Supporting researchers through full-service hotline and consultation services: Success in simplicity, customization, and staffing.

Navigating the research domain at an academic medical center can be challenging, even for seasoned investigators. To address this, Duke University launched two initiatives: (1) a research navigation "hotline" to provide brief assistance with a variety of research questions; and (2) researcher onboarding and consultation, a one-to-one tailored offering to ensure that researchers are equipped to navigate research resources and processes effectively. The services are provided by the myRESEARCHnavigators (MRN) team, funded by Duke's CTSA.

Leveling the Joint Task Force Core Competencies for Clinical Research Professionals.

Competency standards for clinical research professionals are being developed across the enterprise, based largely on the Core Competency Framework put forth by the Joint Task Force for Clinical Trial Competency (JTF). In late 2016, representatives from organizations around the world convened at a workshop hosted by the Multi-Regional Clinical Trial Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard (MRCT Center) to discuss their use of the standards. A number of modifications were suggested that resulted in the publication of JTF Framework 2.

Application of the Intervention Mapping protocol to develop Keys, a family child care home intervention to prevent early childhood obesity.

Background: Many families rely on child care outside the home, making these settings important influences on child development. Nearly 1.5 million children in the U.

Worksite medical home: health services use and claim costs.

Objectives: To examine the relationship among use of an on-site employer-provided primary care medical home, and health services use and health plan costs for inpatient and outpatient services and pharmaceuticals.

Study Design: The study was a retrospective observational analysis of health plan claims, human resources data, and Health Care Center (HCC) encounters.

Methods: Three years of data for employees and dependents designating the HCC as their primary care provider (HCC major users) were compared with data from 2 comparison groups: "casual" HCC users and HCC nonusers.

A community-based intervention increases physical activity and reduces obesity in school-age children in North Carolina.

Background: Community-based interventions are promising approaches to obesity prevention, but few studies have prospectively evaluated them. The aim of this study was to evaluate a natural experiment—a community intervention designed to promote active living and decrease obesity within a small southern town.

Methods: In 2011, community leaders implemented the Mebane on the Move intervention—a community-wide effort to promote physical activity (PA) and decrease obesity among residents of Mebane, North Carolina.

Associations between BMI and home, school and route environmental exposures estimated using GPS and GIS: do we see evidence of selective daily mobility bias in children?

Background: This study examined whether objective measures of food, physical activity and built environment exposures, in home and non-home settings, contribute to children's body weight. Further, comparing GPS and GIS measures of environmental exposures along routes to and from school, we tested for evidence of selective daily mobility bias when using GPS data.

Methods: This study is a cross-sectional analysis, using objective assessments of body weight in relation to multiple environmental exposures.

The keys to healthy family child care homes intervention: study design and rationale.

Background: Obesity is a major public health problem for which early preventive interventions are needed. Large numbers of young children are enrolled in some form of child care program, making these facilities influential environments in children's development. Family child care homes (FCCH) are a specific type of child care in which children are cared for within the provider's own residence.

Physical activity-related and weather-related practices of child care centers from 2 states.

Background: Young children's physical activity (PA) is influenced by their child care environment. This study assessed PA practices in centers from Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI), compared them to best practice recommendations, and assessed differences between states and center profit status. We also assessed weather-related practices.

Watch me grow: a garden-based pilot intervention to increase vegetable and fruit intake in preschoolers.

Background: Americans, including children, consume fewer fruit and vegetable servings than is recommended. Given that young children spend large amounts of time in child care centers, this may be an ideal venue for increasing consumption of and enthusiasm for fruits and vegetables. This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility of a gardening intervention to promote vegetable and fruit intake among preschoolers.

Postpartum physical activity in overweight and obese women.

Background: Low physical activity (PA) during the postpartum period is associated with weight retention. While patterns of PA have been examined in normal weight women during this period, little is known about PA among overweight and obese women. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate PA and determine the proportion of women meeting recommendations for PA.

Multiparity is associated with high motivation to change diet among overweight and obese postpartum women.

Background: Pregnancy is associated with weight gain and obesity. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of parity and other factors on motivation to change diet to lose weight in a cohort of overweight and obese postpartum women.

Study Design: Active Mothers Postpartum is a randomized, controlled trial aimed at postpartum weight reduction.

Primary care physicians' discussions of weight-related topics with overweight and obese adolescents: results from the Teen CHAT Pilot study.

Physicians should counsel overweight adolescents about nutrition and exercise. We audio recorded 30 physician-adolescent encounters. Female, older, normal-weight physicians and pediatricians were more Motivational Interviewing (MI) adherent.

Adherence to nicotine replacement therapy among pregnant smokers.

Introduction: This secondary analysis examined the association between adherence to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and smoking cessation among pregnant smokers enrolled in Baby Steps, an open-label randomized controlled trial testing cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) versus CBT plus NRT.

Method: The analysis included only women who received NRT for whom we had complete data (N = 104). Data came from daily calendars created from recordings of counseling sessions and from telephone surveys at baseline and 38 weeks gestation.

Challenges and solutions for recruiting pregnant smokers into a nicotine replacement therapy trial.

Improvements in smoking cessation interventions for pregnant smokers are needed. One major step is to examine the potential effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The potential benefits of providing pregnant women with NRT to help them quit smoking are still unknown; early interventions to test the effectiveness and efficacy are vital to advancing the field.

Effects of disordered eating and obesity on weight, craving, and food intake during ad libitum smoking and abstinence.

Although there is empirical support for the association between smoking, disordered eating, and subsequent weight gain upon smoking cessation, there have been no prospective studies to track changes in eating patterns during smoking abstinence and explore underlying biobehavioral processes. To help fill these gaps, we recruited four groups of women (N=48, 12/group) based on presence vs. absence of obesity and on low vs.

Depression, smoking abstinence and HPA function in women smokers.

To determine whether smokers with a history of depression are differentially susceptible to smoking withdrawal, depressed mood induction and/or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation during smoking abstinence, 24 women smokers with and without such a history were studied. During one 5-day interval, participants smoked ad libitum; during a second they abstained. On day 4, the participants were exposed to the Velten mood induction procedure (VMIP).

Weight and smoking cessation among low-income African Americans.

Background: Concerns about weight gain have been a commonly cited barrier to cessation among white, affluent, female populations, but less is known about this relationship among minority smokers and those with low incomes. Although smoking cessation is strongly encouraged for this population, it often leads to weight gain. Cultural differences in weight standards and the high prevalence of weight-related health conditions (e.

Prolonged nicotine patch use in quitters with past abstinence-induced depressed mood.

To test the efficacy of sustained nicotine patch use among at-risk smokers, 55 smokers with a history of abstinence-induced depressed mood were randomly assigned to either Nicotine Maintenance or Standard Treatment following preliminary high-dose patch treatment. The Nicotine Maintenance group received 21 mg transdermal nicotine for 8 additional weeks; the Standard Treatment group followed a tapered dosing regimen. Significant differences favoring the Nicotine Maintenance group were found in self-reported craving but not withdrawal.