Research and Methods Core

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT (RESEARCH AND METHODS CORE) The objective of the Research and Methods Core of the University of Pennsylvania Telehealth Research Center in Cancer Care (Penn TRC) is to advance the research program of the Center through the design and testing of innovative telehealth strategies to improve effectiveness and equity across the cancer care continuum. The Research and Methods Core will develop new methodological approaches using insights from communication science and behavioral economics and employ innovative mixed methods and rapid-cycle approaches to advance the evidence base for optimal telehealth care delivery. The Research and Methods Core will address three major questions: 1) How can we employ insights from communication science and behavioral economics to effectively integrate high-quality telehealth into cancer care delivery?; 2) How can we understand mechanisms of successful telehealth care delivery using multilevel, mixed methods approaches to allow for refinement and more precise application of successful interventions in future projects within and beyond our health care system?; and 3) How can we integrate health equity into our Center’s research, with respect to frameworks, intervention design, monitoring, methods, and measures, to ensure that telehealth reduces, rather than exacerbates, persistent health and digital inequities? The specific aims of the Research and Methods Core are to: 1) Apply insights and innovations from communication science, behavioral economics, rapid-cycle approaches, and statistical methods to design and test synchronous telehealth strategies, supported by asynchronous elements, to improve the effectiveness and equity of cancer care; 2) Employ advanced mixed methods approaches to elucidate the multilevel individual and contextual mechanisms that contribute to the effectiveness of telehealth strategies; 3) Design, conduct, and evaluate findings from a pragmatic trial and two pilot projects to compare the effectiveness of synchronous telehealth strategies to improve lung cancer care; and 4) Support widespread communication and dissemination of results to diverse stakeholders to advance integration of optimal telehealth care delivery nationally and to evaluate comprehensively the Center’s research progress and success of dissemination and implementation activities. Achieving the Research and Methods Core aims will be central to ensuring the Penn TRC achieves its goal of producing new fundamental knowledge on telehealth with the potential to transform cancer care delivery, equity, and outcomes for millions of Americans.