Clinical Research Directory

SDOH-Homecare Intervention Focus Team (SHIFT) Trial to Improve Stroke Outcomes

Primary Goal: To test the hypothesis that among stroke patients 18-75 years with ≥3 SDOH risk factors, SHIFT will improve: (1) functional outcomes as measured by the SIS (Primary Outcome), (2) physiological outcomes as measured by changes in blood pressure and cognition, (secondary outcomes) and (3) epigenetic allostatic load biomarkers (exploratory outcome) such as DNA methylation (DNAm) and telomere length, at 6 months and 1-year post-stroke, compared with usual care (UC).

Health Equity and Rural Education (HERE!) Clinical Trial

The goal of this community-engaged research is two-fold. The first goal is to gather stakeholder feedback to inform a school-based community health worker intervention with youth with poor school attendance and an enhanced usual care condition. The second goal is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing the school-based community health worker intervention and enhanced usual care approach within rural schools. The main question it aims to answer is whether it is feasibile to recruit children with poor school attendance and their families to the intervention, to complete the trauma-informed intervention, and to complete the associated study measures of meeting social determinants of health/mental health needs, school-based health center utilization, and behavioral helath symptoms. At least 38 rural students in grades 6-12 with poor school attendance and their parents/guardians will meet with the school-based community health worker for support around social determinants of health needs that may be barriers to attendance. Researchers will also assess the feasibility of recruiting at least 10 rural students and their parents/guardians to complete the study measures in an enhanced usual care condition in which the school-based health center without a school-based community health worker is reminded of the availability of an online social services directory.

Food Access, Value, and Optimization of Resources

The main goal of the study is to examine the potential benefits of an educational workshop designed to help and support caregivers of children in families that struggle to get enough healthy food. The main questions are: * Does the FAVORes workshop impact household food and nutrition security? * Does the workshop change caregivers' knowledge, beliefs, and skills related to healthy food access? Participants will: * Attend four weekly in-person sessions (in English or Spanish) * Complete short surveys * Be interviewed after the workshop is completed (optional)

Evaluation of a Multi-Component Intervention to Support HIV Testing and Linkage to Services Among MSM in Peru

This study is testing a new program designed to improve access to HIV testing and help connect people with available treatment or prevention services, based on their test result. The version of the program being tested in this study was designed for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Lima, Peru. The program has two main parts: 1) offering HIV testing at venues where people go for sex (called "sex-on-premises venues" or SOPVs), and 2) a text messaging app that shares useful information about HIV treatment/prevention; users can also message back to get support from a healthcare worker. Before doing this study, the researchers worked with community members and healthcare providers in the area to make sure that the HIV testing approach and mobile app were designed in a way that would be engaging and meet their needs. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night during recruitment, the researchers will go to SOPVs popular among the MSM community in Lima and invite people to take an HIV test. On each recruitment date, they will offer one of the following HIV testing options: 1. A rapid HIV test done on-site (participants will get their result right away) 2. An HIV self-testing kit to take home 3. A coupon for a free HIV test at a participating health center 4. Their choice of any one of the previous three options Only one of these options will be offered at a time, depending on the date. The specific HIV testing option offered on each date will be randomly assigned. All participants will receive the mobile app, which will send weekly messages with links to different types of online content (infographics, maps, videos) over the next 3 months. The specific sequence of messages and content will be different depending on the type of HIV test the person received and their HIV test result, once it is known. The study will measure two main outcomes related to the acceptability and feasibility of the program: * The number and percentage of people who accept the program when offered * The number and percentage of participants who continue to engage with the mobile app after 3 months The study will also measure: * overall satisfaction with the app (based on a questionnaire sent at 3 months) * the number and percentage of participants who completed any form of HIV testing after 3 months * the number and percentage of participants who started HIV treatment (out of those with a positive HIV test) * the number and percentage of participants who started HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, or "PrEP" (out of those with a negative HIV test) All follow-up will be done remotely. Participants will have the app for 3 months. After 3 months, they will get a follow-up questionnaire asking about their experiences with the program. The researchers will keep tracking results related to the HIV treatment/prevention services that people receive for up to 6 months.

Addressing Social Determinants of Health in Child Obesity Treatment Using Community Health Workers

The goal of this small pilot study is to test the feasibility of combining a three-month intervention of working with a community health worker (CHW) to address social risk factors for patients prior to beginning a group weight management program for childhood obesity -- Promoting Health in Teens and Kids (PHIT Kids)

Social Risk Factors and Discrimination in Cancer Survivorship

The objective of the proposed study is to scale social risk factor screening and referral for cancer survivors and to solidify information exchange between clinical and community settings in order to improve survivor health and well-being. This will be completed through three primary aims: 1) To ascertain workflow and map community resources needed to facilitate social risk factor screening and referral for breast and prostate cancer survivors in Washington, District of Columbia. 2) To determine impact of Community Health Worker (CHW) support on Black breast and prostate cancer survivor health and wellbeing as measured through quality of life (QOL) and social connection. 3) To determine impact of anti-racism training for staff and clinicians at three cancer centers on patient-reported discrimination.

The SINCERE Intervention to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities

The goal of this real world efficacy study is to understand the benefit of universal social needs screening, community-based service referrals, and telephonic follow-up as a scalable strategy for preventing COVID-19 transmission, and for addressing the secondary health effects of the social, behavioral, and economic changes following the COVID-19 pandemic. With statewide community service providers, existing health information technology, and piloted methods, we seek to determine the effectiveness of universal social needs screening and community service referrals - the SINCERE intervention - in improving health outcomes of COVID-19 vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and whether intensive follow-up and collaborative goal-setting helps overcome barriers to community service use by patients seen in the emergency department and seeking COVID testing at community-based and mobile clinic locations.

