Methods Core

METHODS CORE SUMMARY The Methods Core will serve as primary scientific and methodological resource hub for the ACCESS center. Beyond methodological, technical, and analytic support to investigators and projects, the Methods Core will serve as an incubator for innovative methods development and facilitate opportunities for embedding common data elements and harmonizing data collection and analysis across ACCESS projects. Through integrated and iterative activities across the Administration Core’s Steering Committee, Training Committee, Pilot Committee, and Dissemination Committee, the Methods Core hub will disseminate innovative data intake and harmonization tools, validated practical implementation measures to facilitate knowledge transfer to school- based practitioners for continuous quality improvement, and other novel solutions developed through the center’s activities (e.g., adaptive intervention strategies for school-based multi-tiered systems of support for youth mental health, online progress monitoring tools). Through integrated training for center investigators and external audiences in advanced research designs for adaptive and rapid development, the goal is to promote, stimulate, and seed fundable research that further advances the treatment of mental health issues for youth based on knowledge gained in the ACCESS center’s projects and forthcoming pilot studies. The Methods Core will (a) provide input and support for experimental design and effectiveness-implementation evaluation, (b) organize and implement the common data elements (CDE) including NIMH Data Archive CDEs, (c) provide training and support in advanced statistical approaches for evaluation in coordination with the Administrative Core and its working Committees, (d) evaluate and monitor center research productivity and impact, including economic costing, (e) provide support in training and implementation of protection for human participants protocols and data safety and monitoring protocols, and clinical trials pre-registration, and finally, (f) disseminate innovative data intake, processing, harmonization, and archiving using shared source code and the NDA Electronic Data Submission Agreement (eDSA) Tool. Finally, two primary activities of the Methods Core will focus on evaluation of the ACCESS center’s research and impact. The first focuses on application of methodological and analytic expertise for school-based mental health research and advanced methodological approaches. The second focuses on specific evaluation of the Center’s productivity and progress monitoring.