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Stevens ER, Cleland CM, Shunk A, El Shahawy O. Evaluating strategies to recruit health researchers to participate in online survey research. BMC Med Res Methodol 2024; 24:153. [PMID: 39026149 PMCID: PMC11256559 DOI: 10.1186/s12874-024-02275-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 07/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Engaging researchers as research subjects is key to informing the development of effective and relevant research practices. It is important to understand how best to engage researchers as research subjects. METHODS A 24 factorial experiment, as part of a Multiphase Optimization Strategy, was performed to evaluate effects of four recruitment strategy components on participant opening of an emailed survey link and survey completion. Participants were members of three US-based national health research consortia. A stratified simple random sample was used to assign potential survey participants to one of 16 recruitment scenarios. Recruitment strategy components were intended to address both intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation, including: $50 gift, $1,000 raffle, altruistic messaging, and egoistic messaging. Multivariable generalized linear regression analyses adjusting for consortium estimated component effects on outcomes. Potential interactions among components were tested. Results are reported as adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS Surveys were collected from June to December 2023. A total of 418 participants were included from the consortia, with final analytical sample of 400 eligible participants. Out of the final sample, 82% (341) opened the survey link and 35% (147) completed the survey. Altruistic messaging increased the odds of opening the survey (aOR 2.02, 95% CI: 1.35-2.69, p = 0.033), while egoistic messaging significantly reduced the odds of opening the survey (aOR 0.56, 95%CI 0.38-0.75, p = 0.08). The receipt of egoistic messaging increased the odds of completing the survey once opened (aOR 1.81, 95%CI: 1.39-2.23, p < 0.05). There was a significant negative interaction effect between the altruistic appeal and egoistic messaging strategies for survey completion outcome. Monetary incentives did not a have a significant impact on survey completion. CONCLUSION Intrinsic motivation is likely to be a greater driver of health researcher participation in survey research than extrinsic motivation. Altruistic and egoistic messaging may differentially impact initial interest and survey completion and when combined may lead to improved rates of recruitment, but not survey completion. Further research is needed to determine how to best optimize message content and whether the effects observed are modified by survey burden.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth R Stevens
- Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Charles M Cleland
- Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Amelia Shunk
- Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Omar El Shahawy
- Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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Stevens ER, Laynor G. Enhancing the quality and efficiency of regulatory science literature reviews through innovation and collaboration with library and information science experts. Front Med (Lausanne) 2024; 11:1434427. [PMID: 39021816 PMCID: PMC11251899 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1434427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth R. Stevens
- Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States
| | - Gregory Laynor
- Health Sciences Library, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States
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Laynor G, Stevens ER. Identifying meta-research with researchers as study subjects: Protocol for a scoping review. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0303905. [PMID: 38768101 PMCID: PMC11104640 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Meta-research in which researchers are the study subjects can illuminate how to better support researchers and enhance the development of research capacity. Comprehensively compiling the literature in this area can help define best practices for research capacity development and reveal gaps in the literature. However, there are challenges to assessing and synthesizing the breadth of the meta-research literature produced. METHODS In this article, we discuss the current barriers to conducting literature reviews on meta-research and strategies to address these barriers. We then outline proposed methods for conducting a scoping review on meta-research with researchers as study subjects. DISCUSSION Due to its interdisciplinary nature, broad scope, and difficult to pinpoint terminology, little is known about the state of meta-research with researchers as the study subjects. For this reason, there is a need for a scoping review that will identify research performed in which researchers were the study subjects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory Laynor
- NYU Health Sciences Library, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth R. Stevens
- Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States of America
