Building Meaningful Patient Engagement in Research: Case Study From ADVANCE Clinical Data Research Network.

Background: Strategies to engage patients to improve and enhance research and clinical care are increasingly being implemented in the United States, yet little is known about best practices for or the impacts of meaningful patient engagement.

Objective: We describe and reflect on our patient stakeholder groups, engagement framework, experiences, and lessons learned in engaging patients in research, from generating proposal ideas to disseminating findings.

Setting: The ADVANCE (Accelerating Data Value Across a National Community Health Center Network) clinical data research network is the nation's largest clinical dataset on the safety net, with outpatient clinical data from 122 health systems (1109 clinics) in 23 states.

The ADVANCE network: accelerating data value across a national community health center network.

The ADVANCE (Accelerating Data Value Across a National Community Health Center Network) clinical data research network (CDRN) is led by the OCHIN Community Health Information Network in partnership with Health Choice Network and Fenway Health. The ADVANCE CDRN will 'horizontally' integrate outpatient electronic health record data for over one million federally qualified health center patients, and 'vertically' integrate hospital, health plan, and community data for these patients, often under-represented in research studies. Patient investigators, community investigators, and academic investigators with diverse expertise will work together to meet project goals related to data integration, patient engagement and recruitment, and the development of streamlined regulatory policies.

Behavioral counseling to prevent sexually transmitted infections: a systematic review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

Background: Despite advances in prevention and treatment, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.

Purpose: To systematically review the evidence for behavioral counseling interventions to prevent STIs in adolescents and adults (nonpregnant and pregnant).

Data Sources: English-language articles in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Prevention Synthesis Research Project database, and Cochrane databases (1988 through December 2007), supplemented with expert recommendations and the bibliographies of previous systematic reviews.

Randomized trial of a whole-system ayurvedic protocol for type 2 diabetes.

Context: Though complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments are popular, evidence to support their application to diabetes care is scarce. Previous CAM diabetes research has generally focused on single modalities, but CAM practitioners more commonly prescribe complex, multimodality interventions.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine the feasibility and clinical impact of a whole-system, Ayurvedic intervention for newly diagnosed people with type 2 diabetes.

The circadian basis of winter depression.

The following test of the circadian phase-shift hypothesis for patients with winter depression (seasonal affective disorder, or SAD) uses low-dose melatonin administration in the morning or afternoon/evening to induce phase delays or phase advances, respectively, without causing sleepiness. Correlations between depression ratings and circadian phase revealed a therapeutic window for optimal alignment of circadian rhythms that also appears to be useful for phase-typing SAD patients for the purpose of administering treatment at the correct time. These analyses also provide estimates of the circadian component of SAD that may apply to the antidepressant mechanism of action of appropriately timed bright light exposure, the treatment of choice.

The Oregon Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine career development program: innovation in research training for complementary and alternative medicine.

Background: The burgeoning use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) highlights the need for high-quality research to discriminate between those approaches based on positive anecdotes or polished marketing and those that are consistently effective and safe.

Description: To help meet this need, the Oregon Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has developed an innovative program to train researchers. The training program includes an individual mentoring and training plan, group mentoring, a clinical research class, proposal development, completion of an actual study, and journal club participation.