USGS is uniquely capable of conducting the comprehensive scientific research needed to better understand the interdependent interactions of Earth's systems. Every day, the USGS helps decisionmakers to minimize loss of life and property, manage our natural resources, and protect and enhance our quality of life. This brochure provides examples of the challenges we face and how USGS science helps decisionmakers to address these challenges.

Clinical Epidemiology (CE) and Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) in the Asia Pacific region (Round Table Forum).

PubMed

Su, Tin Tin; Bulgiba, Awang M; Sampatanukul, Pichet; Sastroasmoro, Sudigdo; Chang, Peter; Tharyan, Prathap; Lin, Vivian; Wong, Yut Lin

2013-01-01

Clinical Epidemiology (CE) and Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) have become increasingly important in an era of rising costs, patient safety concerns and evidence-based health care. CE and EBM research in the Asia Pacific region have grown significantly. However, there are three main challenges such as linking evidence to practice and policy; developing a strong collaborative network; and a need for resources and technical expertise to produce evidence. The Cochrane Collaboration is a possible solution to resolve above challenges identified, particularly the challenge of transforming evidence to practice. In addition, training can be carried out to enhance technical expertise in the region and there is also the promising potential that collaborations could extend beyond systematic reviews. To improve the adoption of evidence-based health policy, selection of the best evidence for the right audience and focusing on the relevant issues through appropriate methodology are essential. Information on effectiveness and cost effectiveness needs to be highlighted for policy makers. The way forward to strengthen research and capacity building is to establish the Asia Pacific Consortium for CE and EBM. The consortium would help to create mutually rewarding scientific research and collaborations that will augur well for advances in CE and EBM. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nudging for Prevention in Occupational Health and Safety in South Africa Using Fiscal Policies.

PubMed

de Jager, Pieter; Rees, David; Kisting, Sophia; Kgalamono, Spo; Ndaba, Mpume; Stacey, Nicolas; Tugendhaft, Aviva; Hofman, Karen

2017-08-01

Currently, in some countries occupational health and safety policy and practice have a bias toward secondary prevention and workers' compensation rather than primary prevention. Particularly, in emerging economies, research has not adequately contributed to effective interventions and improvements in workers' health. This article, using South Africa as a case study, describes a methodology for identifying candidate fiscal policy interventions and describes the policy interventions selected for occupational health and safety. It is argued that fiscal policies are well placed to deal with complex intersectoral health problems and to focus efforts on primary prevention. A major challenge is the lack of empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of fiscal policies in improving workers' health. A second challenge is the underprioritization of occupational health and safety partly due to the relatively small burden of disease attributed to occupational exposures. Both challenges can and should be overcome by (i) conducting policy-relevant research to fill the empirical gaps and (ii) reconceptualizing, both for policy and research purposes, the role of work as a determinant of population health. Fiscal policies to prevent exposure to hazards at work have face validity and are thus appealing, not as a replacement for other efforts to improve health, but as part of a comprehensive effort toward prevention.

Fifteen Challenges in Establishing a Multidisciplinary Research Program on eHealth Research in a University Setting: A Case Study.

PubMed

Grönqvist, Helena; Olsson, Erik Martin Gustaf; Johansson, Birgitta; Held, Claes; Sjöström, Jonas; Lindahl Norberg, Annika; Hovén, Emma; Sanderman, Robbert; van Achterberg, Theo; von Essen, Louise

2017-05-23

U-CARE is a multidisciplinary eHealth research program that involves the disciplines of caring science, clinical psychology, health economics, information systems, and medical science. It was set up from scratch in a university setting in 2010, funded by a governmental initiative. While establishing the research program, many challenges were faced. Systematic documentation of experiences from establishing new research environments is scarce. The aim of this paper was to describe the challenges of establishing a publicly funded multidisciplinary eHealth research environment. Researchers involved in developing the research program U-CARE identified challenges in the formal documentation and by reflecting on their experience of developing the program. The authors discussed the content and organization of challenges into themes until consensus was reached. The authors identified 15 major challenges, some general to establishing a new research environment and some specific for multidisciplinary eHealth programs. The challenges were organized into 6 themes: Organization, Communication, Implementation, Legislation, Software development, and Multidisciplinarity. Several challenges were faced during the development of the program and several accomplishments were made. By sharing our experience, we hope to help other research groups embarking on a similar journey to be prepared for some of the challenges they are likely to face on their way. ©Helena Grönqvist, Erik Martin Gustaf Olsson, Birgitta Johansson, Claes Held, Jonas Sjöström, Annika Lindahl Norberg, Emma Hovén, Robbert Sanderman, Theo van Achterberg, Louise von Essen. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 23.05.2017.

Impacts of Short-Term Solar Power Forecasts in System Operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ibanez, Eduardo; Krad, Ibrahim; Hodge, Bri-Mathias

2016-05-05

Solar generation is experiencing an exponential growth in power systems worldwide and, along with wind power, is posing new challenges to power system operations. Those challenges are characterized by an increase of system variability and uncertainty across many time scales: from days, down to hours, minutes, and seconds. Much of the research in the area has focused on the effect of solar forecasting across hours or days. This paper presents a methodology to capture the effect of short-term forecasting strategies and analyzes the economic and reliability implications of utilizing a simple, yet effective forecasting method for solar PV in intra-daymore » operations.« less

School-community learning partnerships for sustainability: Recommended best practice and reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheeler, Leone; Guevara, Jose Roberto; Smith, Jodi-Anne

2018-05-01

Effective partnerships across different stakeholders are essential to the collaboration required for learning cities to contribute to sustainable development. Through partnerships, formal educational institutions, such as schools and universities, play a vital role in establishing and sustaining learning cities, often by facilitating the meaningful participation of different local community members. The research presented in this article examines the characteristics of effective school-community partnerships in the literature and compares it to the results of a three-year research study which examined 16 case studies of school-community partnerships in the state of Victoria in Australia. Using participatory action research, the researchers identified four approaches to implementing partnerships for sustainability, explored challenges to achieving an idealised partnership, and made recommendations for establishing successful partnership networks. The researchers propose that partnerships be viewed as a dynamic resource rather than merely a transactional arrangement that addresses the identified challenges of time, funding, skills and personnel. Furthermore, the use of "partnership brokers", such as local government or non-government organisations, is recommended to expand the current school-centred approach to partnerships. These insights aim to contribute to providing quality education and lifelong learning through partnerships - outcomes crucial for establishing and sustaining learning cities.

A general causal model to guide alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug prevention: assessing the research evidence.

PubMed

Birckmayer, Johanna D; Holder, Harold D; Yacoubian, George S; Friend, Karen B

2004-01-01

The problems associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) extract a significant health, social, and economic toll on American society. While the field of substance abuse prevention has made great strides during the past decade, two major challenges remain. First, the field has been disorganized and fragmented with respect to its research and prevention practices; that is, there are often separate ATOD prevention "specialists." Second, both the prevention researchers who test the efficacy of specific prevention strategies and the practitioners who implement prevention efforts often lack an overall perspective to guide strategy selection. To address these limitations, we present an ATOD causal model that seeks to identify those variables (Domains) that are theoretically salient and empirically connected across alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs. For the researcher, the model demonstrates important commonalities, as well as gaps, in the literature. For the practitioner, the model is a means to recognize both the complexity of the community system that produces ATOD problems and the multiple intervention points that are possible within this system. Researchers and practitioners are thus challenged to work synergistically to find effective and cost-effective approaches to change or reduce ATOD use and associated problems.

Bringing analysis of gender and social-ecological resilience together in small-scale fisheries research: Challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Kawarazuka, Nozomi; Locke, Catherine; McDougall, Cynthia; Kantor, Paula; Morgan, Miranda

2017-03-01

The demand for gender analysis is now increasingly orthodox in natural resource programming, including that for small-scale fisheries. Whilst the analysis of social-ecological resilience has made valuable contributions to integrating social dimensions into research and policy-making on natural resource management, it has so far demonstrated limited success in effectively integrating considerations of gender equity. This paper reviews the challenges in, and opportunities for, bringing a gender analysis together with social-ecological resilience analysis in the context of small-scale fisheries research in developing countries. We conclude that rather than searching for a single unifying framework for gender and resilience analysis, it will be more effective to pursue a plural solution in which closer engagement is fostered between analysis of gender and social-ecological resilience whilst preserving the strengths of each approach. This approach can make an important contribution to developing a better evidence base for small-scale fisheries management and policy.

Core Competencies for Training Effective School Consultants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burkhouse, Katie Lynn Sutton

2012-01-01

The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a set of core competencies of effective school-based consultants for preservice school psychology consultation training. With recent changes in service delivery models, psychologists are challenged to engage in more indirect, preventative practices (Reschly, 2008). Consultation emerges as…

Learning from a lifetime of leading effective change.

PubMed

Johnson, Claire; Clum, Gerard; Lassiter, Wright L; Phillips, Reed; Sportelli, Louis; Hunter, James C

2014-12-01

The purpose of this article is to report on the opening plenary session of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges Educational Conference-Research Agenda Conference (ACC-RAC) 2014, "Aiming for Effective Change: Leadership in Chiropractic Education, Research and Clinical Practice." Speakers with extensive backgrounds with implementing substantial change on a broad level shared personal examples from their experiences in education, research, political organizations, and clinical practice. They described efforts, challenges, and opportunities that are encountered in order to implement effective change and shared their personal thoughts on leadership. Each of the speakers shared their diverse, unique insights and personal experiences to convey the process and meaning of leadership.

The national response for preventing healthcare-associated infections: research and adoption of prevention practices.

PubMed

Kahn, Katherine L; Mendel, Peter; Leuschner, Kristin J; Hiatt, Liisa; Gall, Elizabeth M; Siegel, Sari; Weinberg, Daniel A

2014-02-01

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have long been the subject of research and prevention practice. When findings show potential to significantly impact outcomes, clinicians, policymakers, safety experts, and stakeholders seek to bridge the gap between research and practice by identifying mechanisms and assigning responsibility for translating research to practice. This paper describes progress and challenges in HAI research and prevention practices, as explained through an examination of Health and Human Services (HHS) Action Plan's goals, inputs, and implementation in each area. We used the Context-Input-Process-Product evaluation model, together with an HAI prevention system framework, to assess the transformative processes associated with HAI research and adoption of prevention practices. Since the introduction of the Action Plan, HHS has made substantial progress in prioritizing research projects, translating findings from those projects into practice, and designing and implementing research projects in multisite practice settings. Research has emphasized the basic science and epidemiology of HAIs, the identification of gaps in research, and implementation science. The basic, epidemiological, and implementation science communities have joined forces to better define mechanisms and responsibilities for translating HAI research into practice. Challenges include the ongoing need for better evidence about intervention effectiveness, the growing implementation burden on healthcare providers and organizations, and challenges implementing certain practices. Although these HAI research and prevention practice activities are complex spanning multiple system functions and properties, HHS is making progress so that the right methods for addressing complex HAI problems at the interface of patient safety and clinical practice can emerge.

Practicalities and Research Considerations for Conducting Childhood Obesity Prevention Interventions with Families

PubMed Central

Morgan, Philip J.; Jones, Rachel A.; Collins, Clare E.; Hesketh, Kylie D.; Young, Myles D.; Burrows, Tracy L.; Magarey, Anthea M.; Brown, Helen L.; Hinkley, Trina; Perry, Rebecca A.; Brennan, Leah; Spence, Alison C.; Campbell, Karen J.

2016-01-01

Internationally, childhood obesity is a major public health concern. Given the established difficulties in treating obesity, designing and evaluating effective obesity prevention interventions are research priorities. As parents play a crucial role in establishing positive health behaviours in children, they are a key target for child obesity prevention programs. However, recruiting and engaging parents in such interventions can be a considerable challenge for researchers and practitioners. Members of the ‘Parenting, Child Behaviour and Well-being’ stream of the Australasian Child and Adolescent Obesity Research Network (ACAORN) have considerable and varied expertise in conducting such interventions and can provide insights into addressing these challenges. This paper aims to highlight considerations regarding the design, implementation, and evaluation of obesity prevention interventions with families and provide practical insights and recommendations for researchers and practitioners conducting family-based research in this area. Case studies of three family-based interventions conducted by ACAORN members are highlighted to provide examples and contextualise the recommendations proposed. PMID:27834820

Synthesizing Econometric Evidence: The Case of Demand Elasticity Estimates.

