Collaborative Research With Community-Based Healthcare Providers: Co-Presented Learnings From Pilot Studies

TL;DR

This paper discusses lessons learned from pilot studies in community-based healthcare research collaborations.

Contribution

The paper presents new insights and tools for conducting community-engaged research in long-term care settings.

Findings

Collaborative processes for project prioritization and outcome selection were developed.

Barriers to conducting pilot studies in specific sites and populations were identified.

Tools and lessons from both successes and failures in community-based research were shared.

Abstract

This symposium highlights five community-engaged research projects conducted by the Brown University Center for Long Term Care Quality and Innovation (Q&I). Each symposium will be co-led by a community partner and a Q&I Center researcher. In each presentation, we will describe the processes for project prioritization, collaborative outcome selection, data acquisition, co-interpretation of key findings, and recruitment and consent decisions. We will also describe site- and population-specific barriers to conducting pilot studies. Community partners include: Meridian Senior Living, which owns and operates over 50 assisted living communities (ALCs) across 21 states; Bluestone Physician Services, which provides chronic disease management to over 15,000 patients at approximately 575 ALCs in three states (Florida, Minnesota, and Wisconsin); CareLink, a Rhode Island-based healthcare network providing high-quality, evidence-based care for over 5,000 older adults each year; and PACE RI, a health plan which has provided care to over 2,000 nursing home eligible, community-dwelling adults in RI, with the goal of maintaining independence. We will transparently discuss our failures and successes and share tools that may be helpful to participants conducting community-engaged research.