UTCSW and CEHHS recently received a grant from the William T. Grant Foundationwhich will strengthen the partnership between the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Cherokee Health Systems (CHS). UT and Cherokee Health Systems, a federally qualified health center, will partner to co-create an implementation science program to train university researchers and health practitioners to conduct and use community-engaged research to serve low-income and minoritized populations.
Betsey Bush Endowed Professor in Behavioral Health and UTCSW Associate Dean for Research Doug Coatsworth and UTCSW/CEHHS Associate Dean for Engagement Kristina Gordon have been instrumental throughout the grant process.
How did you find out about the Institutional Challenge Grant? What roles did you play in the application?
Coatsworth: I have known about the challenge grant for years. I was involved in planning one while I was at Colorado State University, but ultimately, we did not submit it. For years I thought it would be a good grant to go after here at UTK. I had thought about it a few years ago and learned that one of our colleagues in CEHHS was planning to submit one so I held off. When this came up again Kristi and I spoke about it – we learned that our colleague was not going to apply again so we planned to write and submit it. Kristi took the lead role as PI and I helped to support her with the meeting with partners at CHS, talking through ideas and modifying ideas, writing drafts, and working through budget items.
What do you see as UTCSW’s role in the grant project?
Coatsworth: UTCSW has a central role. We have leaders on the project and the CSW faculty will be actively involved in shaping the Implementation Science Training Program that will be delivered as part of the grant.
Gordon: As Doug mentioned, social work will have an integral role in the process. Doug is co-PI and Nikola Zaharakis is our UTK Fellow, who will do the majority of the heavy lifting on the grant. Anne Conway and Mary Held will be consulting on the shared project. We also will be recruiting faculty and students to be part of the training program when it is launched.
What type of collaboration will UTCSW and Cherokee Health Systems create for this project?
Coatsworth: UT and CHS are full partners in all aspects of the grant. One of the main points of the Institutional Challenge Grant is to develop processes and a way of working together that CHANGES both institutions in positive ways that are sustainable and improve the capacities of the institutions to do the research. All teams (committees) of this grant will include members from both organizations. Products (the training program, the research projects/protocols, presentations, and publications) will all be co-created through input from both institutions. It’s a fuller “partnership/collaboration” than is often found in this kind of work, even if they call it a collaboration or partnership.
Are there specific projects that you envision happening in the first year? What about subsequent years?
Coatsworth: Year one is a planning and development year – developing the training program and planning ways to evaluate it. We will also begin to plan the evaluation of the development of the research project with pregnant teens and young adults and how to evaluate the outcomes.
In the second year we will have our first “cohort” of scholars in the training program. As part of their training, they will plan and develop the research project for pregnant teens and young adults. We will collect data on how the training program was working and on the planning of the research project.
In the third year, we will implement the research project for pregnant teens and young adults and will evaluate its implementation (and preliminary outcomes), and we will implement a second cohort in the training program.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Gordon: This is a one-of-a-kind academic partnership with a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center. They are unique in their particular assets and challenges, and as a result there is great interest in what we discover about how to best partner together. In addition, our plan for our training program is also unique and cutting edge in its practitioner focus, which is also generating significant enthusiasm.
About the William T. Grant Foundation
For nearly eight years, the William T. Grant Foundation has supported research aimed at improving the lives of young people in the United States. The foundation chooses research interests based on what is going on in the world today. The foundation recognizes that the most pressing challenges confronting young people change over time. Currently, the foundation funds studies in two specific focus areas: (1) programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality in youth outcomes, and (2) strategies to improve the use of research evidence in ways that benefit youth.
For more information about the UT Grant, visit https://wtgrantfoundation.org/grants/using-implementation-science-to-reduce-health-disparities-in-youth-families-a-university-federally-qualified-health-center-partnership