Suchergebnisse

Purpose: The field of social work is evolving toward community-engaged, stakeholder-driven research in the context of evidence-based practice (EBP) and practice-based evidence (PBE). Methods: We propose that practice-based research networks (PBRNs) are an approach to conducting stakeholder-driven research that can be uniquely valuable for the field of social work. Results: We define the concept of a PBRN and demonstrate how it can address the development of complementary agendas for service improvement, social work science, policy development and advocacy, as well as highlight the challenges and benefits of participating in a PBRN. We provide details of our experiences with a mental health–based PBRN in Los Angeles County, the Recovery-Oriented Care Collaborative, to illustrate the processes outlined and inform our recommendations. Conclusions: PBRNs are an important form of community-based participatory research, which can help the field of social work with reconciling EBPs and PBE to improve service delivery.

<p class="Pa7"><strong>Introduction: </strong>Retention of racial/ethnic minority groups into research trials is neces­sary to fully understand and address health disparities. This study was conducted to identify participants' characteristics associ­ated with retention of African Americans (AAs) in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a behavioral intervention.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Methods: </strong>Using data from an RCT con­ducted from 2009 to 2012 among AAs, participant-level factors were examined for associations with retention between three measurement points (ie, baseline, 3-month, and 12-month). Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare retained participants to those who were not retained in order to identify important predictors of retention.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Results: </strong>About 57% of participants (n=238) were retained at 12 months. Baseline char­acteristics that showed a statistically signifi­cant association with retention status were age, marital status, body mass index (BMI), intervention group, enrollment of a partner in the study, and perceived stress score (PSS). Multivariable logistic regression that adjusted for age, BMI, and PSS showed the odds of being retained among participants who enrolled with a partner was 2.95 (95% CI: 1.87-4.65) compared with participants who had no study partner enrolled. The odds of being retained among participants who were obese and morbidly obese were .32 and .27 (95% CI: .14-.74 and .11-.69), respectively, compared with participants who had normal weight.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Having a partner enrolled in behavioral interventions may improve retention of study participants. Researchers also need to be cognizant of participants' obesity status and potentially target reten­tion efforts toward these individuals. <em></em></p><p><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2017;27(3):265-272; doi:10.18865/ed.27.3.265.</p><strong></strong>