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NORC at the University Chicago

Building Capacity for Small Organizations Engagement Award Learning Network

Professionals standing in a small group discussing something
Building small organizations’ capacity for patient-centered outcomes and clinical effectiveness research
  • Client
    Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
  • Dates
    June 2023 – Present

Problem

PCORI’s Engagement Award Program supports community participation in patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) supports projects designed to foster engagement and build capacity for awardees to participate in patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). Under its Eugene Washington Engagement Award (EA) Program, PCORI has funded over 700 research support projects that improve knowledge of and skills to conduct CER.

In 2023, PCORI created its first-ever cohort of awardees with an average yearly operating budget of $1.5 million or less. Many smaller organizations want to build their capacity to participate in CER, and bring their unique, important perspectives to research. The cohort is diverse, with organizations across the United States, and focused on a variety of conditions (including rare diseases and chronic conditions) as well as a variety of populations, such as veterans, LGBTQIA+, and rural residents; refugee women and children; and young adults.  

Solution

NORC established a Learning Network to build capacity for PCOR and CER. 

A key part of the program is NORC’s hosted Learning Network, which provides awardees with education and support as well as an opportunity for connection with one another. In partnership with Tamarack Institute and Patient Advocate Foundation, NORC is providing educational content on priority topics, facilitating communication across awardees to share knowledge and experiences, and supporting a mentorship program to support awardees to navigate the process of creating meaningful engagement in research. Participation in the Learning Network is intended to increase information sharing, knowledge, and practical skills among participants, ultimately positioning small organizations to play a greater role in facilitating CER. 

Result

We will evaluate the Learning Network’s effectiveness at building capacity for stakeholder engagement in CER among awardees. 

The NORC team will evaluate the Learning Network’s impact on program goals, including process, summative, and outcome evaluations that inform generalizable learnings (such as key facilitators of and barriers to success) for other small organizations. We will collect data from Learning Network participants and directly from Learning Network activities. Findings from the evaluation will be publicly disseminated to support other small organizations building capacity for CER, as well as future PCORI learning network activities. 

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