In this Methods: Mind the Gap webinar, Dr. Monica Taljaard explains the unique characteristics of the stepped wedge cluster randomized design and its implications for sample size calculation and analysis, and discusses its strengths and weaknesses compared to traditional designs. Emphasis is on application, with examples in disease prevention and health promotion research.
In this Methods: Mind the Gap webinar, Dr. William Shadish reviews illustrative studies that demonstrate the direction such work is taking and the results that seem to be emerging in regard to nonrandomized control group designs, regression discontinuity designs, and interrupted time series designs.
Drs. Lori Ducharme, Hendricks Brown, and Brian Mittman review some of the key concepts discussed at the 6th Annual NIH Meeting on Advancing the Science of Dissemination & Implementation Research: Focus on Study Designs. Central to their discussion are the key issues for study design for implementation science, what works, and opportunities that remain ahead.
They are joined by Drs. Geoffrey Curran, Linda Collins, and Ken Wells in a wide-ranging discussion of common problems encountered by implementation researchers and four examples of study designs and the problems they address.
In this Methods: Mind the Gap webinar, Dr. Walsh presents preventive strategies that integrate clinical data science, informatics, and mental health expertise in an attempt to prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. He explains basic concepts in applied predictive modeling relevant to an audience interested in disease prevention. He also shares examples of active research and operational efforts in this domain in civilian and active duty military environments.
The objective of this course is to provide a thorough grounding in the conduct of randomized clinical trials to researchers and health professionals interested in developing competence in the planning, design, and execution of randomized clinical trials involving behavioral interventions.
The curriculum will enable participants to:
- Describe the principles underlying the conduct of unbiased clinical trials
- Identify the unique challenges posed by behavioral randomized clinical trials (RCTs)
- Evaluate RCT designs in terms of their appropriateness to scientific and clinical goals
- Select appropriate strategies for enrollment, randomization, and retention of participants
- Understand methods for monitoring, coordinating, and conducting RCTs
- Develop strategies for appropriate statistical analyses of RCT data
- Evaluate the quality of behavioral RCTs and interpret their results
- Design an RCT as part of a working group on a specific topic.
Dr. Sterman discusses systems approaches in public health, including the concepts of policy resistance, implementation feedbacks, and model boundaries and explores how these ideas can be applied to effect change in a complex system. He includes examples from healthcare and public health such as implementation of formulary drug lists and SARS epidemic modeling.
Dr. McLeroy discusses adoption of systems methodology, including multiple levels of analysis, utility for identifying points of change, testing models against reality, and applications to program evaluation and various research designs, including community-based participatory research and randomized clinical trials.
Systems Network Analysis: Using Connections and Structures to Understand and Change Health Behaviors
Dr. Faust presents a non-technical overview of methods used to analyze networks, with an emphasis on social networks. Topics include: formal representations of social networks (graphs and sociomatrices), social network data considerations, and methods for analyzing social networks (connectivity, centrality, cohesive subgroups, equivalences and blockmodels, subgraphs, and structural hypotheses).
Dr. Valente describes methods for using network analysis to elucidate the antecedents and consequences of health-related behaviors. To do this, he draws from a number of examples of his applied work in the areas of substance abuse prevention and treatment, contraceptive choices, and community coalitions, among others. He also describes how applied research utilizing network analysis methods can be used to stimulate improvement in individual, community, and organizational behavior change programs.
This series of online lectures covers a range of diverse topics in data science such as data management, data representation, computing, data modeling, and other overarching topics. This series is an introductory overview that assumes no prior knowledge or understanding of data science.
In this Methods: Mind the Gap presentation, Dr. Selvin discusses the importance of epidemiologic evidence in informing strategies and cut points for screening and diagnosis of diabetes. A focus is on the evidence supporting the importance of the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test and current controversies regarding screening and diagnosis of prediabetes.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr. Karen Emmons and Dr. Lawrence Green discuss the interface between public health and implementation science, past, present, and future.
In this Methods: Mind the Gap webinar, Dr. Kay Dickersin reviews models of how systematic reviews are being used globally to plan, implement, and derive recommendations from comparative effectiveness research (CER). She also reviews some of the existing challenges to using systematic reviews and methods being used to address these challenges.
Time-varying effect modeling (TVEM) is a novel method that enables health, behavioral, and social scientists to examine developmental (i.e., age-varying) and dynamic (i.e., time-varying) associations. In this Methods: Mind the Gap webinar, Dr. Stephanie Lanza discusses potential research questions that can be addressed using TVEM, and provides resources for researchers interested in using the models in their own work.
The series provides an overview of analytic approaches, methods, and statistical applications for analyzing tobacco regulatory science (TRS) data. The presenters include an esteemed group of scientists, well known for their work in methodological research dealing with casual inference. The webinars are intended for any investigator funded by the Center for Tobacco Products.
During this webinar, participants learn more about The Community Guide and activities underway to help communities use evidence-based recommendations and findings found in The Community Guide to take action and implement community health improvement activities in collaboration with health departments and other community partners.
The National Cancer Institute is hosting this training institute to provide participants with a thorough grounding in conducting D&I research with a specific focus on cancer, across the cancer control continuum. In 2020, the institute will use a combination of online coursework (six modules with related assignments) and a 2-day in-person training to be held August 3 and 4, 2020, at the NCI campus in Bethesda, MD. Faculty and guest lecturers consist of leading experts in D&I theories, models, and frameworks; intervention fidelity and adaptation; stakeholder engagement and partnership for D&I; research methods and study designs for D&I; and measures and outcomes for D&I. This training institute has been adapted from the broader Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH), organized by NIH and the VA over the past nine years.
This training is designed for investigators at any career stage interested in conducting D&I research with a focus on the cancer control continuum. There is no cost associated with the training. Invited participants are required to cover related travel expenses to the Washington D.C. area for the in-person meeting. More answers to common questions can be found on the site FAQ.
In this Methods: Mind the Gap webinar, Dr. William Vollmer provides some examples of the types of prevention activities that can be fostered using the Electronic Medical Record (EMR), offers some historical perspective on the challenges of using the EMR to conduct research more generally, and gives specific examples of prevention-oriented research that heavily relies on the EMR for its conduct.
Dr. Laura Damschroder’s webinar introduces Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and its application in a series of studies highlighting its use to guide data collection, analyses, and its potential for syntheses; and to guide tailoring of implementation strategies.
Dr. Greg Aarons’ webinar introduces the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework and its application in a series of studies highlighting its use to guide data collection, analyses, and its potential for syntheses; and to guide tailoring of implementation strategies.
Dr. Abe Wandersman’s webinar continued a series of presentations and discussions about the development and application of frequently-used implementation research models and frameworks. Dr. Wandersman, key developer of the Interactive Systems Framework (ISF), discusses the genesis of the framework, key terms and concepts, and then presents projects that have used the ISF as a core lens to support planning and study of evidence-based practice implementation.
Dr. Sharon Straus, one of the primary authors of the Knowledge to Action Framework (KTA), discusses the genesis of the framework, key stages within the cycle, challenges to knowledge translation, and then presents examples of how the KTA framework has been used within a range of projects. Dr. Straus’ presentation also concentrates on the specific challenge of studying sustainability, and reflects on the degree to which the framework can extend beyond research into clinical practice use.