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Urionagüena A, Piquer-Martinez C, Benrimoj SI, Calvo B, Garcia-Cardenas V, Gastelurrutia MA, Martinez-Martinez F, Fernandez-Llimos F. Mapping the concept of health care integration: A lexicographic analysis of scientific literature. Res Social Adm Pharm 2024; 20:506-511. [PMID: 38336512 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2024.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Systems fragmentation is a major challenge for an efficient organization, integration being a potential solution also proposed in health care field, including pharmacy as a player. However, the use of different terms and definitions in the literature hinders the comparison of different integration initiatives. OBJECTIVE To identify and map the terms used in scientific literature regarding integration in health care and to characterize each emerging topic. METHODS A lexicographic analysis of the integration of healthcare systems literature indexed in PubMed was conducted. Ten different systematic searches, four using only Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and six using text words, were conducted in March 2023. Journal scattering was analyzed following Bradford's distribution using the Leimkuhler model. An overall text corpus was created with titles and abstracts of all the records retrieved. The corpus was lemmatized, and the most used bigrams were tokenized as single strings. To perform a topic modeling, the lemmatized corpus text was analyzed using IRaMuTeQ, producing descending hierarchic classification and a correspondence analysis. The 50 words with higher chi-square statistics in each class were considered as representative of the class. RESULTS A total of 42,479 articles published from 1943 to 2023 in 4469 different journals were retrieved. The MeSH "Delivery of Health Care, Integrated", created in the 1996 MeSH update, was the most productive retrieving 33.7 % of the total articles but also retrieving 22.6 % of articles not retrieved in any other search. The text word "Integration" appeared in 15,357 (36.2 %) records. The lexicographic analysis resulted in 7 classes, named as: Evidence and implementation, Quantitative research, Professional education, Qualitative research, Governance and leadership, Clinical research, and Financial resources. Association between the classes and the searches or the text-words used ranged from moderate to weak demonstrating the lack of a standard pattern of use of terms in literature regarding healthcare integration. CONCLUSIONS The term "integration" and the MeSH "Delivery of Health Care, Integrated" are the most used to represent the concept of integration in healthcare and should be the preferred terms in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amaia Urionagüena
- Pharmacy Practice Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
| | | | | | - Begoña Calvo
- Pharmacy Practice Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
| | - Victoria Garcia-Cardenas
- Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology Department, Social and Legal Pharmacy Section, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
| | - Miguel Angel Gastelurrutia
- Pharmacy Practice Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Pharmaceutical Care Research Group, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
| | | | - Fernando Fernandez-Llimos
- Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit (UCIBIO), Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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Janke KK, Dy-Boarman E, Appiah-Num Safo AA, Charrois TL. What Types of Data are Pharmacy Education Scholars Using in their Abstracts for Poster Presentations? AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION 2024; 88:100662. [PMID: 38296031 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpe.2024.100662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to describe the data being used to support poster presentations in pharmacy education scholarship. METHODS Research and education posters presented at the 2020 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Annual Meeting were unitized to isolate text to be coded, and two coders categorized the quantitative and qualitative data by type and source. Questionnaires, instruments, and exams were categorized as new (ie developed and used for this particular inquiry) vs. existing. Qualitative data types were categorized as interviews, focus groups, self-reflections, analysis of student work products (eg lab reports assessed for student understanding), comments (ie written or verbal comments), and other (eg course reports). RESULTS Two hundred and sixteen abstracts were included in the analysis, with 80 (37%) of abstracts relying on data derived from respondent's perceptions. Further, 143 abstracts (66%) used at least one new questionnaire, instrument, or exam. In 57% of the cases where multiple data sources were used, the study involved interprofessional education (eg multiple health professions learners) or pharmacy student-investigator combinations, and 28 abstracts (13%) did not use pharmacy students as a source. Less than 5% of all abstracts analyzed used traditional qualitative methods of interviews and focus groups. CONCLUSION This study can open conversations around how to improve the quality of pharmacy education research and the identification of areas within the scholarship of teaching and learning that may benefit from improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin K Janke
- University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Eliza Dy-Boarman
- Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Des Moines, IA, USA.
