Community Research ToolsStepping Out..

Thuy Bui, MDJanuary 26, 2012

Why community? Social accountability of medical

schools/academic health centers Physicians’ public roles Social determinants of health

Health disparities researchTranslational researchImplementation scienceHealth services research

What are some of the approaches and tools that we use? Community based participatory research

(PAR) Community needs assessment Implementation, feasibility study, quality

improvement Project/program development and evaluation Evaluation of health education and promotion

initiatives Literature review and case studies

*Overlaps among classification common

Research Tools Project evaluation

methods Participatory/

community Process evaluation Logic models SWOT analysis

Observation, survey, interview, focus groups

Data mining Systematic literature

review

Quantitative/statistical analysis

Qualitative analysis Thematic analysis using

computer software GIS

Key Informant Interviews When qualitative, descriptive information is

sufficient for decision-making When there is a need to understand motivation,

behavior, and perspectives of consumers and partners

When a main purpose is to generate recommendations

When quantitative data collected through other methods need to be interpreted

When preliminary information is needed to design a comprehensive quantitative study

Conducting Key Informant Interviews Formulate study questions Prepare a short interview guide Select key informants: first-hand specialized

knowledge and unique perspectives Establish rapport; sequence questions, phrase

questions carefully, use probing techniques; maintain a neutral attitude

Take adequate notes

Focus Groups When to use:

In conjunction with a satisfaction survey At the start of a project, when making changes to

your service or when identifying a problem Preparing a strategy When you want to improve relationships with

consumers/partners

Inappropriate Use of Focus Groups Avoid focus groups when they imply commitments

you cannot keep or raise expectations If participants are not comfortable with each other When the topic is not appropriate for the

participants When a project require statistical or objective data

Four Steps to Effective Focus Groups Planning Recruitment: compatibility, 6-10 participants Moderation: setting up the session, preparing

questions, recording the data Analyzing and reporting

NEED PROPER TRAINING TO CONDUCT FOCUS GROUPS!

Survey Design Establish the goals of the project Determine your sample Choose interviewing methodology Create your questionnaire Pre-test questionnaire, if practical Conduct interviews and enter data Analyze the data; produce the reports

Better to use validated instruments!

Dr. Galen Switzer

Survey Methods Personal Interviews Telephone surveys Mail surveys Computer direct interviews Email surveys

Multiple choiceNumeric open endText open end

Rating scaleAgreement Scale

CostSpeedHealth LiteracySensitive questions

Literature Review =Summary and Synthesis Enlarging your knowledge Information seeking Critical appraisal Synthesize results into a summary of what is

and is not known Identify areas of controversy in the literature Formulate questions that need further

research

The Case Study A problem or how a person or institution dealt

with a problem Propose a solution; recommend a course of

action; or assess the success of previous attempts to solve the problem

Bring in theories to show how it relates to the case at hand

SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Logic Model

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/evaluation/evallogicmodel.html

Logic Model

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/evaluation/evallogicmodel.html

Principles of participatory evaluation Focuses on learning, success and action Useful to the people who are doing the work that

is being evaluated Ongoing and continual feedback Knowledge, attitudes, skills and behavior change

is built into the evaluation Define specific project evaluation questions, the

indicators of success and realistic timeframes Recognize shared interests among funders,

stakeholders, consumers, and staff.

5 key evaluation questions What? Did we do what we said we would do? Why? What did we learn about what worked and

what didn’t work? So what? What difference did it make that we did

this work? Now what? What could we do differently? Then what? How do we plan to use evaluation

findings for continuous learning?

5 evaluation process steps Define the project work. What are the measurable

project goals and objectives? Develop success indicators and their measures Collect the evaluation data

Written questionnaire, telephone survey, interview, focus group, observation, project diary, program records, before and after questionnaires

Analyze and interpret the data Use the evaluation results

GIS in RTI research

THIS WEEK IN GLOBAL HEALTH Global Women's Health Lecture Series"Intimate Partner Violence: A Community Engaged Approach to Intervention Development"Speaker: Jessie Burke, MHS, PhDWednesday, January 11, 7:30-9 p.m. Magee-Womens Hospital, Auditorium, 0 Level Dr. Burke is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. She has an undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology from New York University, a masters of health sciences in international health, and a PhD in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Burke is a public health social scientist with a focus on the interpersonal and neighborhood contexts of urban health disparities, and much of her work addresses low-income women and children. Her research adopts an ecological perspective and a community engaged approach in addressing health promotion. She employs ethnographic and social epidemiologic techniques to explore the multiple levels of influencing factors associated with health problems such as intimate partner violence, youth violence, low birth weight, and preterm delivery. She is also interested in the design, implementation, and evaluation of comprehensive interventions that address important women's health problems. Her work has been used to help develop a clinic-based, peer-advocate, intimate-partner, violence-intervention for women. Now in a position to expand her domestic urban health research into a global setting, Dr. Burke recently developed a women's health research agenda in Hyderabad, India.

http://www.bchs.pitt.edu/

http://www.cherp.research.va.gov/leadershipfaculty.asp

Health disparities research

1. Vaccine effectiveness research

2. Teen pregnancy prevention community project

3. Environment and contextual factors impacting asthma

4. Childhood obesity prevention in community

5. Biomarker signaling techniques

Contact: Dr. John Maier

FOCUS GROUP COURSE AT GSPH

CLRES 2400 Spring Course in Qualitative Research

Tuesdays 1-3pm Parkvale Building (1/10-2/28) Receive project-specific training in conducting and analyzing qualitative data.Course Objectives:• Design a qualitative research study. • Write an interview or focus group script.• Develop a qualitative codebook and code textual data.• Learn to use the qualitative software program Atlas.ti.• Apply intercoder reliability approaches to qualitative data.Questions? Contact: Susan Zickmund, PhD, Director, Qualitative Research Core, susan.zickmund@va.gov; 412-954-5259

http://www.ucsur.pitt.edu/survey_design.php

Student SP examples: Jaime Moore: “Documenting Financial Burden and

Identifying Barriers to Obtaining Financial Assistance Among Adult, English-Speaking Uninsured Patients at the Birmingham Free Clinic” Thematic analysis of patient interviews using ATLAS.ti

Will Bemben: “Translation of a Model Street Medicine Program for the Homeless in a Unique Setting: a Three Phased Approach” Literature review and interviews of key informants

Jane S. Tschang: “Effectiveness of Adolescent Anti-Smoking Health Education through Computerized Media Literacy Program” implementation and evaluation of the pilot program

using pre- and post 18-item validated smoking media literacy scale

Area of Concentrations Underserved Populations Global Health Public Health

February 2nd 12-1Dr. Michael Yonas

Introduction to community based participatory researchAnd the use of photovoice