Purpose: All projects, whether a quality improvement initiative or randomized control trial, start with a well-articulated research question, hypothesis, and study aims. The purpose of this assignment is for students to practice developing a clear, testable research question and corresponding hypothesis and aims, which will serve as the basis for the rest of the semester’s assignments (e.g., literature review and methods).
Skills: This assignment is intended to help you learn to write a clear, testable research question on the integrated (medical and behavioral) topic of your choice. You MUST select a project related to integrated care and your instructor must approve your topic prior to you completing the rest of the course assignments. This will ensure you don’t spend time working on a topic you won’t be able to use.
Task:
When you apply for a grant or plan a quality improvement or applied research project, it is important to clearly assess and identify the targeted problem in your setting and your ultimate goal (also known as your specific aims). To ensure success, you need to clearly identify your: aims (ultimate goal), research question, and hypotheses. You also need to clearly define what you plan to do/change (your intervention or process change) which is also known as your independent variable (IV). You will need to clearly define how you will measure the change that occurred because of your intervention or process change. This is also known as your dependent variable (DV). Remember, your independent variable is something new that you introduce (i.e. you ‘vary’ the process with a new intervention or process change). You expect change to occur that is dependent on the independent variable that you introduced.
To develop an aim, research question (RQ), and hypotheses, think of a problem/need you have identified in your organization or in healthcare. Think about what you realistically can do to address this problem. See what you can find out about the problem in the literature to determine what you can do to address it. That will be your research/process improvement project. Remember, you should be able to envision yourself doing the project.
Your project must:
be realistic
reflect integrated care
reflect your track in the DBH program (clinical or management)
For this assignment, identify a problem needing improvement, state your aim, or the overall goal you are trying to accomplish. Your aim will correspond with your research question(s) and associated hypotheses or expected outcomes.
This is an example to demonstrate the format you will use, and to demonstrate how all aspects align, and how your aims and hypotheses are measurable:
Problem: Many patients with diabetes and depression are not currently identified and provided with comprehensive care that addresses these co-morbid conditions.
Aim: Increase the number of patients with depression identified and referred for behavioral health treatment among those patients with diabetes. (it is measurable as it is looking for a change in numbers)
RQ: How will adding a depression screening tool to the PC intake process increase the number of patients identified with depression, and referred for BH treatment in the PC diabetic population?
Hypotheses:
H1: There will be more patients with depression identified after the PHQ-9 is added to the intake process at the PC clinic.
H2: There will be more patients with depression referred for BH after the PHQ-9 is added to the intake process at the PC clinic.