PubMed

DeCicca, Philip; Kenkel, Don

2015-06-01

Econometric estimates of the responsiveness of health-related consumer demand to higher prices are often key ingredients for risk policy analysis. We review the potential advantages and challenges of synthesizing econometric evidence on the price-responsiveness of consumer demand. We draw on examples of research on consumer demand for health-related goods, especially cigarettes. We argue that the overarching goal of research synthesis in this context is to provide policy-relevant evidence for broad-brush conclusions. We propose three main criteria to select among research synthesis methods. We discuss how in principle and in current practice synthesis of research on the price-elasticity of smoking meets our proposed criteria. Our analysis of current practice also contributes to academic research on the specific policy question of the effectiveness of higher cigarette prices to reduce smoking. Although we point out challenges and limitations, we believe more work on research synthesis in this area will be productive and important. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Methodological and Ethical Issues in Pediatric Medication Safety Research.

PubMed

Carpenter, Delesha; Gonzalez, Daniel; Retsch-Bogart, George; Sleath, Betsy; Wilfond, Benjamin

2017-09-01

In May 2016, the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill convened the PharmSci conference to address the topic of "methodological and ethical issues in pediatric medication safety research." A multidisciplinary group of experts representing a diverse array of perspectives, including those of the US Food and Drug Administration, children's hospitals, and academia, identified important considerations for pediatric medication safety research and opportunities to advance the field. This executive summary describes current challenges that clinicians and researchers encounter related to pediatric medication safety research and identifies innovative and ethically sound methodologies to address these challenges to improve children's health. This article addresses 5 areas: (1) pediatric drug development and drug trials; (2) conducting comparative effectiveness research in pediatric populations; (3) child and parent engagement on study teams; (4) improving communication with children and parents; and (5) assessing child-reported outcomes and adverse drug events. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Considering Research Outcomes as Essential Tools for Medical Education Decision Making.

PubMed

Miller, Karen Hughes; Miller, Bonnie M; Karani, Reena

2015-11-01

As medical educators face the challenge of incorporating new content, learning methods, and assessment techniques into the curriculum, the need for rigorous medical education research to guide efficient and effective instructional planning increases. When done properly, well-designed education research can provide guidance for complex education decision making. In this Commentary, the authors consider the 2015 Research in Medical Education (RIME) research and review articles in terms of the critical areas in teaching and learning that they address. The broad categories include (1) assessment (the largest collection of RIME articles, including both feedback from learners and instructors and the reliability of learner assessment), (2) the institution's impact on the learning environment, (3) what can be learned from program evaluation, and (4) emerging issues in faculty development. While the articles in this issue are broad in scope and potential impact, the RIME committee noted few studies of sufficient rigor focusing on areas of diversity and diverse learners. Although challenging to investigate, the authors encourage continuing innovation in research focused on these important areas.

Big Data in medical research and EU data protection law: challenges to the consent or anonymise approach.

PubMed

Mostert, Menno; Bredenoord, Annelien L; Biesaart, Monique C I H; van Delden, Johannes J M

2016-07-01

Medical research is increasingly becoming data-intensive; sensitive data are being re-used, linked and analysed on an unprecedented scale. The current EU data protection law reform has led to an intense debate about its potential effect on this processing of data in medical research. To contribute to this evolving debate, this paper reviews how the dominant 'consent or anonymise approach' is challenged in a data-intensive medical research context, and discusses possible ways forwards within the EU legal framework on data protection. A large part of the debate in literature focuses on the acceptability of adapting consent or anonymisation mechanisms to overcome the challenges within these approaches. We however believe that the search for ways forward within the consent or anonymise paradigm will become increasingly difficult. Therefore, we underline the necessity of an appropriate research exemption from consent for the use of sensitive personal data in medical research to take account of all legitimate interests. The appropriate conditions of such a research exemption are however subject to debate, and we expect that there will be minimal harmonisation of these conditions in the forthcoming EU Data Protection Regulation. Further deliberation is required to determine when a shift away from consent as a legal basis is necessary and proportional in a data-intensive medical research context, and what safeguards should be put in place when such a research exemption from consent is provided.

Big Data in medical research and EU data protection law: challenges to the consent or anonymise approach

PubMed Central

Mostert, Menno; Bredenoord, Annelien L; Biesaart, Monique C I H; van Delden, Johannes J M

2016-01-01

Medical research is increasingly becoming data-intensive; sensitive data are being re-used, linked and analysed on an unprecedented scale. The current EU data protection law reform has led to an intense debate about its potential effect on this processing of data in medical research. To contribute to this evolving debate, this paper reviews how the dominant ‘consent or anonymise approach' is challenged in a data-intensive medical research context, and discusses possible ways forwards within the EU legal framework on data protection. A large part of the debate in literature focuses on the acceptability of adapting consent or anonymisation mechanisms to overcome the challenges within these approaches. We however believe that the search for ways forward within the consent or anonymise paradigm will become increasingly difficult. Therefore, we underline the necessity of an appropriate research exemption from consent for the use of sensitive personal data in medical research to take account of all legitimate interests. The appropriate conditions of such a research exemption are however subject to debate, and we expect that there will be minimal harmonisation of these conditions in the forthcoming EU Data Protection Regulation. Further deliberation is required to determine when a shift away from consent as a legal basis is necessary and proportional in a data-intensive medical research context, and what safeguards should be put in place when such a research exemption from consent is provided. PMID:26554881

Implementation and research priorities for FCTC Articles 13 and 16: tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship and sales to and by minors.

PubMed

Nagler, Rebekah H; Viswanath, Kasisomayajula

2013-04-01

Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) calls for a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS), and Article 16 calls for prohibition of tobacco sales to and by minors. Although these mandates are based on sound science, many countries have found provision implementation to be rife with challenges. This paper reviews the history of tobacco marketing and minor access restrictions in high-, middle-, and low-income countries, identifying past challenges and successes. We consider current challenges to FCTC implementation, how these barriers can be addressed, and what research is necessary to support such efforts. Specifically, we identify implementation and research priorities for FCTC Articles 13 and 16. Although a solid evidence base underpins the FCTC's call for TAPS bans and minor access restrictions, we know substantially less about how best to implement these restrictions. Drawing on the regulatory experiences of high-, middle-, and low-income countries, we discern several implementation and research priorities, which are organized into 4 categories: policy enactment and enforcement, human capital expertise, the effects of FCTC marketing and youth access policies, and knowledge exchange and transfer among signatories. Future research should provide detailed case studies on implementation successes and failures, as well as insights into how knowledge of successful restrictions can be translated into tobacco control policy and practice and shared among different stakeholders. Tobacco marketing surveillance, sales-to-minors compliance checks, enforcement and evaluation of restriction policies, and capacity building and knowledge transfer are likely to prove central to effective implementation.

The challenges of modulating the 'rest and digest' system: acetylcholine receptors as drug targets.

PubMed

VanPatten, Sonya; Al-Abed, Yousef

2017-01-01

Acetylcholine, a major neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, was discovered in the early 1900s. Over the years, researchers have revealed much about its regulation, properties of its receptors and features of the downstream signaling that influence its terminal effects. The acetylcholine system, traditionally associated with neuromuscular communication, is now known to play a crucial part in modulation of the immune system and other 'rest and digest' effects. Recent research seeks to elucidate the system's role in brain functions including cognition, sleep, arousal, motivation, reward and pain. We highlight clinically approved and experimental drugs that modulate the acetylcholine receptors. The complexities in targeting the acetylcholine receptors are vast and finding future indications for drug development associated with specific acetylcholine receptors remains a challenge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Confidentiality in participatory research: Challenges from one study.

PubMed

Petrova, Elmira; Dewing, Jan; Camilleri, Michelle

2016-06-01

This article presents key ethical challenges that were encountered when conducting a participatory qualitative research project with a very specific, small group of nurses, in this case with practice development nurses in Malta. With the small number of nurses employed in practice development roles in Malta, there are numerous difficulties of maintaining confidentiality. Poorly constructed interventions by the researcher could have resulted in detrimental effects to research participants and the overall trustworthiness of the research. Generally, ethical guidelines for research exist to reinforce validity of research; however, there is not an established consensus on how these strategies can be utilised in some types of qualitative field work. The researcher used an exploratory case study methodology. The sample consisted of 10 participants who were interviewed twice using face-to-face interviews, over a period of 2 months. The study was ethically reviewed by the University Research Ethics Committee and the Faculty Research Ethics Committee, University of Malta. The participants referred to in this article have been given adequate information about the study and their consent has been obtained. Numerous strategies for ensuring confidentiality during recruitment of the participants, during data collection, during transcription and data analysis and during dissemination of research results assisted the researcher in responding to potential and actual ethical issues. This article emphasises the main strategies that can be used to respond to ethical challenges when researching with a small easily identifiable group. The learning discussed here may be relevant to or even transferable to other similar research studies or research contexts. These methods fostered a greater credibility throughout the research process and predisposed the participants to greater trust, and thus, they disclosed their experiences and speak more freely, thus enhancing the quality of the study. © The Author(s) 2014.

Operational research as implementation science: definitions, challenges and research priorities.

PubMed

Monks, Thomas

2016-06-06

Operational research (OR) is the discipline of using models, either quantitative or qualitative, to aid decision-making in complex implementation problems. The methods of OR have been used in healthcare since the 1950s in diverse areas such as emergency medicine and the interface between acute and community care; hospital performance; scheduling and management of patient home visits; scheduling of patient appointments; and many other complex implementation problems of an operational or logistical nature. To date, there has been limited debate about the role that operational research should take within implementation science. I detail three such roles for OR all grounded in upfront system thinking: structuring implementation problems, prospective evaluation of improvement interventions, and strategic reconfiguration. Case studies from mental health, emergency medicine, and stroke care are used to illustrate each role. I then describe the challenges for applied OR within implementation science at the organisational, interventional, and disciplinary levels. Two key challenges include the difficulty faced in achieving a position of mutual understanding between implementation scientists and research users and a stark lack of evaluation of OR interventions. To address these challenges, I propose a research agenda to evaluate applied OR through the lens of implementation science, the liberation of OR from the specialist research and consultancy environment, and co-design of models with service users. Operational research is a mature discipline that has developed a significant volume of methodology to improve health services. OR offers implementation scientists the opportunity to do more upfront system thinking before committing resources or taking risks. OR has three roles within implementation science: structuring an implementation problem, prospective evaluation of implementation problems, and a tool for strategic reconfiguration of health services. Challenges facing OR as implementation science include limited evidence and evaluation of impact, limited service user involvement, a lack of managerial awareness, effective communication between research users and OR modellers, and availability of healthcare data. To progress the science, a focus is needed in three key areas: evaluation of OR interventions, embedding the knowledge of OR in health services, and educating OR modellers about the aims and benefits of service user involvement.

The Center for Material Science of Nuclear Fuel (A "Life at the Frontiers of Energy Research" contest entry from the 2011 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) Summit and Forum)

ScienceCinema

Allen, Todd (Director, Center for Material Science of Nuclear Fuel); CMSNF Staff

2017-12-09

'The Center for Material Science of Nuclear Fuel (CMSNF)' was submitted by the CMSNF to the 'Life at the Frontiers of Energy Research' video contest at the 2011 Science for Our Nation's Energy Future: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) Summit and Forum. Twenty-six EFRCs created short videos to highlight their mission and their work. CMSNF, an EFRC directed by Todd Allen at the Idaho National Laboratory is a partnership of scientists from six institutions: INL (lead), Colorado School of Mines, University of Florida, Florida State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The Office of Basic Energy Sciences in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science established the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) in 2009. These collaboratively-organized centers conduct fundamental research focused on 'grand challenges' and use-inspired 'basic research needs' recently identified in major strategic planning efforts by the scientific community. The overall purpose is to accelerate scientific progress toward meeting the nation's critical energy challenges. The mission of the Center for Materials Science of Nuclear Fuels is 'to achieve a first-principles based understanding of the effect of irradiation-induced defects and microstructures on thermal transport in oxide nuclear fuels.' Research topics are: phonons, thermal conductivity, nuclear, extreme environment, radiation effects, defects, and matter by design.

