CENTER FOR IMPROVEMENT SCIENCE

Collaboration and team science (Cats)

The mission of the Center for Improvement Science program in Collaboration and Team Science (CaTS) is to facilitate interprofessional collaborations through networking, team science education, and consultation in which all participants find deep mutual benefit.

We drive the advancement of multidisciplinary collaboration and networking, promote the use of team science principles, and consult with translational and interprofessional investigators and other innovators to help them navigate the many resources that are available throughout the CCTST partner institutions. For more information, contact hildrele@uc.edu

The Collaboration Network Presents:

A Roundtable on Mental Health: Tackling Behavioral Health Equity and Access to Care

The TCN Roundtable on Mental Health: Tackling Behavioral Health Equity and Access to Care was held on
Thursday, October 19, 9-11 AM via Zoom

go to video archive: www.cctst.org/programs/cis/collaboration-network/tcn-spotlight

PROGRAM: 

• 9:00-9:10 - WELCOME and  INTRODUCTIONS (Moderator, Jack Kues, PhD)  

• 9:10-9:40 - Kate Schroder, M.B.A., President and CEO, Interact for Health will address equity in mental and behavioral health care) 

• 9:40-10:10 - Meredith Poynter, Southwest Hub Director, Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition will speak on the lack of behavioral health workforce & access to care in Greater Cincinnati.

• 10:10-10:40 - Lori Criss, M.S.W., Director, Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services will present the scope of the mental health system in OH

OUR RESEARCH

Creating Practical Team Science Education for Clinical Research Professionals (CRP): Tailoring Training to Specific Translational Science Team Roles.  - Poster presented by Angela Mendell, MS, CCRP, at the International Network for the Science of Team Science Conference, Bethesda, MD, July 2023

Angela Mendell, MS, CCRP; Elizabeth J. Kopras, Stephanie Schuckman, MA, CLC, IDI-QA; Laura Hildreth, MS; Jason T Blackard, PhD; Jennifer Molano, MD; John R. Kues, PhD

ABSTRACT

Clinical and translational science teams are often comprised of members from diverse disciplines that fill distinct yet complementary roles. Team science education and training is typically directed toward investigators and trainees on these teams. However, all team members would benefit from robust team science training.  Expanding team science training to the entire team, including staff, could create a more cohesive team as well as a more inclusive environment. 

Our team has created team science and communication training specifically tailored to clinical research professionals (CRP), who are an integral part of clinical research teams. Until recently, the importance of well-trained CRPs to clinical research has been overlooked. However, very high turnover rates and recruitment and retention challenges have highlighted the value of better training, career development opportunities, and greater levels of job satisfaction among individuals in these roles. Core competencies for CRPs have been recognized for a decade (Sonstein et al, 2014).  Communication and teamwork are a couple of the more critical areas of training that are essential for the roles that CRPs play in the clinical trials enterprise, but it is often given less attention than the many technical skills they must master. Team science training created with CRPs in mind can help CRPs better understand other team members, to work better in teams, and even to improve interactions with participants. This, in turn, may promote a feeling of inclusion and could encourage retention and help mitigate turnover. 

The Use of Team Science Assessment Tools to Enhance Knowledge and Skills Acquisition in a Graduate-Level Team Science Course - Poster presented by John R. Kues, PhD, at the International Network for the Science of Team Science Conference, Bethesda, MD, July 2023

John R. Kues, PhD; Angela Mendell, MS, CCRP; Laura Hildreth, MS; Stephanie Schuckman, MA, CLC, IDI-QA; Jennifer Molano, MD; Megan Johnstone, PhD; Jackie Knapke, PhD; MK Lamkin, PhD

ABSTRACT

The University of Cincinnati Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training offers a semester-long graduate course in collaboration and team science. For the past 6 years, junior faculty, fellows, post-docs, graduate students, and K scholars have enrolled in this course to further their development as translational researchers primarily in the College of Medicine. The course is limited to 12-15 students and balances team science theory with practical application. Content closely parallels the national discussion around team science competencies and has evolved as competency-based models for team science education have been published. The 14-week course covers topics critical to collaboration within interdisciplinary teams. Students complete personal and team assessments as pre-work for these topics.  Pre-work assessments are valuable educational tools that provide students with important insights into not only issues that are relevant to work teams, but also their own personal skills and preferences. We report the pre-work assessment scores (in aggregate) during class to personalize general concepts. These assessments raise the general level of engagement by students. Students report that this method provides them with insights into their own attitudes and behaviors as well as those of team members. Class exercises utilize the concepts at the foundation of these tools (and, sometimes, real data from the class) to demonstrate practical applications of the tools. These tools are usually available in the public domain and have been validated. Course evaluations underscore the value of the assessment tools in the students’ understanding and practical application of topics covered in the course.  

This poster will provide an overview of the graduate course and the specific tools currently being used as pre-work. It will also illustrate the links between the course topics, assessment tools, and current competencies for team science training. Space permitting, the poster will contain some course evaluation data as well as details about at least one tool and its use within the related course session. 

A COMMUNITY BASED APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING & IMPROVING ADHERENCE TO CDC COVID-19 GUIDELINES

A Community Based Approach to Understanding & Improving Adherence to CDC COVID-19 Guidelines is one of eight projects funded by the C5G Program. The CCTST COVID-19 Critical Community Challenge Grant (C5G) Program was developed to provide opportunities for investigators from the University of Cincinnati (UC), Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and the Greater Cincinnati community to develop and implement proposals that would have a direct impact on COVID-19 in the Greater Cincinnati community of 14 counties in Southwest Ohio. 

The project is headed by co-investigators Jack Kues, Ph.D., and Melinda Butsch-Kovacic, Ph.D., and is funded by the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

A brief summary of the project:

• Mask-wearing and social distancing are at rates less than 50% despite wide-spread requests and calls by community leaders and public health officials. It is imperative to better understand behavior and underlying motivation in order to design meaningful messaging in this area.

• We are conducting a broad-based community survey, as well as focus groups and personal interviews with respondents to better understand current behavior and motivation.

The results of our study will serve as a foundation for developing new messaging and to help overcome current barriers to increasing mask-wearing and social distancing behavior that does not overtly challenge underlying beliefs or fears.

More information about the project, including study results, are available on the project website for A Community Based Approach to Understanding & Improving Adherence to CDC COVID-19 Guidelines, and more information about all 8 of the CCTST C5G projects is available on the CCTST COVID-19 website.

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Team

Angela Mendell, MS, CCRP

Program Manager, Center for Improvement Science
University of Cincinnati
Email: angela.mendell@uc.edu