A research team led by Dartmouth Health and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth has been approved for $2,108,902 in funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to study patient and public involvement (PPI) in research. The study aims to compare two methods of PPI in studies of pediatric mental health, cancer screening, and serious illness and the end-of-life.
The study is led by Catherine H. Saunders, PhD, MPH, a palliative medicine scientist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and an assistant professor of medicine and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel; along with JoAnna K. Leyenaar, MD, PhD, MPH, MSc, a pediatric hospital medicine specialist at Dartmouth Health Children’s, and professor of pediatrics and of The Dartmouth Institute at Geisel.
“We are excited about the potential of our project to generate meaningful evidence about the best ways to engage patients, care partners, clinicians and the public in research,” Saunders said. “We believe that PPI is not only the right thing to do, but enhances the validity and rigor of health services research. We look forward to building the evidence base so research teams can confidently select the right PPI approaches for their projects, topics and contexts.”
Leyenaar and Saunders’ team anticipate the study will show the effectiveness of PPI approaches, for the first time in a randomized control trial. Much has been learned in recent years about participatory research with patients, caregivers, clinicians, and others as partners in the research process. However, there has been little systematic study about which methods are most effective.
“I am so honored to be a caregiver partner in this important research to study different approaches to participatory qualitative research,” said Cathy Stevens, care partner co-investigator. “It’s vital to incorporate myriad, diverse partners in research in order to produce the most comprehensive and meaningful data. Through this project we will be learning more about the best ways to engage various partners in order to build engagement and trust. This information will be so valuable for future researchers.”
“This study was selected for PCORI funding for its potential to strengthen patient-centered and stakeholder-driven comparative clinical effectiveness research by providing evidence about specific engagement methods and measures that promote representative engagement of patients and other stakeholders in research,” said PCORI executive director Nakela L. Cook, MD, MPH. “We look forward to following the study’s progress and working with Dartmouth Health to share the results.”
Reported by Dartmouth Health NEWSROOM: https://www.dartmouth-health.org/about/news/article/dartmouth-health-geisel-school-medicine-research-team-awarded-21m-first-ever-trial-ways