Evaluation of Conceptual Frameworks Applicable to the Study of Isolation Precautions Effectiveness

PubMed Central

Crawford, Catherine; Shang, Jingjing

2015-01-01

Aims A discussion of conceptual frameworks applicable to the study of isolation precautions effectiveness according to Fawcett and DeSanto-Madeya’s (2013) evaluation technique and their relative merits and drawbacks for this purpose Background Isolation precautions are recommended to control infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality, but effectiveness is not established due to numerous methodological challenges. These challenges, such as identifying empirical indicators and refining operational definitions, could be alleviated though use of an appropriate conceptual framework. Design Discussion paper Data Sources In mid-April 2014, the primary author searched five electronic, scientific literature databases for conceptual frameworks applicable to study isolation precautions, without limiting searches by publication date. Implications for Nursing By reviewing promising conceptual frameworks to support isolation precautions effectiveness research, this paper exemplifies the process to choose an appropriate conceptual framework for empirical research. Hence, researchers may build on these analyses to improve study design of empirical research in multiple disciplines, which may lead to improved research and practice. Conclusion Three frameworks were reviewed: the epidemiologic triad of disease, Donabedian’s healthcare quality framework and the Quality Health Outcomes model. Each has been used in nursing research to evaluate health outcomes and contains concepts relevant to nursing domains. Which framework can be most useful likely depends on whether the study question necessitates testing multiple interventions, concerns pathogen-specific characteristics and yields cross-sectional or longitudinal data. The Quality Health Outcomes model may be slightly preferred as it assumes reciprocal relationships, multi-level analysis and is sensitive to cultural inputs. PMID:26179813

Focusing Agricultural Education Research: The Challenge of the 1990's and Beyond. Proceedings of the National Agricultural Education Research Meeting (17th, Cincinnati, Ohio, November 30, 1990).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Robert A., Comp.

Selected titles among the 51 papers accepted for presentation or publication by the 1990 meeting of a yearly forum for agricultural research presentation include the following: "Effectiveness of Beginning Scholars Program in Attracting High Ability Students to the College of Agriculture and Home Economics" (Lester, Graham); "Analysis of Enrollment…

Using mixed methods research designs in health psychology: an illustrated discussion from a pragmatist perspective.

PubMed

Bishop, Felicity L

2015-02-01

To outline some of the challenges of mixed methods research and illustrate how they can be addressed in health psychology research. This study critically reflects on the author's previously published mixed methods research and discusses the philosophical and technical challenges of mixed methods, grounding the discussion in a brief review of methodological literature. Mixed methods research is characterized as having philosophical and technical challenges; the former can be addressed by drawing on pragmatism, the latter by considering formal mixed methods research designs proposed in a number of design typologies. There are important differences among the design typologies which provide diverse examples of designs that health psychologists can adapt for their own mixed methods research. There are also similarities; in particular, many typologies explicitly orient to the technical challenges of deciding on the respective timing of qualitative and quantitative methods and the relative emphasis placed on each method. Characteristics, strengths, and limitations of different sequential and concurrent designs are identified by reviewing five mixed methods projects each conducted for a different purpose. Adapting formal mixed methods designs can help health psychologists address the technical challenges of mixed methods research and identify the approach that best fits the research questions and purpose. This does not obfuscate the need to address philosophical challenges of mixing qualitative and quantitative methods. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Mixed methods research poses philosophical and technical challenges. Pragmatism in a popular approach to the philosophical challenges while diverse typologies of mixed methods designs can help address the technical challenges. Examples of mixed methods research can be hard to locate when component studies from mixed methods projects are published separately. What does this study add? Critical reflections on the author's previously published mixed methods research illustrate how a range of different mixed methods designs can be adapted and applied to address health psychology research questions. The philosophical and technical challenges of mixed methods research should be considered together and in relation to the broader purpose of the research. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Ethical and regulatory issues of pragmatic cluster randomized trials in contemporary health systems

PubMed Central

Anderson, Monique L; Califf, Robert M; Sugarman, Jeremy

2015-01-01

Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) randomly assign groups of individuals to examine research questions or test interventions and measure their effects on individuals. Recent emphasis on quality improvement, comparative effectiveness, and learning health systems has prompted expanded use of pragmatic CRTs in routine healthcare settings, which in turn poses practical and ethical challenges that current oversight frameworks may not adequately address. The 2012 Ottawa Statement provides a basis for considering many issues related to pragmatic CRTs but challenges remain, including some arising from the current U.S. research and healthcare regulations. In order to examine the ethical, regulatory, and practical questions facing pragmatic CRTs in healthcare settings, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory convened a workshop in Bethesda, Maryland in July of 2013. Attendees included experts in clinical trials, patient advocacy, research ethics, and research regulations from academia, industry, the NIH, and other federal agencies. Workshop participants identified substantial barriers to implementing these types of CRTs, including issues related to research design, gatekeepers and governance in health systems, consent, institutional review boards, data monitoring, privacy, and special populations. We describe these barriers and suggest means for understanding and overcoming them to facilitate pragmatic CRTs in healthcare settings. PMID:25733677

The effect of challenge and hindrance stressors on safety behavior and safety outcomes: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Clarke, Sharon

2012-10-01

The significance of occupational stressors as a risk factor in accidents has long been recognized; however, the behavioral mechanisms underlying this relationship are currently not well-understood. Meta-analysis was utilized to test the relationships between occupational stressors (challenge and hindrance), safety behaviors (compliance and participation), and safety outcomes (occupational injuries and near-misses). It was hypothesized that hindrance stressors would have negative effects on both safety compliance and safety participation, and subsequently, safety outcomes, whereas challenge stressors would have positive effects. The hypotheses relating to hindrance stressors were supported, suggesting that hindrance stressors lead to a significant reduction in both compliance with safety rules and participation in safety-related activities. Hindrance stressors were also associated with higher levels of occupational injuries and near-misses. The relationship between hindrance stressors and occupational injuries was fully mediated by safety behaviors. However, the hypotheses related to challenge stressors were not supported. Challenge stressors had a nonsignificant, near-zero association with compliance and occupational injuries, a small negative association with participation, and a small positive association with near-misses. The theoretical and practical implications of the meta-analytic findings are discussed, as well as avenues for further research.

Enhancing Family Engagement in Interventions for Mental Health Problems in Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, Keith C.; Borden, Lindsay A.; Hsu, Chinghui; Schultz, Tia R.; Carney, Megan Strawsine; Brooks, Connie M.; Reinke, Wendy M.

2011-01-01

Much progress has been made in helping families improve their relationships and provide effective environments for their children. However, an ongoing challenge in implementing these practices is to actively engage families in interventions for youth. Most effective treatments for youth require some level of caregiver involvement. Research has…

The Relationship between Stress, Fatigue, and Cognitive Functioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, Laura K.; Economou, Peter; Cruz, Daniel; Abraham-Cook, Shannon; Huntington, Jodi S.; Maris, Marika; Makhija, Nita; Welsh, Toni; Maley, Larissa

2014-01-01

There is a plethora of research suggesting that daily stressors and fatigue can have a significant effect on learning and various cognitive functions in young adults. Little is known, however, about how these effects impact learning and other neurocognitive functions in students with learning challenges when compared to their counterparts without…

Supporting Individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders:a Summary of Effective Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riggie, Jennifer; Xu, Tingting

2013-01-01

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a lifelong condition that significantly affects the individual's learning, development, behavior, family, and quality of life. Diagnosing children with this condition and providing effective supports is challenging for professionals because little intervention research has been performed with the…

Do UK Universities Communicate Their Brands Effectively through Their Websites?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapleo, Chris; Duran, Maria Victoria Carrillo; Diaz, Ana Castillo

2011-01-01

This paper attempts to explore the effectiveness of UK universities' websites. The area of branding in higher education has received increasing academic investigation, but little work has researched how universities demonstrate their brand promises through their websites. The quest to differentiate through branding can be challenging in the…

Green Chemistry Teaching in Higher Education: A Review of Effective Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andraos, John; Dicks, Andrew P.

2012-01-01

This account reviews published green chemistry teaching resources in print and online literature and our experiences in teaching the subject to undergraduate students. Effective practices in lecture and laboratory are highlighted and ongoing challenges are addressed, including areas in cutting edge green chemistry research that impact its teaching…

The Relationship between Stress, Fatigue, and Cognitive Functioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, Laura K.

2013-01-01

There is a plethora of research suggesting that daily stressors and fatigue can have a significant effect on learning and various cognitive functions in young adults. Little is known, however, about how these effects impact learning and other neurocognitive functions in students with learning challenges when compared to their counterparts without…

Prevention Research & the IDEA Discipline Provisions: A Guide for School Administrators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2001

This guide from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of Education is designed to assist school administrators in understanding the challenges faced in creating safe, effective learning environments, whole school practices that have dramatically increased effective learning environments, and under what…

Teacher Implementation and the Impact of Game-Based Science Curriculum Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Christopher D.; Reichsman, Frieda; Mutch-Jones, Karen; Gardner, April; Marchi, Lisa; Kowalski, Susan; Lord, Trudi; Dorsey, Chad

2018-01-01

Research-based digital games hold great potential to be effective tools in supporting next-generation science learning. However, as with all instructional materials, teachers significantly influence their implementation and contribute to their effectiveness. To more fully understand the contributions and challenges of teacher implementation of…

Ethical challenges in resuscitation.

PubMed

Mentzelopoulos, Spyros D; Slowther, Anne-Marie; Fritz, Zoe; Sandroni, Claudio; Xanthos, Theodoros; Callaway, Clifton; Perkins, Gavin D; Newgard, Craig; Ischaki, Eleni; Greif, Robert; Kompanje, Erwin; Bossaert, Leo

2018-06-01

A rapidly evolving resuscitation science provides more effective treatments to an aging population with multiple comorbidites. Concurrently, emergency care has become patient-centered. This review aims to describe challenges associated with the application of key principles of bioethics in resuscitation and post-resuscitation care; propose actions to address these challenges; and highlight the need for evidence-based ethics and consensus on ethical principles interpretation. Following agreement on the article's outline, subgroups of 2-3 authors provided narrative reviews of ethical issues concerning autonomy and honesty, beneficence/nonmaleficence and dignity, justice, specific practices/circumstances such as family presence during resuscitation, and emergency research. Proposals for addressing ethical challenges were also offered. Respect for patient autonomy can be realized through honest provision of information, shared decision-making, and advance directives/care planning. Essential prerequisites comprise public and specific healthcare professionals' education, appropriate regulatory provisions, and allocation of adequate resources. Regarding beneficence/nonmaleficence, resuscitation should benefit patients, while avoiding harm from futile interventions; pertinent practice should be based on neurological prognostication and patient/family-reported outcomes. Regarding dignity, aggressive life-sustaining treatments against patients preferences should be avoided. Contrary to the principle of justice, resuscitation quality may be affected by race/income status, age, ethnicity, comorbidity, and location (urban versus rural or country-specific/region-specific). Current evidence supports family presence during resuscitation. Regarding emergency research, autonomy should be respected without hindering scientific progress; furthermore, transparency of research conduct should be promoted and funding increased. Major ethical challenges in resuscitation science need to be addressed through complex/resource-demanding interventions. Such actions require support by ongoing/future research.

Tool for evaluating research implementation challenges: A sense-making protocol for addressing implementation challenges in complex research settings

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Many challenges arise in complex organizational interventions that threaten research integrity. This article describes a Tool for Evaluating Research Implementation Challenges (TECH), developed using a complexity science framework to assist research teams in assessing and managing these challenges. Methods During the implementation of a multi-site, randomized controlled trial (RCT) of organizational interventions to reduce resident falls in eight nursing homes, we inductively developed, and later codified the TECH. The TECH was developed through processes that emerged from interactions among research team members and nursing home staff participants, including a purposive use of complexity science principles. Results The TECH provided a structure to assess challenges systematically, consider their potential impact on intervention feasibility and fidelity, and determine actions to take. We codified the process into an algorithm that can be adopted or adapted for other research projects. We present selected examples of the use of the TECH that are relevant to many complex interventions. Conclusions Complexity theory provides a useful lens through which research procedures can be developed to address implementation challenges that emerge from complex organizations and research designs. Sense-making is a group process in which diverse members interpret challenges when available information is ambiguous; the groups’ interpretations provide cues for taking action. Sense-making facilitates the creation of safe environments for generating innovative solutions that balance research integrity and practical issues. The challenges encountered during implementation of complex interventions are often unpredictable; however, adoption of a systematic process will allow investigators to address them in a consistent yet flexible manner, protecting fidelity. Research integrity is also protected by allowing for appropriate adaptations to intervention protocols that preserve the feasibility of ‘real world’ interventions. PMID:23281623

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Early Reading Programs: A Demonstration with Recommendations for Future Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollands, Fiona M.; Kieffer, Michael J.; Shand, Robert; Pan, Yilin; Cheng, Henan; Levin, Henry M.

