Behavioral Health & Survey

The purpose of the Behavioral Health and Survey Research (BHSR) Shared Resource Core is to provide Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) members with the necessary tools and expertise to help them take advantage of the latest behavioral and epidemiological methods and capabilities to enable patient-centered design and research. The BHSR works closely with investigators and DCI COEE to understand the patient and community perspective which is essential to developing patient-centered and community-focused interventions and programs. For all projects, we encourage DCI investigators to work with established DCI patient and community advisory boards as well as provide support to investigators who have convened a specific community advisory board for their study such as conducing and analyzing focus groups. BHSR investigators and staff have the extensive experience needed to help meet this need, including expertise in survey design, qualitative research, and educational materials development. Under the direction of Dr. Laura Fish, PhD (CPC), the BHSR provides three essential services to DCI investigators: 1) needs assessment/qualitative data collection and analysis, 2) survey development, and 3) materials development. Across all services, our goal is to provide DCI investigators with necessary expertise to conduct high quality research and to the BHSR has two main goals: 1) to foster communication and collaborative exchange among DCI clinical, basic, and population science investigators and 2) to promote standardization, rigor, and centralization of methods among DCI faculty. Since 2019, the BHSR provided services to 47 DCI members. The BHSR largely supports DCI investigators qualitative and quantitative work to provide data for larger grant submissions as well as for intervention and program development. BHSR services provide cost savings on DCI investigators’ grants via set rate as a line item in the budget, rather than individual effort for each staff person. Since 2019, the BHSR has contributed to 24 publications with DCI investigators and more than 35 presentations at scientific meetings. Since that time, we have collaborated with 15 DCI members on NIH grant submissions and 12 DCI members on internal (Duke) grant submissions. The BHSR is committed to providing the highest quality support and has implemented strong business practices to ensure efficient and timely provision of services. As part of our on-going in-service, Fish, (CPC) is presenting an overview of BHSR and its services to each DCI research program in 2023-24. In addition, the BHSR Scientific Advisory Board will continue to be a valuable resource providing objective and expert advice on application of scientific methodology, BHSR priorities, and guiding the future direction of the BHSR shared resource.