Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group (PCRC): Data, Informatics and Statistics Core

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The primary goals of the U2C application are to increase the productivity and impact of the Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group (PCRC) through facilitating the conduct of high-quality, effective clinical research and expanding the number and expertise of palliative care researchers in conducting multi-site clinical trials. In pursuit of these overall goals and objectives, the Data, Informatics and Statistics Core (DISC), one of four Cores within the PCRC, strives to serve as a resource for the design of statistical analysis plans for multi-site clinical trials and to provide quantitative and/or qualitative biostatistical support to the majority of multi-site clinical trials and data-analysis projects using PCRC resources. The DISC's specific aims are: (1) to facilitate collaborative, rigorous, multi-site, EOLPC research studies by providing resources pertinent to the design and analysis of all stages of research ranging from formative to clinical trials; (2) to expand the PCRC Data Repository, a warehouse of both qualitative and quantitative data from PCRC funded and supported studies and other EOLPC research studies, to facilitate secondary data analyses; (3) to collaborate with the other PCRC Cores (Measurement; Caregiver Research; and Clinical Studies/Methodology) and Centers to accomplish the overall Specific Aims of the PCRC and the Core and Center specific aims; and (4) to work with the Investigator Development Center (IDC) to educate and mentor PCRC investigators in statistical methods and study design. Rigorous palliative care research cannot exist without a solid statistical foundation. The DISC undertakes diverse set of tasks that are both topically-specific to the mission of the Core and interrelate and integrate with the other PCRC Centers and Cores. The DISC serves as a catalyst to expand the capacity of the PCRC to better quantify and understand the impact of serious illness and treatments on the health, quality of life, and end-of-life trajectory of patients and caregivers through rigorous study design, conduct and data capture/analysis.