2016-01-01

We review the value of cost-effectiveness analysis for evaluation and decision making with respect to educational programs and discuss its application to early reading interventions. We describe the conditions for a rigorous cost-effectiveness analysis and illustrate the challenges of applying the method in practice, providing examples of programs…

Investing in Michigan's Future: Meeting the Early Childhood Challenge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schweinhart, Lawrence J.; Fulcher-Dawson, Rachel

2006-01-01

This report presents results from research into the effects of early childhood programs on their participants, particularly low-income and at-risk children. The studies described offer evidence on the long-term effects of high quality early childhood programs. Such programs can have long-lasting positive effects on children and their families,…

Using a Changing-Criterion Design to Evaluate the Effects of Check-In/Check-Out with Goal Modification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDaniel, Sara C.; Bruhn, Allison L.

2016-01-01

Check-in/check-out (CICO) is a Tier 2 behavioral intervention that has demonstrated effectiveness for students with challenging behavior in a variety of educational settings. Existing research has focused primarily on testing the intervention's effectiveness and the role of behavioral function in moderating response to intervention. Only a handful…

Addressing the Challenges in Tonsillectomy Research to Inform Health Care Policy: A Review.

PubMed

Mandavia, Rishi; Schilder, Anne G M; Dimitriadis, Panagiotis A; Mossialos, Elias

2017-09-01

Eighty-five percent of investment in medical research has been wasted, with lack of effect on clinical practice and policy. There is increasing effort to improve the likelihood of research being used to influence clinical practice and policy. Tonsillectomy is one of the most common otorhinolaryngologic surgical procedures, and its frequency, cost, and morbidity create a clear need for evidence-based guidelines and policy. The first systematic review on tonsillectomy was conducted 40 years ago and highlighted the lack of definitive evidence for the procedure. Since that study, the body of evidence has still not been able to sufficiently inform policy. This review provides an overview of the key challenges in research to inform tonsillectomy policy and recommendations to help bridge the evidence-policy gap. The challenges in using research to inform policy can be summarized as 4 main themes: (1) non-policy-focused evidence and lack of available evidence, (2) quality of evidence, (3) communication of research findings, and (4) coordinating time frames. Researchers and decision makers should be aware of the limitations of research designs and conflicts of interest that can undermine policy decisions. Researchers must work with decision makers and patients throughout the research process to identify areas of unmet need and political priority, align research and policy time frames, and disseminate research findings. Incentives for researchers should be reorganized to promote dissemination of findings. It is important to consider why evidence gaps in tonsillectomy research have not been addressed during the past 40 years despite considerable investment in time and resources. These findings and recommendations will help produce research that is more responsive to policy gaps and more likely to result in policy changes.

Guidelines for conducting rigorous health care psychosocial cross-cultural/language qualitative research.

PubMed

Arriaza, Pablo; Nedjat-Haiem, Frances; Lee, Hee Yun; Martin, Shadi S

2015-01-01

The purpose of this article is to synthesize and chronicle the authors' experiences as four bilingual and bicultural researchers, each experienced in conducting cross-cultural/cross-language qualitative research. Through narrative descriptions of experiences with Latinos, Iranians, and Hmong refugees, the authors discuss their rewards, challenges, and methods of enhancing rigor, trustworthiness, and transparency when conducting cross-cultural/cross-language research. The authors discuss and explore how to effectively manage cross-cultural qualitative data, how to effectively use interpreters and translators, how to identify best methods of transcribing data, and the role of creating strong community relationships. The authors provide guidelines for health care professionals to consider when engaging in cross-cultural qualitative research.

Technologies to Support Community-Dwelling Persons With Dementia: A Position Paper on Issues Regarding Development, Usability, Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness, Deployment, and Ethics.

PubMed

Meiland, Franka; Innes, Anthea; Mountain, Gail; Robinson, Louise; van der Roest, Henriëtte; García-Casal, J Antonio; Gove, Dianne; Thyrian, Jochen René; Evans, Shirley; Dröes, Rose-Marie; Kelly, Fiona; Kurz, Alexander; Casey, Dympna; Szcześniak, Dorota; Dening, Tom; Craven, Michael P; Span, Marijke; Felzmann, Heike; Tsolaki, Magda; Franco-Martin, Manuel

2017-01-16

With the expected increase in the numbers of persons with dementia, providing timely, adequate, and affordable care and support is challenging. Assistive and health technologies may be a valuable contribution in dementia care, but new challenges may emerge. The aim of our study was to review the state of the art of technologies for persons with dementia regarding issues on development, usability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, deployment, and ethics in 3 fields of application of technologies: (1) support with managing everyday life, (2) support with participating in pleasurable and meaningful activities, and (3) support with dementia health and social care provision. The study also aimed to identify gaps in the evidence and challenges for future research. Reviews of literature and expert opinions were used in our study. Literature searches were conducted on usability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and ethics using PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO databases with no time limit. Selection criteria in our selected technology fields were reviews in English for community-dwelling persons with dementia. Regarding deployment issues, searches were done in Health Technology Assessment databases. According to our results, persons with dementia want to be included in the development of technologies; there is little research on the usability of assistive technologies; various benefits are reported but are mainly based on low-quality studies; barriers to deployment of technologies in dementia care were identified, and ethical issues were raised by researchers but often not studied. Many challenges remain such as including the target group more often in development, performing more high-quality studies on usability and effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, creating and having access to high-quality datasets on existing technologies to enable adequate deployment of technologies in dementia care, and ensuring that ethical issues are considered an important topic for researchers to include in their evaluation of assistive technologies. Based on these findings, various actions are recommended for development, usability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, deployment, and ethics of assistive and health technologies across Europe. These include avoiding replication of technology development that is unhelpful or ineffective and focusing on how technologies succeed in addressing individual needs of persons with dementia. Furthermore, it is suggested to include these recommendations in national and international calls for funding and assistive technology research programs. Finally, practitioners, policy makers, care insurers, and care providers should work together with technology enterprises and researchers to prepare strategies for the implementation of assistive technologies in different care settings. This may help future generations of persons with dementia to utilize available and affordable technologies and, ultimately, to benefit from them. ©Franka Meiland, Anthea Innes, Gail Mountain, Louise Robinson, Henriëtte van der Roest, J Antonio García-Casal, Dianne Gove, Jochen René Thyrian, Shirley Evans, Rose-Marie Dröes, Fiona Kelly, Alexander Kurz, Dympna Casey, Dorota Szcześniak, Tom Dening, Michael P Craven, Marijke Span, Heike Felzmann, Magda Tsolaki, Manuel Franco-Martin. Originally published in JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology (http://rehab.jmir.org), 16.01.2017.

Pre-study feasibility and identifying sensitivity analyses for protocol pre-specification in comparative effectiveness research.

PubMed

Girman, Cynthia J; Faries, Douglas; Ryan, Patrick; Rotelli, Matt; Belger, Mark; Binkowitz, Bruce; O'Neill, Robert

2014-05-01

The use of healthcare databases for comparative effectiveness research (CER) is increasing exponentially despite its challenges. Researchers must understand their data source and whether outcomes, exposures and confounding factors are captured sufficiently to address the research question. They must also assess whether bias and confounding can be adequately minimized. Many study design characteristics may impact on the results; however, minimal if any sensitivity analyses are typically conducted, and those performed are post hoc. We propose pre-study steps for CER feasibility assessment and to identify sensitivity analyses that might be most important to pre-specify to help ensure that CER produces valid interpretable results.

Human behavioral research in space: quandaries for research subjects and researchers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shepanek, Marc

2005-01-01

With the advent of long-duration spaceflight on board the International Space Station (ISS) and possible future missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) such as Mars, it is critical that those at NASA have a realistic assessment of the challenges that will face individuals on long-duration missions so that they can develop preventive and real-time countermeasures to behavioral health issues. While space travellers are very interested in having countermeasures to the deleterious effects of space missions, they have a powerful disincentive to participate in this research if they feel it could in any way negatively affect their flight status. The behavioral issues of isolation and confinement for extended-duration space missions are reviewed. Areas of basic and clinical behavioral research are listed. And the classical clinical model for research is not considered appropriate for the current configuration of the space program. The use of analogue environments and advanced statistical analysis are suggested as ways to address the limited spaceflight research opportunities. The challenge of research subject or patient confidentiality vs. mission safety and issues of personal flight status are addressed.

Human behavioral research in space: quandaries for research subjects and researchers.

PubMed

Shepanek, Marc

2005-06-01

With the advent of long-duration spaceflight on board the International Space Station (ISS) and possible future missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) such as Mars, it is critical that those at NASA have a realistic assessment of the challenges that will face individuals on long-duration missions so that they can develop preventive and real-time countermeasures to behavioral health issues. While space travellers are very interested in having countermeasures to the deleterious effects of space missions, they have a powerful disincentive to participate in this research if they feel it could in any way negatively affect their flight status. The behavioral issues of isolation and confinement for extended-duration space missions are reviewed. Areas of basic and clinical behavioral research are listed. And the classical clinical model for research is not considered appropriate for the current configuration of the space program. The use of analogue environments and advanced statistical analysis are suggested as ways to address the limited spaceflight research opportunities. The challenge of research subject or patient confidentiality vs. mission safety and issues of personal flight status are addressed.

Spatially explicit data: stewardship and ethical challenges in science.

PubMed

Hartter, Joel; Ryan, Sadie J; Mackenzie, Catrina A; Parker, John N; Strasser, Carly A

2013-09-01

Scholarly communication is at an unprecedented turning point created in part by the increasing saliency of data stewardship and data sharing. Formal data management plans represent a new emphasis in research, enabling access to data at higher volumes and more quickly, and the potential for replication and augmentation of existing research. Data sharing has recently transformed the practice, scope, content, and applicability of research in several disciplines, in particular in relation to spatially specific data. This lends exciting potentiality, but the most effective ways in which to implement such changes, particularly for disciplines involving human subjects and other sensitive information, demand consideration. Data management plans, stewardship, and sharing, impart distinctive technical, sociological, and ethical challenges that remain to be adequately identified and remedied. Here, we consider these and propose potential solutions for their amelioration.

A study of a museum-school partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojton, Mary Ann

Partnerships between museums and schools never have been more important than they are today. Schools, especially urban schools, are facing challenges, including low student achievement and difficulty obtaining funding. Partners can help schools overcome these challenges by sharing educational and financial resources. Nearly 11,000 American museums spend more than $1 billion annually to provide over 18 million instructional hours for k-12 educational programs such as professional development for teachers, guided field trips, and staff visits to schools. Museums would seem like natural partners for challenged urban schools. Yet museums and schools struggle to establish and maintain effective partnerships. This study examined a partnership between a science center and an urban elementary school to provide additional knowledge and resources for those in the field to overcome these challenges in order to create relationships that help students. Using qualitative methods with interpretive descriptive purposes (Erickson, 1986; Glesne, 1999; Lincoln & Guba, 2000), the research design is based on several methods of data collection, including face-to-face, semi-structured interviews; observations; written text; and field notes. Participants in this study included students, parents, teachers, school administrators and museum educators. In addition, adult representatives of community organizations were interviewed to determine the impact of the partnership on the community. The study found that an effective partnership will have four basic elements: mutual goals, communication plan, key leader support, planning and research, and four interpersonal elements: personal responsibility, honesty, communication at the intimate level, and trust. Partners may have difficulty developing these to their fullest extent due to time limitations. No partnership is perfect. By creating strong interpersonal relationships, partners can mitigate challenges caused by limited basic elements and increase the likelihood that their partnership will be effective.

Investigating the Baseline Skills of Research Students Using a Competency-Based Self-Assessment Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bromley, Anthony P.; Boran, James R.; Myddelton, William A.

