Project Summary
Although health professions (HP) – allied health, nursing, social work, clinical psychology – represent more than 80% of the healthcare workforce, rigorous research within these fields, a cornerstone of evidence-based practice, is often trailing behind that of other medical professions. The urgency of closing this gap is amplified for health professionals practicing in communities characterized by poverty, low educational attainment, health care access challenges and, consequently, poor health outcomes. Thus, building and strengthening HP biomedical research capacity is vital to improving health and addressing health disparities.
The long-term goal of the STRONG initiative is to foster a robust HP research environment conducive to high-quality, cutting-edge biomedical research.
Guided by a conceptual framework that integrates multiple levels and domains of influence, our aims are:
- Engage the UTRGV HP community in a structured, comprehensive research needs assessment that delineates the interactions and feedback loops among levels and domains of research capacity and productivity.
- Develop a corresponding action plan characterized by clear, feasible, measurable, sustainable, and institutionally championed action items that support high-quality, cutting-edge biomedical research.