TY - JOUR
T1 - Building research infrastructure in community health centers
T2 - A Community Health Applied Research Network (CHARN) report
AU - Likumahuwa, Sonja
AU - Song, Hui
AU - Singal, Robbie
AU - Weir, Rosy Chang
AU - Crane, Heidi
AU - Muench, John
AU - Sim, Shao Chee
AU - DeVoe, Jennifer E.
PY - 2013/9
Y1 - 2013/9
N2 - This article introduces the Community Health Applied Research Network (CHARN), a practice-based research network of community health centers (CHCs). Established by the Health Resources and Services Administration in 2010, CHARN is a network of 4 community research nodes, each with multiple affiliated CHCs and an academic center. The four nodes (18 individual CHCs and 4 academic partners in 9 states) are supported by a data coordinating center. Here we provide case studies detailing how CHARN is building research infrastructure and capacity in CHCs, with a particular focus on how community practice-academic partnerships were facilitated by the CHARN structure. The examples provided by the CHARN nodes include many of the building blocks of research capacity: communication capacity and "matchmaking" between providers and researchers; technology transfer; research methods tailored to community practice settings; and community institutional review board infrastructure to enable community oversight. We draw lessons learned from these case studies that we hope will serve as examples for other networks, with special relevance for community-based networks seeking to build research infrastructure in primary care settings.
AB - This article introduces the Community Health Applied Research Network (CHARN), a practice-based research network of community health centers (CHCs). Established by the Health Resources and Services Administration in 2010, CHARN is a network of 4 community research nodes, each with multiple affiliated CHCs and an academic center. The four nodes (18 individual CHCs and 4 academic partners in 9 states) are supported by a data coordinating center. Here we provide case studies detailing how CHARN is building research infrastructure and capacity in CHCs, with a particular focus on how community practice-academic partnerships were facilitated by the CHARN structure. The examples provided by the CHARN nodes include many of the building blocks of research capacity: communication capacity and "matchmaking" between providers and researchers; technology transfer; research methods tailored to community practice settings; and community institutional review board infrastructure to enable community oversight. We draw lessons learned from these case studies that we hope will serve as examples for other networks, with special relevance for community-based networks seeking to build research infrastructure in primary care settings.
KW - Community health centers
KW - Community health networks
KW - Practice-based research network
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84883738247&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84883738247&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3122/jabfm.2013.05.130025
DO - 10.3122/jabfm.2013.05.130025
M3 - Article
C2 - 24004710
AN - SCOPUS:84883738247
SN - 1557-2625
VL - 26
SP - 579
EP - 587
JO - Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
JF - Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
IS - 5
ER -