2007-01-01

Recent government-led initiatives are changing the nature of the UK PhD to support the greater development of transferable skills. There are similar initiatives internationally. A key requirement and challenge is to effectively assess the "baseline" skills of a cohort on entry to a research programme and then monitor their progress in…

Education Researchers as Bricoleurs in the Creation of Sustainable Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahlomaholo, Sechaba

2014-01-01

Higher education has, to date, been unable to provide effective and lasting solutions to challenges of education, because large sections thereof continue to search for knowledge for its own sake. At best, they conduct responsive research, but on a small scale they reduce the complexity that is education to a neat unilinear process which can be…

The Role of a Research Administration Program in Adverse Event Reporting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedor, Carol; Cola, Philip; Polites, Stephanie

2007-01-01

The reporting, analysis, and management of adverse events (AEs) provide an ongoing assessment of risk in the context of a clinical trial and enhance the protection of human research participants and the informed consent process. Effective and efficient review of AEs has been a long-standing challenge for Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and…

Integrating Internet Assignments into a Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Laboratory Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaspar, Roger L.

2002-01-01

A main challenge in educating undergraduate students is to introduce them to the Internet and to teach them how to effectively use it in research. To this end, an Internet assignment was developed that introduces students to websites related to biomedical research at the beginning of a biochemistry/molecular biology laboratory course. The basic…

Applying Research in Reading Comprehension to Social Studies Instruction for Middle and High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swanson, Elizabeth; Wanzek, Jeanne

2014-01-01

Secondary-level content area teachers face unique challenges in helping their students successfully read, understand, and learn content from complex texts in their discipline. In this article, a set of research-based practices designed to provide effective and feasible instruction to improve students' reading and comprehension of text and content…

The Acquisition of Cultural Competence: A Phenomenological Inquiry Highlighting the Processes, Challenges and Triumphs of Counselor Education Graduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garner, Douglas L.

2012-01-01

Although research has effectively isolated and identified the key characteristics of a culturally competent counselor, there are few studies regarding the acquisition of these characteristics. To close the gap between theory and practice, studies are needed researching the emergence and, acquisition of these characteristics. This study explores…

Expanding the Conversation: Further Explorations into Indigenous Environmental Science Education Theory, Research, and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowan, Greg

2012-01-01

Indigenous environmental science education is a diverse, dynamic, and rapidly expanding field of research, theory, and practice. This article highlights, challenges, and expands upon key areas of discussion presented by Mack et al. (Cult Stud Sci Educ 7, "2012") as part of the forum on their article "Effective Practices for Creating…

Evaluating the Dissemination of "Body & Soul," an Evidence-based Fruit and Vegetable Intake Intervention: Challenges for Dissemination and Implementation Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allicock, Marlyn; Campbell, Marci K.; Valle, Carmina G.; Carr, Carol; Resnicow, Ken; Gizlice, Ziya

2012-01-01

Objective: To evaluate whether the evidence-based "Body & Soul" program, when disseminated and implemented without researcher or agency involvement and support, would achieve results similar to those of earlier efficacy and effectiveness trials. Design: Prospective group randomized trial. Setting: Churches with predominantly African American…

Researching Teachers' and Parents' Perceptions of Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tveit, Anne Dorthe

2014-01-01

While there has been a great deal of research done on parent involvement and the challenges of conducting effective dialogue in parent-teacher meetings, less attention has been paid to how teachers and parents themselves perceive dialogue. The purpose of the present article is to study whether deliberative principles are vital to teachers'…

The Benefits, Drawbacks, and Challenges of Using the Flipped Classroom in an Introduction to Psychology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roehling, Patricia V.; Root Luna, Lindsey M.; Richie, Fallon J.; Shaughnessy, John J.

2017-01-01

Flipped pedagogy has become a popular approach in education. While preliminary research suggests that the flipped classroom has a positive effect on learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and quantitative courses, the research on the flipped classroom in a content heavy social science course is minimal and contradictory. We…

What Can We Take Home? Action Research for Malaysian Preservice TESOL Teachers in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neilsen, Rod

2014-01-01

Action Research (AR) is recognised as an effective way for language teachers to extend teaching skills and gain more understanding of teaching, learning and the classroom environment (Burns, 2010). It can also be a useful but challenging experience for trainee language teachers. This paper reports on the experiences of Malaysian trainee primary…

Defining, Measuring and Supporting Success: Meeting the Challenges of Comprehensive School Reform Research. CSR Connection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Appelbaum, Deborah; Schwartzbeck, Terri Duggan

Many educators believe that comprehensive school reform (CSR) holds real promise for improving schools, as many CSR programs are based in research and have documented success. However, in the past year, there has been increased emphasis on CSR programs' evidence of effectiveness and scrutiny of CSR evaluations' degree of rigor. Questions exist…

EAT-UP™ Family-Centered Feeding Intervention to Promote Food Acceptance and Decrease Challenging Behaviors: A Single-Case Experimental Design Replicated Across Three Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Cosbey, Joanna; Muldoon, Deirdre

2017-03-01

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a family-centered feeding intervention, Easing Anxiety Together with Understanding and Perseverance (EAT-UP™), for promoting food acceptance of children with autism spectrum disorder at home. A concurrent multiple-baseline design was used with systematic replication across three families. Baseline was followed by an 'Intervention-Coaching' phase and then an 'Intervention-Independent' phase. Using direct observation and pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, data on acceptance of less preferred foods and challenging mealtime behaviors were collected. Procedural fidelity was monitored throughout all study phases. Data were analyzed using visual analysis and measures of effect size. All children demonstrated increases in food acceptance (effect size >0.90) and dietary diversity and decreased challenging behaviors. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research

PubMed Central

Peeters Grietens, Koen; Ribera, Joan Muela; Erhart, Annette; Hoibak, Sarah; Ravinetto, Raffaella M.; Gryseels, Charlotte; Dierickx, Susan; O'Neill, Sarah; Muela, Susanna Hausmann; D'Alessandro, Umberto

2014-01-01

Collecting blood samples from individuals recruited into clinical research projects in sub-Saharan Africa can be challenging. Strikingly, one of the reasons for participant reticence is the occurrence of local rumors surrounding “blood stealing” or “blood selling.” Such fears can potentially have dire effects on the success of research projects—for example, high dropout rates that would invalidate the trial's results—and have ethical implications related to cultural sensitivity and informed consent. Though commonly considered as a manifestation of the local population's ignorance, these rumors represent a social diagnosis and a logical attempt to make sense of sickness and health. Born from historical antecedents, they reflect implicit contemporary structural inequalities and the social distance between communities and public health institutions. We aim at illustrating the underlying logic governing patients' fear and argue that the management of these beliefs should become an intrinsic component of clinical research. PMID:24821846

Challenges and Opportunities in Interdisciplinary Materials Research Experiences for Undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vohra, Yogesh; Nordlund, Thomas

2009-03-01

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) offer a broad range of interdisciplinary materials research experiences to undergraduate students with diverse backgrounds in physics, chemistry, applied mathematics, and engineering. The research projects offered cover a broad range of topics including high pressure physics, microelectronic materials, nano-materials, laser materials, bioceramics and biopolymers, cell-biomaterials interactions, planetary materials, and computer simulation of materials. The students welcome the opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary team of basic science, engineering, and biomedical faculty but the challenge is in learning the key vocabulary for interdisciplinary collaborations, experimental tools, and working in an independent capacity. The career development workshops dealing with the graduate school application process and the entrepreneurial business activities were found to be most effective. The interdisciplinary university wide poster session helped student broaden their horizons in research careers. The synergy of the REU program with other concurrently running high school summer programs on UAB campus will also be discussed.

Achieving Challenge Home in Affordable Housing in the Hot-Humid Climate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beal, D.; McIlvaine, J.; Winter, B.

2014-08-01

The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), one of the Building America research team leads, has partnered with two builders as they work through the Challenge Home certification process in one test home each. The builder partners participating in this cost-shared research are Southeast Volusia County Habitat for Humanity near Daytona, Florida and Manatee County Habitat for Humanity near Tampa, Florida. Both are affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International, a non-profit affordable housing organization. This research serves to identify viable technical pathways to meeting the CH criteria for other builders in the region. A further objective of thismore » research is to identify gaps and barriers in the marketplace related to product availability, labor force capability, code issues, cost effectiveness, and business case issues that hinder or prevent broader adoption on a production scale.« less

Achieving Challenge Home in Affordable Housing in the Hot-Humid Climate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beal, D.; McIlvaine, J.; Winter, B.

2014-08-01

The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), one of the Building America research team leads, has partnered with two builders as they work through the Challenge Home certification process (now Zero Energy Ready Home) in one test home each. The builder partners participating in this cost-shared research are Southeast Volusia County Habitat for Humanity near Daytona, Florida and Manatee County Habitat for Humanity near Tampa, Florida. Both are affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International, a non-profit affordable housing organization. This research serves to identify viable technical pathways to meeting the CH criteria for other builders in the region.more » A further objective of this research is to identify gaps and barriers in the marketplace related to product availability, labor force capability, code issues, cost effectiveness, and business case issues that hinder or prevent broader adoption on a production scale.« less

Increasing the relevance of research to health care managers: hospital CEO imperatives for improving quality and lowering costs.

PubMed

Alexander, Jeffrey A; Hearld, Larry R; Jiang, H Joanna; Fraser, Irene

2007-01-01

Evidence-based management assumes that available research evidence is consistent with the problems and decision-making conditions faced by those who will utilize this evidence in practice. This article attempts to identify how hospital leaders view key determinants of hospital quality and costs, as well as the fundamental ways these leaders "think" about solutions to quality and cost issues in their organizations. The objective of this analysis is to better inform the research agenda and approaches pursued by health services research so that this research reflects the "realities" of practice in hospitals. We conducted a series of semistructured interviews with a convenience sample of eight hospital and three health system leaders. Questions focused on current and future challenges facing hospitals as they relate to hospital quality, costs, and efficiency, and potential solutions to those challenges. Nine major organizational and managerial factors emerged from the interviews, including staffing, evidence-based practice, information technology, data availability and benchmarking, and leadership. Hospital leaders tend to think about these factors systemically and consider process-related factors as the important drivers of cost and quality. The results suggest a need to expand the methods utilized by health services researchers to make their research more relevant to health care managers. Expanding research methods to reflect the systemic way that managers view the challenges and solutions facing their organizations may enhance the application of research findings into management practice. Finally, better communication is needed between the research and practice communities. Researchers must learn to think more like managers if their research is to be relevant, and managers must learn to more effectively communicate their issues with the research community and frame their problems in researchable terms.

The international aerospace industry - New challenges and opportunities for translation suppliers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rowe, T.

1986-01-01

Attention is given to the recent trend toward internationalization in the aerospace industry and its effects on commercial and governmental translation programs. The aerospace industry, once dominated by organizations from a small number of countries, is now widely international in scope. In effect, there has been in increase in the demand for translations from German, Japanese, Chinese, French and Spanish source material while that for translation from Russian source material has remained constant. The impact of the Challenger disaster on aerospace translation programs is discussed as well as the impact of international participation in Space Station research.

Building effective working relationships across culturally and ethnically diverse communities.

PubMed

Hosley, Cheryl A; Gensheimer, Linda; Yang, Mai

2003-01-01

Amherst H. Wilder Foundation's Social Adjustment Program for Southeast Asians is implementing two collaborative, best practice, mental health and substance abuse prevention service models in Minnesota. It faced several issues in effectively bridging multiple cultural groups, including building a diverse collaborative team, involving families and youth, reconciling cultural variation in meeting styles, and making best practice models culturally appropriate. Researchers and program staff used multiple strategies to address these challenges and build successful partnerships. Through shared goals, flexibility, and a willingness to explore and address challenges, collaboratives can promote stronger relationships across cultural communities and improve their service delivery systems.

Variable-Speed Power-Turbine Research at Glenn Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Welch, Gerard E.; McVetta, Ashlie B.; Stevens, Mark A.; Howard, Samuel A.; Giel, Paul W.; Ameri, Ali, A.; To, Waiming; Skoch, Gary J.; Thurman, Douglas R.

