April 17, 2017

Recent Grants Awarded in 2017

Recent funding awards will support family medicine faculty as they lead three exciting new ventures: Training 100 oncology professionals in integrative medicine and developing a web-based contraceptive decision aid for women with chronic conditions and their health care providers, and piloting a new study on how grieving mothers find support in online communities after perinatal loss

 

Congratulations to three of our family medicine research faculty Suzanna M. Zick, N.D., M.P.HJustine P. Wu, M.D., M.P.H., and Katherine J. Gold, M.D., M.S.W., M.S. on their recent grant awards from the NIH and the U-M Depression Center. Read more about their new endeavors:
 

A Short Course for Creating Integrative Oncology Leaders

 

Suzanna M Zick, N.D., M.P.H., Research Associate Professor

Five-year education research R25 award from the National Cancer Institute

$1,167,943 

A majority of the over 13 million cancer survivors in the US utilize complementary therapies at some time after their cancer diagnosis. Despite the high utilization and growing body of positive and negative evidence on these therapies, there are currently no training programs that prepare oncology professionals to evaluate the evidence and use of complementary modalities.

Led by Dr. Suzanna M. Zick, this education and research project aims to:

  • Develop an interdisciplinary, blended learning course in evidenced-­based integrative oncology that will train approximately 100 integrative oncology leaders over the course of four years.
  • Create partnerships between oncology leaders and complementary practitioners within their communities.
  • Evaluate the impact of the course based on the outcomes of the course activities and the implementation of capstone projects initiated by participants at their home institutions after completion of the program.
  • Disseminate the findings through peer-­reviewed journals, presentations at professional meetings, and through both conventional and integrative oncology networks and associations.

 Find more information about the Integrative Oncology Scholars program at their program's website: https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/ioscholars/

 


  

Improving Contraceptive Care for Women with Chronic Disease: A Novel, Web-based Decision Aid in Primary Care

 

Justine P. Wu, M.D., M.P.H.Assistant Professor

Five-year career development K-grant award from the
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institutes of Health

$842,400

Dr. Justine P. Wu is lead investigator of this K study, which will design and pilot a theory-driven, interactive web-based contraceptive decision aid for women with chronic conditions and for use in primary care. This decision aid will help women understand their contraceptive options within the context of their medical conditions, ongoing drug therapy, and personal preferences, and facilitate a shared-decision making process with their primary care providers (PCPs).

The mixed methods research is guided by three aims, to:

  • Identify key factors on the patient-, provider-, and practice-level that are critical to the design of a contraceptive intervention for women with chronic conditions in primary care.
  • Develop an interactive, web-based contraceptive decision aid for women with chronic conditions, their PCPs, and implementation in primary care.
  • Conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) decision aid versus usual care to assess the feasibility of the intervention and to determine the population size needed for a future RCT.

 

MOMSonLINE Pilot Study

 

Katherine J. Gold, M.D., M.S.W., M.S.Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology

Two-year Rachel Upjohn Clinical Scholars Award from the University of Michigan Depression Center

$50,000

Dr. Katherine J. Gold is the 2017 recipient of the Rachel Upjohn Clinical Scholars Award, which will support a two-year pilot investigation, MOMSonLINE. 

Perinatal death--loss of a baby in the second half of pregnancy (stillbirth) or an infant death in the first month of life—occurs in one of every 80 live births and is traumatic and emotionally devastating for parents. Bereaved mothers have four times the risk of postpartum depression compared with live-birth moms but have low rates of mental health treatment and may avoid traditional mental health care. While hundreds of thousands of people use online internet support groups, there is sparse data about user mental health outcomes for any health group and none for pregnancy/infant loss groups. MOMSonLINE is an 8-week randomized controlled pilot feasibility study of online support for mothers after perinatal bereavement. Thirty bereaved mothers who participated in a prior study will be randomly assigned them to one of three groups: an online anonymous message board for loss; an online closed Facebook group (both online groups will also receive text message support); or a control group in which they receive supportive articles about grieving but no interactive peer component. We will measure feasibility, recruitment and retention, adherence, mental health, and satisfaction. This is the first study to investigate depression outcomes among users of an existing online support group for pregnancy/infant loss and feasibility of assigning bereaved mothers to an online support group. If effective, existing internet groups could offer an alternative or augmentation to traditional care for depression, via a method which is free, convenient, accessible, and available anywhere internet access exists.