From the CHRR Director’s Desk Issue #26
By Stephen M. Gavazzi, Ph.D.
The Latest News, Views, and Announcements
What’s New at CHRR
As advertised in last month’s newsletter, a team led by John Bridges, Ohio State Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, presented a symposium here at CHRR on May 30th to discuss the survey methods this group is employing in their research. This symposium – Advancing and applying methods to measure the priorities and preferences of patients and other stakeholders in medicine – turned out to be a fantastic opportunity for CHRR Team members to learn about a variety of new survey procedures. Our hope is to work more closely with this group as we explore different approaches to the data we routinely collect for researchers.
CHRR's Leadership Team
One important topic discussed by the CHRR Leadership Team this past month surrounds the new performance review tool that was implemented by ASC during the most recent AMCP process. Because the new fiscal year’s goals and objectives were not a mandatory component of the performance review process, Leadership Team members discussed various ways to put these performance indicators in place. As a result of these discussions, the decision was made to connect goal setting to the next two Quarterly Check Ins (both August and December). More information will be forthcoming from supervisors closer to those August check-in times.
Additionally, last month’s newsletter mentioned the ongoing work being done by the Strategic Doing Team in terms of creating a document that outlines all our activities to date. I am pleased to report that a preliminary report was drafted, refined, and sent to ASC leadership last week. I will continue to report updates as new information becomes available.
CHRR Team Member Celebrations
“Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.” -Virginia Burden
This month we are observing the work anniversaries of two valued employees:
- Winston Gaynor, 17 years of service to CHRR.
- Caroline Barto, 2 years of service to CHRR.
Thank you for all that the both of you do to advance our technological and data science capabilities!
Things You Might Want to Know
Fundraiser Honors Ryan and Christina Day, Highlights SOAR Research Project
Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day and his wife, Christina, were honored last Tuesday during the annual Faces of Resilience fundraising event for Ohio State's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. Additionally, the event highlighted the $20 million State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience (SOAR) initiative, a research project that CHRR has been supporting through our deployment of the Wellness Discovery Survey. Governor Mike DeWine, a tremendous supporter of the SOAR project, and Luan Phan, Ohio State psychiatry professor and SOAR’s Principal Investigator, both were on hand at the event honoring the Days.
Happy 7th Birthday to the American Population Panel!
Back in June 2017, CHRR initiated a new project – the American Population Panel – which we hoped would develop into a large group of Americans 18 and older we could contact regularly to participate in social science and health research surveys. Fast forward seven years, and we are incredibly proud to report that the APP has grown to be a research panel giant of more than 45,000 volunteer members! Thanks to our dedicated Panel members, we've already got 50+ projects under our belt, and we look forward to many more milestones ahead. Happy 7th birthday, APP!
Examining Associations Between Substance Misuse and Suicide Bereavement
Using the American Population Panel (APP), a group of researchers led by William Feigelman and Julie Cerel focused on the issue of substance misuse among suicide bereaved adults. Among other findings, results showed binge drinkers had more grieving problems, especially when other important confounding variables also were considered. The full article can be accessed on the Sage Journals website.
Here is the full citation for the article:
Feigelman, W., Cerel, J., Gutin, N., McIntosh, J. L., Gorman, B. S., Bottomley, J. S., & Edwards, A. (2024). Examining the associations between substance misuse and suicide bereavement. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 00302228241254133.
Biometrics Screening Available on-site at CHRR on July 17th
CHRR will host an in-office Biometric Health Screening event on Wednesday, July 17th. Staff with appointments will meet in Room 212 at their designated times for a nurse to collect various health measures.
Additional appointment slots can be booked through the Link to Health registration portal using the appointment code: CHRR (all caps). If the event is fully booked and you wish to join the waitlist, or if you have any questions about the event, please contact Laura Rusnak at lrusnak@chrr.osu.edu.