2012-01-01

The main rotors of the NASA Large Civil Tilt-Rotor (LCTR) notional vehicle operate over a wide speed-range, from 100 percent at takeoff to 54 percent at cruise. The variable-speed power turbine (VSPT) offers one approach by which to effect this speed variation. VSPT aerodynamics challenges include high work factors at cruise, wide (40 to 60 ) incidence-angle variations in blade and vane rows over the speed range, and operation at low Reynolds numbers. Rotordynamics challenges include potential responsiveness to shaft modes within the 50 percent VSPT speed-range. A research effort underway at NASA Glenn Research Center, intended to address these key aerodynamic and rotordynamic challenges, is described. Conceptual design and 3-D multistage RANS and URANS analyses, conducted internally and under contract, provide expected VSPT sizing, stage-count, performance and operability information, and maps for system studies. Initial steps toward experimental testing of incidence-tolerant blading in a transonic linear cascade are described, and progress toward development/improvement of a simulation capability for multistage turbines with low Reynolds number transitional flow is summarized. Preliminary rotordynamics analyses indicate that viable concept engines with 50 percent VSPT shaft-speed range. Assessments of potential paths toward VSPT component-level testing are summarized.

Future Challenges for the Residential Conference Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasworm, Carol E.; Simpson, Edward G., Jr.

1990-01-01

Creation of learning sanctuaries in residential adult education programs requires (1) development and renewal of leadership; (2) skilled management practices; (3) research on the concept and its effect on adult learning; and (4) professional development. (SK)

Performance of species occurrence estimators when basic assumptions are not met: a test using field data where true occupancy status is known

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, David A. W.; Bailey, Larissa L.; Grant, Evan H. Campbell; McClintock, Brett T.; Weir, Linda A.; Simons, Theodore R.

2015-01-01

Our results demonstrate that even small probabilities of misidentification and among-site detection heterogeneity can have severe effects on estimator reliability if ignored. We challenge researchers to place greater attention on both heterogeneity and false positives when designing and analysing occupancy studies. We provide 9 specific recommendations for the design, implementation and analysis of occupancy studies to better meet this challenge.

Herbal Medicine in Ischemic Stroke: Challenges and Prospective.

PubMed

Gaire, Bhakta Prasad

2018-04-01

Herbal medicines, mainly of plant source, are invaluable source for the discovery of new therapeutic agents for all sorts of human ailments. The complex pathogenesis of stroke and multifactorial effect of herbal medicine and their active constituents may suggest the promising future of natural medicine for stroke treatment. Anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, neuroprotective and vascular protective effect of herbal medicines are believed to be efficacious in stroke treatment. Herbs typically have fewer reported side effects than allopathic medicine, and may be safer to use over longer period of time. Herbal medicines are believed to be more effective for the longstanding health complaints, such as stroke. Several medicinal plants and their active constituents show the promising results in laboratory research. However failure in transformation of laboratory animal research to the clinical trials has created huge challenge for the use of herbal medicine in stroke. Until and unless scientifically comprehensive evidence of the efficacy and safety of herbal medicine in ischemic stroke patients is available, efforts should be made to continue implementing treatment strategies of proven effectiveness. More consideration should be paid to natural compounds that can have extensive therapeutic time windows, perfect pharmacological targets with few side effects. Herbal medicine has excellent prospective for the treatment of ischemic stroke, but a lot of effort should be invested to transform the success of animal research to human use.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis in Mumbai, India: An agenda for operations research

PubMed Central

Mistry, Nerges; Tolani, Monica; Osrin, David

2012-01-01

Operations research (OR) is well established in India and is also a prominent feature of the global and local agendas for tuberculosis (TB) control. India accounts for a quarter of the global burden of TB and of new cases. Multidrug-resistant TB is a significant problem in Mumbai, India’s most populous city, and there have been recent reports of totally resistant TB. Much thought has been given to the role of OR in addressing programmatic challenges, by both international partnerships and India’s Revised National TB Control Programme. We attempt to summarize the major challenges to TB control in Mumbai, with an emphasis on drug resistance. Specific challenges include diagnosis of TB and defining cure, detecting drug resistant TB, multiple sources of health care in the private, public and informal sectors, co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and a concurrent epidemic of non-communicable diseases, suboptimal prescribing practices, and infection control. We propose a local agenda for OR: modeling the effects of newer technologies, active case detection, and changes in timing of activities, and mapping hotspots and contact networks; modeling the effects of drug control, changing the balance of ambulatory and inpatient care, and adverse drug reactions; modeling the effects of integration of TB and HIV diagnosis and management, and preventive drug therapy; and modeling the effects of initiatives to improve infection control. PMID:24501697

Collaboration challenges in systematic reviews: a survey of health sciences librarians

PubMed Central

Nicholson, Joey; McCrillis, Aileen; Williams, Jeff D.

2017-01-01

Objective: While many librarians have been asked to participate in systematic reviews with researchers, often these researchers are not familiar with the systematic review process or the appropriate role for librarians. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges and barriers that librarians face when collaborating on systematic reviews. To take a wider view of the whole process of collaborating on systematic reviews, the authors deliberately focused on interpersonal and methodological issues other than searching itself. Methods: To characterize the biggest challenges that librarians face while collaborating on systematic review projects, we used a web-based survey. The thirteen-item survey included seventeen challenges grouped into two categories: methodological and interpersonal. Participants were required to indicate the frequency and difficulty of the challenges listed. Open-ended questions allowed survey participants to describe challenges not listed in the survey and to describe strategies used to overcome challenges. Results: Of the 17 challenges listed in the survey, 8 were reported as common by over 40% of respondents. These included methodological issues around having too broad or narrow research questions, lacking eligibility criteria, having unclear research questions, and not following established methods. The remaining challenges were interpersonal, including issues around student-led projects and the size of the research team. Of the top 8 most frequent challenges, 5 were also ranked as most difficult to handle. Open-ended responses underscored many of the challenges included in the survey and revealed several additional challenges. Conclusions: These results suggest that the most frequent and challenging issues relate to development of the research question and general communication with team members. Clear protocols for collaboration on systematic reviews, as well as a culture of mentorship, can help librarians prevent and address these challenges. PMID:28983202

Collaboration challenges in systematic reviews: a survey of health sciences librarians.

PubMed

Nicholson, Joey; McCrillis, Aileen; Williams, Jeff D

2017-10-01

While many librarians have been asked to participate in systematic reviews with researchers, often these researchers are not familiar with the systematic review process or the appropriate role for librarians. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges and barriers that librarians face when collaborating on systematic reviews. To take a wider view of the whole process of collaborating on systematic reviews, the authors deliberately focused on interpersonal and methodological issues other than searching itself. To characterize the biggest challenges that librarians face while collaborating on systematic review projects, we used a web-based survey. The thirteen-item survey included seventeen challenges grouped into two categories: methodological and interpersonal. Participants were required to indicate the frequency and difficulty of the challenges listed. Open-ended questions allowed survey participants to describe challenges not listed in the survey and to describe strategies used to overcome challenges. Of the 17 challenges listed in the survey, 8 were reported as common by over 40% of respondents. These included methodological issues around having too broad or narrow research questions, lacking eligibility criteria, having unclear research questions, and not following established methods. The remaining challenges were interpersonal, including issues around student-led projects and the size of the research team. Of the top 8 most frequent challenges, 5 were also ranked as most difficult to handle. Open-ended responses underscored many of the challenges included in the survey and revealed several additional challenges. These results suggest that the most frequent and challenging issues relate to development of the research question and general communication with team members. Clear protocols for collaboration on systematic reviews, as well as a culture of mentorship, can help librarians prevent and address these challenges.

Routing Protocols for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks: Taxonomy, Research Challenges, Routing Strategies and Future Directions.

PubMed

Khan, Anwar; Ali, Ihsan; Ghani, Abdullah; Khan, Nawsher; Alsaqer, Mohammed; Rahman, Atiq Ur; Mahmood, Hasan

2018-05-18

Recent research in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has gained the attention of researchers in academia and industry for a number of applications. They include disaster and earthquake prediction, water quality and environment monitoring, leakage and mine detection, military surveillance and underwater navigation. However, the aquatic medium is associated with a number of limitations and challenges: long multipath delay, high interference and noise, harsh environment, low bandwidth and limited battery life of the sensor nodes. These challenges demand research techniques and strategies to be overcome in an efficient and effective fashion. The design of routing protocols for UWSNs is one of the promising solutions to cope with these challenges. This paper presents a survey of the routing protocols for UWSNs. For the ease of description, the addressed routing protocols are classified into two groups: localization-based and localization-free protocols. These groups are further subdivided according to the problems they address or the major parameters they consider during routing. Unlike the existing surveys, this survey considers only the latest and state-of-the-art routing protocols. In addition, every protocol is described in terms of its routing strategy and the problem it addresses and solves. The merit(s) of each protocol is (are) highlighted along with the cost. A description of the protocols in this fashion has a number of advantages for researchers, as compared to the existing surveys. Firstly, the description of the routing strategy of each protocol makes its routing operation easily understandable. Secondly, the demerit(s) of a protocol provides (provide) insight into overcoming its flaw(s) in future investigation. This, in turn, leads to the foundation of new protocols that are more intelligent, robust and efficient with respect to the desired parameters. Thirdly, a protocol can be selected for the appropriate application based on its described merit(s). Finally, open challenges and research directions are presented for future investigation.

Routing Protocols for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks: Taxonomy, Research Challenges, Routing Strategies and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Ghani, Abdullah; Alsaqer, Mohammed; Rahman, Atiq Ur; Mahmood, Hasan

2018-01-01

Recent research in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has gained the attention of researchers in academia and industry for a number of applications. They include disaster and earthquake prediction, water quality and environment monitoring, leakage and mine detection, military surveillance and underwater navigation. However, the aquatic medium is associated with a number of limitations and challenges: long multipath delay, high interference and noise, harsh environment, low bandwidth and limited battery life of the sensor nodes. These challenges demand research techniques and strategies to be overcome in an efficient and effective fashion. The design of routing protocols for UWSNs is one of the promising solutions to cope with these challenges. This paper presents a survey of the routing protocols for UWSNs. For the ease of description, the addressed routing protocols are classified into two groups: localization-based and localization-free protocols. These groups are further subdivided according to the problems they address or the major parameters they consider during routing. Unlike the existing surveys, this survey considers only the latest and state-of-the-art routing protocols. In addition, every protocol is described in terms of its routing strategy and the problem it addresses and solves. The merit(s) of each protocol is (are) highlighted along with the cost. A description of the protocols in this fashion has a number of advantages for researchers, as compared to the existing surveys. Firstly, the description of the routing strategy of each protocol makes its routing operation easily understandable. Secondly, the demerit(s) of a protocol provides (provide) insight into overcoming its flaw(s) in future investigation. This, in turn, leads to the foundation of new protocols that are more intelligent, robust and efficient with respect to the desired parameters. Thirdly, a protocol can be selected for the appropriate application based on its described merit(s). Finally, open challenges and research directions are presented for future investigation. PMID:29783686

Nesting doctoral students in collaborative North-South partnerships for health systems research.

PubMed

Loukanova, Svetla; Prytherch, Helen; Blank, Antje; Duysburgh, Els; Tomson, Göran; Gustafsson, Lars L; Sié, Ali; Williams, John; Leshabari, Melkizedeck; Haefeli, Walter E; Sauerborn, Rainer; Fonn, Sharon

2014-01-01

The European Union (EU) supports North-South Partnerships and collaborative research projects through its Framework Programmes and Horizon 2020. There is limited research on how such projects can be harnessed to provide a structured platform for doctoral level studies as a way of strengthening health system research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The aim of this study was to explore the challenges of, and facilitating factors for, 'nesting' doctoral students in North-South collaborative research projects. The term nesting refers to the embedding of the processes of recruiting, supervising, and coordinating doctoral students in the overall research plan and processes. This cross-sectional qualitative study was undertaken by the EU-funded QUALMAT Project. A questionnaire was implemented with doctoral students, supervisors, and country principal investigators (PIs), and content analysis was undertaken. Completed questionnaires were received from nine doctoral students, six supervisors, and three country PIs (86% responses rate). The doctoral students from SSA described high expectations about the input they would receive (administrative support, equipment, training, supervision). This contrasted with the expectations of the supervisors for proactivity and self-management on the part of the students. The rationale for candidate selection, and understandings of the purpose of the doctoral students in the project were areas of considerable divergence. There were some challenges associated with the use of the country PIs as co-supervisors. Doctoral student progress was at times impeded by delays in the release of funding instalments from the EU. The paper provides a checklist of essential requirements and a set of recommendations for effective nesting of doctoral students in joint North-South projects. There are considerable challenges to the effective nesting of doctoral students within major collaborative research projects. However, ways can be found to overcome them. The nesting process ultimately helped the institutions involved in this example to take better advantage of the opportunities that collaborative projects offer to foster North-South partnerships as a contribution to the strengthening of local research capacity.