Generation Victoria Cohort 2020s: A Statewide Longitudinal Cohort Study of Victorian Children and Their Parents

Generation Victoria (GenV) is a longitudinal, population-based study of Victorian children and their parents that will bring together data on a wide range of conditions ,exposures and outcomes. GenV blends study-collected, study-enhanced and linked data. It will be multi-purpose, supporting observational, interventional, health services and policy research within the same cohort. It is designed to address physical, mental and social issues experienced during childhood, as well as the antecedents of a wide range of diseases of ageing. It seeks to generate translatable evidence (prediction, prevention, treatments, services) to improve future wellbeing and reduce the future disease burden of children and adults. The GenV Cohort 2020s is open to all children born over a two-year period, and their parents, residing in the state of Victoria Australia. The GenV Cohort 2020s is preceded by an Advance Cohort of children born between 5 Dec 2020 and 3 October 2021, and their parents. This comprises all families recruited at GenV's Vanguard hospital (Joan Kirner Women's and Children's) and at birthing hospitals throughout Victoria as GenV scaled up to commence recruiting for the GenV Cohort 2020s. The Advance Cohort have ongoing and full participation in GenV for their lifetime unless they withdraw but may have less complete data and biosamples.

Teen Mom Study Feasibility Trial

The proposed multicomponent digital health intervention has the potential to significantly impact the trajectory of maternal health in a rural, pregnant, Black adolescent population with the highest risks for cardiometabolic diseases worldwide. The proposed implementation strategy leverages mobile technologies which are ubiquitous across the socioeconomic gradient and proposes to train young adult WIC moms to deliver peer health coaching in a telehealth setting to address social barriers and support behavior change in pregnant, Black adolescent WIC clients in the Mississippi Delta - a rural region where the population is more than two-thirds percent Black and the teen birth rate is the highest in the United States. This is a scalable and sustainable approach to enhance WIC services and improve WIC's impact on population health and cardiometabolic health disparities in Black women.

Well Baby, Well Family Study

BACKGROUND: The Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the Office of Military Community and Family Policy (MC\&FP) requested assistance in evaluating the effectiveness of a military pilot implementation of a civilian program designed to assist families with infants called HealthySteps (HS; HealthySteps National Office, 2018). HS is a unique pediatric primary care-based program that helps families identify and manage parenting challenges. The program interweaves the medical support of the pediatrician's office with the resources and services of a HS Specialist trained to help parents understand their infants' needs (e.g., feeding, behavior, sleep) and their role as caregivers. HS Specialists provide enhanced educational support and facilitate targeted referrals to other relevant DoD and civilian support resources. OBJECTIVE: The HS program has not been widely implemented or evaluated previously in a military context. However, a small 2-site pilot was initiated in 2017 by MC\&FP to assess the feasibility of offering the HS program in military treatment facilities (MTF). The Defense Health Agency (DHA) further determined that this pilot program could be expanded to fulfill a 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requirement for the implementation and evaluation of a pilot program to reduce risk factors for child abuse and neglect within the U.S. military community. APPROACH: This outcome evaluation study entailed a review of medical records for families enrolled in the HS pilot as well as the collection of prospective survey data. Survey data collected from primary caregivers enrolled in HS at seven implementation locations throughout the U.S. is being compared with survey data collected from caregivers of newborns seeking care at control locations offering pediatric treatment as usual. VALUE: The HS program is expected to improve parental engagement in well-baby care, increase targeted screenings and referrals, improve parental efficacy and knowledge, as well as facilitate integration and utilization of existing family services available across disparate military support settings. It also is expected to increase military service satisfaction and perceived support among military parents. Summary reports of study results will be provided to MC\&FP, DHA, and Congress. RESEARCH COLLABORATORS: NHRC is a Department of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery research command located in San Diego, California. Abt Global is a leading civilian professional research corporation with extensive experience in military health research. Investigators from these two institutions are collaborating to conduct this outcome evaluation. STUDY POPULATION: Participating pilot program clinics included 7 military pediatric clinic locations selected by DHA and serving personnel and their families from all U.S. military service branches. All families with children aged 0-4 months seeking well-baby care at participating MTF pilot pediatric clinics were eligible for HS program services and for study recruitment. Additionally, beneficiaries similarly seeking care for a newborn at 11 MTF pediatric clinics providing treatment as usual were eligible for the comparison condition. Medical records for this population were reviewed and prospective survey evaluation data were collected and merged together for ongoing analysis and reporting.

NASCITA Italian Birth Cohort Study

The NASCITA study (NAscere e creSCere in ITAlia) was created to improve the understanding of the health status of Italian children early on and how it is affected by social and health determinants. The study will evaluate physical, cognitive, and psychological development, and health status and health resource use during the first six years of life in a group of newborns, as well as potential associated factors. The association between the well-being of children and parental adherence to the recommendations for better child care and development will also be assessed. Information on the children will be collected by paediatricians mostly during routine visits. The findings will be used in the development of specific prevention measures and interventions to improve the health of children, in particular more vulnerable ones.

DEDICATE: aDvancing carE Management aDoption In Community heAlTh cEnters

DEDICATE will refine and test the effectiveness of evidence-based implementation support strategies designed to support care management teams' sustained use of electronic health record (EHR)-based functionalities to address unmet social needs through improved clinical-community linkages. This study will test the hypothesis that providing implementation support to health center care management teams will lead to increased adoption of EHR functionalities and increased social needs screenings and referrals to community organization to address unmet social needs through a cluster-randomized trial. This study's results will have implications for patients with social needs receiving care management in primary care settings.