PCORI launches training tool to help people partner with health researchers

WASHINGTON, DC — The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has launched Research Fundamentals, a free online training to help people interested in contributing to health research.

Research Fundamentals is designed to guide patients, caregivers and other interested stakeholders as they learn about the research process, gain a better understanding of patient-centered research and build confidence to partner with researchers. This easy-to-use learning and training package helps people gain familiarity with the research process, which can increase the number and diversity of those participating in research.

“Right now, there is tremendous interest in clinical trials and how they’re conducted. A tool to build understanding about how research is done will help remove a significant hurdle for people who want to contribute to and help drive research,” said Jean R. Slutsky, PA, MSPH, Chief Engagement and Dissemination Officer. “PCORI developed this training to enable people and communities to share their expertise and experience guiding researchers to address what matters most to patients and those who care for them.”

The training contains easy-to-follow modules that cover topics such as “Developing Research Questions,” “Sampling, Recruiting, and Retaining Study Participants,” and “Understanding and Sharing Research Findings.” It also includes a navigator tool that allows people to explore each module and build an individual learning plan.

This new PCORI training tool also supports researchers working with communities and individuals to collaborate and partner on health research design, improve research conduct and achieve more meaningful research goals. “As a patient partner who joined a research team five years ago, these tools would have been so helpful to me and our stakeholders. I wish I had had them to help me,” added Jen Lavoie, patient partner and investigator for a PCORI-funded project at the University of Vermont. “They really make complicated concepts easy to understand and relevant to the people who depend on the results of research for their decision making.“

The Research Fundamentals tool is available for free on PCORI’s website. It provides the flexibility to access the content on demand. In addition to five modules that cover the stages of the research process, it also includes an interactive PDF that introduces the user to patient-centered outcomes research and how it differs from traditional research, and a video-based module that that features patients, clinicians and members of the PCORI healthcare community describing engagement in stakeholder-driven research. The navigator allows the user to explore the materials contained in the training to help decide what might be most useful.