From Rosalind Franklin to Barack Obama: Data Sharing Challenges and Solutions in Genomics and Personalised Medicine

PubMed Central

Lawler, Mark; Maughan, Tim

2017-01-01

The collection, storage and use of genomic and clinical data from patients and healthy individuals is a key component of personalised medicine enterprises such as the Precision Medicine Initiative, the Cancer Moonshot and the 100,000 Genomes Project. In order to maximise the value of this data, it is important to embed a culture within the scientific, medical and patient communities that supports the appropriate sharing of genomic and clinical information. However, this aspiration raises a number of ethical, legal and regulatory challenges that need to be addressed. The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, a worldwide coalition of researchers, healthcare professionals, patients and industry partners, is developing innovative solutions to support the responsible and effective sharing of genomic and clinical data. This article identifies the challenges that a data sharing culture poses and highlights a series of practical solutions that will benefit patients, researchers and society. PMID:28517986

From Rosalind Franklin to Barack Obama: Data Sharing Challenges and Solutions in Genomics and Personalised Medicine.

PubMed

Lawler, Mark; Maughan, Tim

2017-04-01

The collection, storage and use of genomic and clinical data from patients and healthy individuals is a key component of personalised medicine enterprises such as the Precision Medicine Initiative, the Cancer Moonshot and the 100,000 Genomes Project. In order to maximise the value of this data, it is important to embed a culture within the scientific, medical and patient communities that supports the appropriate sharing of genomic and clinical information. However, this aspiration raises a number of ethical, legal and regulatory challenges that need to be addressed. The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, a worldwide coalition of researchers, healthcare professionals, patients and industry partners, is developing innovative solutions to support the responsible and effective sharing of genomic and clinical data. This article identifies the challenges that a data sharing culture poses and highlights a series of practical solutions that will benefit patients, researchers and society.

Issues and challenges of involving users in medical device development.

PubMed

Bridgelal Ram, Mala; Grocott, Patricia R; Weir, Heather C M

2008-03-01

User engagement has become a central tenet of health-care policy. This paper reports on a case study in progress that highlights user engagement in the research process in relation to medical device development. To work with a specific group of medical device users to uncover unmet needs, translating these into design concepts, novel technologies and products. To validate a knowledge transfer model that may be replicated for a range of medical device applications and user groups. In depth qualitative case study to elicit and analyse user needs. The focus is on identifying design concepts for medical device applications from unmet needs, and validating these in an iterative feedback loop to the users. The case study has highlighted three interrelated challenges: ensuring unmet needs drive new design concepts and technology development; managing user expectations and managing the research process. Despite the challenges, active participation of users is crucial to developing usable and clinically effective devices.

Assessing organizational change in multisector community health alliances.

PubMed

Alexander, Jeffrey A; Hearld, Larry R; Shi, Yunfeng

2015-02-01

The purpose of this article was to identify some common organizational features of multisector health care alliances (MHCAs) and the analytic challenges presented by those characteristics in assessing organizational change. Two rounds of an Internet-based survey of participants in 14 MHCAs. We highlight three analytic challenges that can arise when quantitatively studying the organizational characteristics of MHCAs-assessing change in MHCA organization, assessment of construct reliability, and aggregation of individual responses to reflect organizational characteristics. We illustrate these issues using a leadership effectiveness scale (12 items) validated in previous research and data from 14 MHCAs participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) program. High levels of instability and turnover in MHCA membership create challenges in using survey data to study changes in key organizational characteristics of MHCAs. We offer several recommendations to diagnose the source and extent of these problems. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Overcoming the Challenges Inherent in Conducting Design Research in Mental Health Settings: Lessons from St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton's Pre and Post-Occupancy Evaluation.

PubMed

Ahern, Catherine; McKinnon, Margaret C; Bieling, Peter J; McNeely, Heather; Langstaff, Karen

2016-01-01

Conducting high-quality design research in a mental health setting presents significant challenges, limiting the availability of high-quality evidence to support design decisions for built environments. Here, we outline key approaches to overcoming these challenges. In conducting a rigorous post-occupancy evaluation of a newly built mental health and addictions facility, St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, we identified a number of systematic barriers associated with conducting design research in mental health settings. Our approach to overcoming these barriers relied heavily upon (i) selecting established measures and methods with demonstrated efficacy in a mental health context, (ii) navigating institutional protocols designed to protect vulnerable members of this population, and (iii) designing innovative data collection strategies to increase participation in research by individuals with mental illness. Each of these approaches drew heavily on the expert knowledge of mental health settings and the experiences with mental health, facilities management, and research of a research team that was well integrated within the parent institution. Engaging multiple stakeholders (e.g., care providers, patients, ethics board, and hospital administrators) contributed their trust and support of the research. Traditionally, post-occupancy evaluation researchers are independent of the facilities they research, yet this is not an effective approach in mental health settings. We found that, in working toward solutions to the three obstacles we described, having team members who were well "networked" within the parent institution was necessary. This approach can turn "gatekeepers" into champions for patients' engagement in the research, which is essential in generating high-quality evidence. © The Author(s) 2015.

[Innovations in vaccinology: challenge and opportunities for Africa].

PubMed

Diop, Doudou; Sanicas, Melvin

2017-01-01

Immunization is undoubtedly one of the most effective and most cost-effective health interventions. Vaccines continue to revolutionize our ability to prevent diseases and improve health. With all the technological advances, we are able to extend the benefits of vaccines to more people and to provide better protection from life-threatening infectious diseases. Nevertheless, thanks to the unceasing implementation of novel microbial strains on a worldwide basis, research in vaccinology must innovate continuously. African countries have made great progress in increasing routine immunization coverage rates and in introducing newly developed vaccines. New types of vaccines associated with vectorization, administration and specific licensing tools as well as with adjuvants designed to finely modulate immune responses are expected to be achieved in the near future. African countries need to work to develop a regional approach to respond effectively to the many challenges. Providing better information, implementing healthcare personnel vaccinology training programs and well targeted research projects are the keys to future achievements in the field.

Drop "impact" on an airfoil surface.

PubMed

Wu, Zhenlong

2018-06-01

Drop impact on an airfoil surface takes place in drop-laden two-phase flow conditions such as rain and icing, which are encountered by wind turbines or airplanes. This phenomenon is characterized by complex nonlinear interactions that manifest rich flow physics and pose unique modeling challenges. In this article, the state of the art of the research about drop impact on airfoil surface in the natural drop-laden two-phase flow environment is presented. The potential flow physics, hazards, characteristic parameters, droplet trajectory calculation, drop impact dynamics and effects are discussed. The most key points in establishing the governing equations for a drop-laden flow lie in the modeling of raindrop splash and water film. The various factors affecting the drop impact dynamics and the effects of drop impact on airfoil aerodynamic performance are summarized. Finally, the principle challenges and future research directions in the field as well as some promising measures to deal with the adverse effects of drop-laden flows on airfoil performance are proposed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Traditional Chinese medicine research in the post-genomic era: good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Uzuner, Halil; Bauer, Rudolf; Fan, Tai-Ping; Guo, De-An; Dias, Alberto; El-Nezami, Hani; Efferth, Thomas; Williamson, Elizabeth M; Heinrich, Michael; Robinson, Nicola; Hylands, Peter J; Hendry, Bruce M; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Xu, Qihe

2012-04-10

GP-TCM is the 1st EU-funded Coordination Action consortium dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research. This paper aims to summarise the objectives, structure and activities of the consortium and introduces the position of the consortium regarding good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Serving as the introductory paper for the GP-TCM Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, this paper describes the roadmap of this special issue and reports how the main outputs of the ten GP-TCM work packages are integrated, and have led to consortium-wide conclusions. Literature studies, opinion polls and discussions among consortium members and stakeholders. By January 2012, through 3 years of team building, the GP-TCM consortium had grown into a large collaborative network involving ∼200 scientists from 24 countries and 107 institutions. Consortium members had worked closely to address good practice issues related to various aspects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and acupuncture research, the focus of this Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, leading to state-of-the-art reports, guidelines and consensus on the application of omics technologies in TCM research. In addition, through an online survey open to GP-TCM members and non-members, we polled opinions on grand priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Based on the poll, although consortium members and non-members had diverse opinions on the major challenges in the field, both groups agreed that high-quality efficacy/effectiveness and mechanistic studies are grand priorities and that the TCM legacy in general and its management of chronic diseases in particular represent grand opportunities. Consortium members cast their votes of confidence in omics and systems biology approaches to TCM research and believed that quality and pharmacovigilance of TCM products are not only grand priorities, but also grand challenges. Non-members, however, gave priority to integrative medicine, concerned on the impact of regulation of TCM practitioners and emphasised intersectoral collaborations in funding TCM research, especially clinical trials. The GP-TCM consortium made great efforts to address some fundamental issues in TCM research, including developing guidelines, as well as identifying priorities, challenges and opportunities. These consortium guidelines and consensus will need dissemination, validation and further development through continued interregional, interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaborations. To promote this, a new consortium, known as the GP-TCM Research Association, is being established to succeed the 3-year fixed term FP7 GP-TCM consortium and will be officially launched at the Final GP-TCM Congress in Leiden, the Netherlands, in April 2012. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lessons learned in research: an attempt to study the effects of magnetic therapy.

PubMed

Szor, Judy K; Holewinski, Paul

2002-02-01

Difficulties related to chronic wound healing research are frequently discussed, but results of less-than-perfect studies commonly are not published. A 16-week, randomized controlled double-blind study attempted to investigate the effect of static magnetic therapy on the healing of diabetic foot ulcers. Of 56 subjects, 37 completed the study. Because of the small sample size, randomization did not control for differences between the two groups, and the data could not be analyzed in any meaningful way. The challenges of performing magnetic therapy research are discussed and considerations for future studies are noted.

A Variety of Diversity: Facing Higher Education's Educational Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dey, Eric L.

2008-10-01

First among the many important challenges facing American higher education is the need to improve the effectiveness of our educational programs. Public concern has heightened the sense of urgency for colleges and universities to make progress on improving and measuring educational outcomes, which is made more challenging by the varieties of diversity facing us. Diversity is not just an issue related to student recruitment or experience, but rather it is one that also relates to institutions and their faculties. New educational methods must address such diversity to be effective, and one possible example can be found in ongoing research at the University of Michigan that explores the educational implications of implementing a web-based lecture capture system in large lecture courses. Student use of and reactions to such systems is important, as is the potential to influence course performance for students in general, but also for underrepresented and at-risk student subpopulations. In addition to helping bring our current landscape into focus, this paper will identify effective practices as well as continuing challenges to improving educational practice for undergraduate students.

Making research matter: a civil society perspective on health research.

PubMed Central

Sanders, David; Labonte, Ronald; Baum, Fran; Chopra, Mickey

2004-01-01

Complex global public health challenges such as the rapidly widening health inequalities, and unprecedented emergencies such as the pandemic of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) demand a reappraisal of existing priorities in health policies, expenditure and research. Research can assist in mounting an effective response, but will require increased emphasis on health determinants at both the national and global levels, as well as health systems research and broad-based and effective public health initiatives. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are already at the forefront of such research. We suggest that there are at least three ways in which the participation of CSOs in research can be increased: namely, influencing commissioning and priority-setting; becoming involved in the review process and in conducting research; and through formal partnerships between communities and universities that link CSOs with academic researchers. PMID:15643797

Making research matter: a civil society perspective on health research.

PubMed

Sanders, David; Labonte, Ronald; Baum, Fran; Chopra, Mickey

2004-10-01

Complex global public health challenges such as the rapidly widening health inequalities, and unprecedented emergencies such as the pandemic of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) demand a reappraisal of existing priorities in health policies, expenditure and research. Research can assist in mounting an effective response, but will require increased emphasis on health determinants at both the national and global levels, as well as health systems research and broad-based and effective public health initiatives. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are already at the forefront of such research. We suggest that there are at least three ways in which the participation of CSOs in research can be increased: namely, influencing commissioning and priority-setting; becoming involved in the review process and in conducting research; and through formal partnerships between communities and universities that link CSOs with academic researchers.