| | | | - Theresa L Charrois
- University of British Columbia Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vancouver, BC, USA
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Stevens ER, Brody AA, Epps F, Sloan DH, Sherman SE. Using meta-research to foster diverse, equitable, and inclusive collaborative research networks. J Am Geriatr Soc 2023; 71:1028-1033. [PMID: 36585905 PMCID: PMC10089973 DOI: 10.1111/jgs.18217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Fostering diverse, equitable, and inclusive collaborative research networks is important for advancing the field of aging research. Despite sizeable investment in research consortia and career development programs, there has been only moderate progress toward diversifying the research workforce studying aging. Without critically examining what works and what does not, continuing to place more resources into these same strategies may not result in a substantial improvement in diversity or the creation of collaborative networks. Using meta-research to rigorously evaluate potential strategies to promote diversity and collaboration may yield important insights that can be used to improve upon current efforts. For this reason, we sought to describe meta-research and highlight how its principles can be used to achieve the aging research community's collaboration and diversity goals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Abraham A. Brody
- NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York, NY
| | - Fayron Epps
- Emory University, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Atlanta, GA
| | | | - Scott E. Sherman
- NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Department of Population Health, New York, NY
- Department of Medicine, VA New York Harbor Healthcare System, New York, NY
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Tonin FS, Gmünder V, Bonetti AF, Mendes AM, Fernandez-Llimos F. Use of 'Pharmaceutical services' Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in articles assessing pharmacists' interventions. EXPLORATORY RESEARCH IN CLINICAL AND SOCIAL PHARMACY 2022; 7:100172. [PMID: 36082143 PMCID: PMC9445408 DOI: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2022.100172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus contribute towards efficient searching of biomedical information. However, insufficient coverage of specific fields and inaccuracies in the indexing of articles can lead to bias during literature retrieval. Objectives This meta-research study aimed to assess the use of 'Pharmaceutical Services' MeSH terms in studies evaluating the effect of pharmacists' interventions. Methods An updated systematic search (Jan-2022) to gather meta-analyses comparing pharmacists' interventions vs. other forms of care was performed. All MeSH terms allocated to the MEDLINE record of each primary study included in the selected meta-analyses were systematically extracted. Terms from the 'Pharmaceutical Services' branch, including its descendants, as well as other 26 pharmacy-specific MeSH terms were identified. The assignment of these terms as a 'Major MeSH' was also evaluated. Descriptive statistics and social network analyses to evaluate the co-occurrence of the MeSH terms in the articles were conducted. Sensitivity analyses including only meta-analyses with declared objectives mentioning the words 'pharmacist' or 'pharmacy' were performed (SPSS v.24.0). Results Overall, 138 meta-analyses including 2012 primary articles were evaluated. A median of 15 [IQR 12-18] MeSH terms were assigned per article with a slight positive time-trend (Spearman rho = 0.193; p < 0.001). Only 36.6% (n = 736/2012) and 58.1% (n = 338/1099) of studies were indexed with one MeSH term from the 'Pharmaceutical Services' branch in the overall and sensitivity analyses, respectively. In <20% of cases, these terms were a 'Major MeSH'. The pharmacy-specific term 'Pharmacists' was the most frequently used, yet in only 27.8% and 47.7% of articles in the original and sensitivity analyses, respectively. Social networks showed a weak association between pharmacy-specific and 'Pharmaceutical services' branch MeSH terms. Conclusions The availability of a 'Pharmaceutical services' branch hierarchic tree and further pharmacy-specific MeSH terms incorporated to the MeSH thesaurus in the past years is not related with accurate indexing of articles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernanda S. Tonin
- H&TRC - Health & Technology Research Center, ESTeSL - Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Vanessa Gmünder
- Pharmaceutical Care, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Aline F. Bonetti
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Postgraduate Research Program, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
| | - Antonio M. Mendes
- Pharmacy Service, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
| | - Fernando Fernandez-Llimos
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
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Fernandez-Llimos F, Mendes AM, Tonin FS. Confusing terminology used in the abbreviation of pharmacy journal names. Res Social Adm Pharm 2022; 18:3463-3465. [PMID: 35027305 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2022.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The lack of commonly agreed terminology in pharmacy field is highly prevalent and may have influence on the relevance and robustness of the area, especially how others see pharmacy literature. Potential consequences of this poor perception of pharmacy field by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) could be the omission of several pharmacy-related Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) or the low indexing rate of pharmacy practice journals in MEDLINE. Journal name abbreviation, under the responsibility of the NLM, is the unambiguous way to identify a journal in bibliographic references and catalogs. The present study investigated the consistency of pharmacy journal abbreviations in the NLM Catalog. For the 290 journals containing any word with the root pharm in their names, a consistent procedure for NLM title abbreviations was found for 27 of the words in journal names but not for the abbreviation "Pharm", which represented several words with very different meanings: pharmaceutical, pharmaceutics, pharmacists, and pharmacy. The use by the NLM of different abbreviation for pharmaceutical and pharmaceutics would increase journal identification clarity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Fernandez-Llimos
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
| | - Antonio M Mendes
- Pharmacy Service, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.
| | - Fernanda S Tonin
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Postgraduate Program, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.
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