RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Lessons from Initiating the First Veterans Health Administration (VA) Women's Health Practice-based Research Network (WH-PBRN) Study
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 649
OP 657
DO 10.3122/jabfm.2015.05.150029
VO 28
IS 5
A1 Alyssa Pomernacki
A1 Diane V. Carney
A1 Rachel Kimerling
A1 Deborah Nazarian
A1 Jill Blakeney
A1 Brittany D. Martin
A1 Holly Strehlow
A1 Julia Yosef
A1 Karen M. Goldstein
A1 Anne G. Sadler
A1 Bevanne A. Bean-Mayberry
A1 Lori A. Bastian
A1 Meggan M. Bucossi
A1 Caitlin McLean
A1 Shannan Sonnicksen
A1 Ruth Klap
A1 Elizabeth M. Yano
A1 Susan M. Frayne
YR 2015
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/28/5/649.abstract
AB Background: The Veterans Health Administration (VA) Women's Health Practice-Based Research Network (WH-PBRN) was created to foster innovations for the health care of women veterans. The inaugural study by the WH-PBRN was designed to identify women veterans' own priorities and preferences for mental health services and to inform refinements to WH-PBRN operational procedures. Addressing the latter, this article reports lessons learned from the inaugural study.Methods: WH-PBRN site coordinators at the 4 participating sites convened weekly with the study coordinator and the WH-PBRN program manager to address logistical issues and identify lessons learned. Findings were categorized into a matrix of challenges and facilitators related to key study elements.Results: Challenges to the conduct of PBRN-based research included tracking of regulatory documents; cross-site variability in some regulatory processes; and troubleshooting logistics of clinic-based recruitment. Facilitators included a central institutional review board, strong relationships between WH-PBRN research teams and women's health clinic teams, and the perception that women want to help other women veterans.Conclusion: Our experience with the inaugural WH-PBRN study demonstrated the feasibility of establishing productive relationships between local clinicians and researchers, and of recruiting a special population (women veterans) in diverse sites within an integrated health care system. This identified strengths of a PBRN approach.