Transforming Pain Medicine: Adapting to Science and Society

PubMed Central

Borsook, David; Kalso, Eija

2013-01-01

The field of chronic pain medicine is currently facing enormous challenges. The incidence of chronic pain is increasing worldwide, particularly in the developed world. As a result, chronic pain is imposing a growing burden on Western societies in terms of cost of medical care and lost productivity. This burden is exacerbated by the fact that despite research efforts and a huge expenditure on treatment for chronic pain, clinicians have no highly effective treatments or definitive diagnostic measures for patients. The lack of an objective measure for pain impedes basic research into the biological and psychological mechanisms of chronic pain and clinical research into treatment efficacy. The development of objective measurements of pain and ability to predict treatment responses in the individual patient is critical to improving pain management. Finally, pain medicine must embrace the development of a new evidence-based therapeutic model that recognizes the highly individual nature of responsiveness to pain treatments, integrates bio-psycho-behavioral approaches, and requires proof of clinical effectiveness for the various treatments we offer our patients. In the long-term these approaches will contribute to providing better diagnoses and more effective treatments to lessen the current challenges in pain medicine. PMID:23468059

Improving the informed consent process in international collaborative rare disease research: effective consent for effective research

PubMed Central

Gainotti, Sabina; Turner, Cathy; Woods, Simon; Kole, Anna; McCormack, Pauline; Lochmüller, Hanns; Riess, Olaf; Straub, Volker; Posada, Manuel; Taruscio, Domenica; Mascalzoni, Deborah

2016-01-01

The increased international sharing of data in research consortia and the introduction of new technologies for sequencing challenge the informed consent (IC) process, adding complexities that require coordination between research centres worldwide. Rare disease consortia present special challenges since available data and samples may be very limited. Thus, it is especially relevant to ensure the best use of available resources but at the same time protect patients' right to integrity. To achieve this aim, there is an ethical duty to plan in advance the best possible consent procedure in order to address possible ethical and legal hurdles that could hamper research in the future. Therefore, it is especially important to identify key core elements (CEs) to be addressed in the IC documents for international collaborative research in two different situations: (1) new research collections (biobanks and registries) for which information documents can be created according to current guidelines and (2) established collections obtained without IC or with a previous consent that does not cover all CEs. We propose here a strategy to deal with consent in these situations. The principles have been applied and are in current practice within the RD-Connect consortia – a global research infrastructure funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework program but forward looking in terms of issues addressed. However, the principles established, the lessons learned and the implications for future research are of direct relevance to all internationally collaborative rare-disease projects. PMID:26860059

Big Data: transforming drug development and health policy decision making.

PubMed

Alemayehu, Demissie; Berger, Marc L

The explosion of data sources, accompanied by the evolution of technology and analytical techniques, has created considerable challenges and opportunities for drug development and healthcare resource utilization. We present a systematic overview these phenomena, and suggest measures to be taken for effective integration of the new developments in the traditional medical research paradigm and health policy decision making. Special attention is paid to pertinent issues in emerging areas, including rare disease drug development, personalized medicine, Comparative Effectiveness Research, and privacy and confidentiality concerns.

Challenges for Transitioning Science Research to Space Weather Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spann, James

2013-01-01

Effectively transitioning science knowledge to useful applications relevant to space weather has become important. The effort to transition scientific knowledge to a useful application is not a research nor is it operations, but an activity that connects two. Successful transitioning must be an intentional effort with a clear goal and measureable outcome. This talk will present proven methodologies that have been demonstrated to be effective, and how in the current environment those can be applied to space weather transition efforts.

Rigged or rigorous? Partnerships for research and evaluation of complex social problems: Lessons from the field of violence against women and girls.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Cathy; Michau, Lori; Hossain, Mazeda; Kiss, Ligia; Borland, Rosilyne; Watts, Charlotte

2016-09-01

There is growing demand for robust evidence to address complex social phenomena such as violence against women and girls (VAWG). Research partnerships between scientists and non-governmental or international organizations (NGO/IO) are increasingly popular, but can pose challenges, including concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Drawing on our experience collaborating on VAWG research, we describe challenges and contributions that NGO/IO and academic partners can make at different stages of the research process and the effects that collaborations can have on scientific inquiry. Partners may struggle with differing priorities and misunderstandings about roles, limitations, and intentions. Benefits of partnerships include a shared vision of study goals, differing and complementary expertise, mutual respect, and a history of constructive collaboration. Our experience suggests that when investigating multi-faceted social problems, instead of 'rigging' study results, research collaborations can strengthen scientific rigor and offer the greatest potential for impact in the communities we seek to serve.

Rethinking health research capacity strengthening

PubMed Central

Vasquez, Emily; Hirsch, Jennifer S.; Giang, Le Minh; Parker, Richard G.

2013-01-01

Health research capacity strengthening (HRCS) is a strategy implemented worldwide to improve the ability of developing countries to tackle the persistent and disproportionate burdens of disease they face. Drawing on a review of existing HRCS literature and our experiences over the course of an NIH-funded HRCS project in Vietnam, we summarise major challenges to the HRCS enterprise at the interpersonal, institutional and macro levels. While over the course of several decades of HRCS initiatives many of these challenges have been well documented, we highlight several considerations that remain under-articulated. We advance critical considerations of the HRCS enterprise by discussing 1) how the organisation of US public health funding shapes the ecology of knowledge production in low- and middle-income country contexts, 2) the barriers US researchers face to effectively collaborating in capacity strengthening for research-to-policy translation, and 3) the potential for unintentional negative consequences if HRCS efforts are not sufficiently reflexive about the limitations of dominant paradigms in public health research and intervention. PMID:23651463

The sunk cost effect across species: A review of persistence in a course of action due to prior investment.

PubMed

Magalhães, Paula; Geoffrey White, K

2016-05-01

The sunk cost effect is the bias or tendency to persist in a course of action due to prior investments of effort, money or time. At the time of the only review on the sunk cost effect across species (Arkes & Ayton, 1999), research with nonhuman animals had been ecological in its nature, and the findings about the effect of past investments on current choice were inconclusive. However, in the last decade a new line of experimental laboratory-based research has emerged with the promise of revolutionizing the way we approach the study of the sunk cost effect in nonhumans. In the present review we challenge Arkes and Ayton's conclusion that the sunk cost effect is exclusive to humans, and describe evidence for the sunk cost effect in nonhuman animals. By doing so, we also challenge the current explanations for the sunk cost effect in humans, as they are not applicable to nonhumans. We argue that a unified theory is called for, because different independent variables, in particular, investment amount, have the same influence on the sunk cost effect across species. Finally, we suggest possible psychological mechanisms shared across different species, contrast and depreciation, that could explain the sunk cost effect. © 2016 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Predicting nutrient responses to mitigation at catchment to national scale: the UK research platform (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnes, P.

2013-12-01

Nutrient enrichment of waters from land-based and atmospheric sources presents a significant management challenge, requiring effective stakeholder engagement and policy development, properly underpinned by robust scientific evidence. The challenge is complex, raising significant questions about the specific sources, apportionment and pathways that determine nutrient enrichment and the key priorities for effective management and policy intervention. This paper presents outputs from 4 major UK research programmes: the Defra Demonstration Test Catchments programme (DTC), the Environment Agency's Catchment Sensitive Farming monitoring and evaluation programme (CSF), Natural Resources Wales Welsh Catchment Initiative (WCI) and the NERC Environmental Virtual Observatory programme (EVOp). Funded to meet this challenge, they are delivering new understanding of the rates and sources of pollutant fluxes from land to water, their impacts on ecosystem goods and services, and likely trends under future climate and land use change from field to national scale. DTC, a 12m investment by the UK Government, has set up long-term, high resolution research platforms equipped with novel telemetered sensor networks to monitor stream ecosystem responses to on-farm mitigation measures at a representative scale for catchment management. Ecosystem structural and functional responses and bulk hydrochemistry are also being monitored using standard protocols. CSF has set up long-term, enhanced monitoring in 8 priority catchments, with monthly monitoring in a further 72 English catchments and 6 Welsh priority catchments, to identify shifts in pollutant flux to waters resulting from mitigation measures in priority areas and farming sectors. CSF and WCI have contributed to >50 million of targeted farm improvements to date, representing a significant shift in farming practice. Each programme has generated detailed evidence on stream ecosystem responses to targeted mitigation. However, to provide effective underpinning for policy the major challenge has been to upscale this knowledge beyond these data-rich systems and identify the dominant contributing areas and priorities for management intervention to control nutrient flux and ecological impacts in data-poor systems which are located downstream from existing monitoring infrastructure or are in unmonitored catchments in remote locations. EVOp has directly addressed this challenge, developing a cloud computing enabled National Biogeochemical Modelling Framework to support ensemble modelling, knowledge capture and transfer from DTC, CSF, WCI and data-rich research catchments. This platform provides opportunities for further development of national biogeochemical modelling capability, allowing upscaled predictions from plot to catchment and national scale, enabling knowledge transfer from data-rich to data-poor areas. This paper presents initial findings from these research platforms, identifying the key priorities for action emerging from our national scale scenario analysis, and future research directions to further improve understanding, prediction and management capability in nutrient enriched waters and their catchments under changing climate and land use.

Synergistic Effects of Chinese Herbal Medicine: A Comprehensive Review of Methodology and Current Research

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xian; Seto, Sai Wang; Chang, Dennis; Kiat, Hosen; Razmovski-Naumovski, Valentina; Chan, Kelvin; Bensoussan, Alan

2016-01-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important part of primary health care in Asian countries that has utilized complex herbal formulations (consisting 2 or more medicinal herbs) for treating diseases over thousands of years. There seems to be a general assumption that the synergistic therapeutic effects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) derive from the complex interactions between the multiple bioactive components within the herbs and/or herbal formulations. However, evidence to support these synergistic effects remains weak and controversial due to several reasons, including the very complex nature of CHM, misconceptions about synergy and methodological challenges to study design. In this review, we clarify the definition of synergy, identify common errors in synergy research and describe current methodological approaches to test for synergistic interaction. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these models in the context of CHM and summarize the current status of synergy research in CHM. Despite the availability of some scientific data to support the synergistic effects of multi-herbal and/or herb-drug combinations, the level of evidence remains low, and the clinical relevancy of most of these findings is undetermined. There remain significant challenges in the development of suitable methods for synergistic studies of complex herbal combinations. PMID:27462269

When Challenging Art Gets Liked: Evidences for a Dual Preference Formation Process for Fluent and Non-Fluent Portraits

PubMed Central

Belke, Benno; Leder, Helmut; Carbon, Claus Christian

2015-01-01

Although fluency theory predominates psychological research on human aesthetics, its most severe limitation may be to explain why art that challenges or even violates easy processing can nevertheless be aesthetically rewarding. We discuss long-standing notions on art’s potential to offer mental growth opportunities and to tap into a basic epistemic predisposition that hint at a fluency counteracting aesthetic pleasure mechanism. Based on divergent strands of literature on empirical, evolutionary, and philosophical aesthetics, as well as research on disfluency, we presumed that challenging art requires deliberate reflexive processing at the level of “aboutness” in order to be experientially pleasing. Here, we probed such a cognitive mastering mechanism, achieved by iterative cycles of elaboration, as predicted by our model of aesthetic experiences. For the study, two kinds of portraits were applied, one associable to a high fluency and one to a high stimulation potential (according to results of an extensive rating study). In Experiment 1, we provided a repeated evaluation task, which revealed a distinctive preference effect for challenging portraits that was absent in the visual exposition conditions of a familiarity and a mere exposure task (Experiment 2). In a follow-up task (Experiment 3) this preference effect was observed with a novel and more encompassing pool of portraits, which corroborated its stability and robustness. In an explorative stimulus-transfer task (Experiment 4), we investigated the presumed underlying mechanism by testing whether the observed effect would generalize onto novel portraits of the same artist-specific styles. Results discounted an alternative interpretation of a perceptual adaptation effect and hinted at meaning-driven mental activity. Conjointly, findings for inexperienced viewers were indicative of an elaboration based mastering mechanism that selectively operated for mentally challenging portraits. Moreover, findings were in line with a dual-process view of human preference formation with art. Theoretical implications and boundary conditions are discussed. PMID:26309095