AHRQ Multi-Disciplinary Doctoral Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): The goal of this doctoral health services research program is to continue training health services researchers committed to studying the most pressing problems associated with the ever-evolving health care environment. The proposed program will train 15 doctoral students: five per year for three years. The Heller School of Social Policy and Management focuses on an application of social science to social issues. This integrated, multidisciplinary doctoral program is composed of mature students who already have advanced degrees and significant experiences in human services and research careers. Approximately 62 percent of the fellows are women and 25 percent are minorities. This combination of experience and diversity of backgrounds creates a student body knowledgeable about current social issues and committed to careers in human service research. The Heller AHRQ doctoral training program has a number of educational goals that function at the intersection of three domains: theory, applied research, and health policy. The education program allows fellows to understand the connection between health policy and its social content, health organizations and their processes, and the resulting health outcomes. AHRQ fellows are involved in the research from the very beginning of their training. Early hands-on research experience, combined with a rigorous multidisciplinary education and an intensive discipline-based mentoring process, characterizes the Heller AHRQ training approach. Perhaps the most important aspect of the Heller AHRQ training approach is providing fellows with the skills and consciousness needed to identify problems and work toward effective solutions in this era of significant, far-reaching health care system change. We are training researchers comfortable with action-based research using sound methodological approaches. The AHRQ doctoral training program's accomplishments include: 1) High success rate--two-thirds of students who began the program in 1995 have received their Ph.D.; 2) time of completion--trainees who began the program in 1995 have an average completion rate of five years; and 3) active trainees and graduates-more than 80 publications in health services research journal, participation in policy and delivery system modification.