The PROMISE Study

Patient-Centered Online Training in Methods and Design to advance Home Visiting Research

Many home visiting programs employ health workers who may have limited professional training in research, which can impact their ability to collaborate in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR). This project brings together a group of stakeholders, including home visitors and program managers, home visiting researchers and research participants, to develop an online training for home visitors. Our long-term goal is to increase the capacity of home visitors to engage in home visiting research in order to generate information and resources that are useful and effective in meeting the needs of the communities and families they serve.

This project has three specific aims:

  1. Create an online training for home visitors on research design and methods, as well as patient-centered outcomes research approaches.
  2. Pilot test the online training with a small number of home visitors (n=6) to obtain feedback on content, user-friendliness, and aesthetic appeal of the training material. We will then analyze and incorporate feedback from our pilot study participants, our advisory board, and our research team,
  3. Implement the revised training with multiple home visiting programs and conduct an evaluation with 40 home visiting staff who complete the training.

Darius Tandon, at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine shares the work of his Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award, The PROMISE Study, which is developing a training for lay home visitors to increase their capacity to be research partners on patient-centered outcomes research projects like his own.