Families First Nutrition Workshops

Families First was the product of a federal grant funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the years 2004-2006. OHSR, in conjunction with the Rock Forge Neighborhood House, created and implemented the Families First Community Nutrition Program. Families First was designed to improve the nutrition of low-income families in Monongalia as well as surrounding counties in north-central West Virginia. The main component of this project, educational workshops focusing on nutrition, has become a community-wide success, and Families First earned the reputation of being the only program delivering thorough and up-to-date nutrition education to low-income families in this area.

Gardening for Good Nutrition

The Gardening for Good Nutrition project was initiated in 2002. It which was funded through a West Virginia Bureau for Public Health Community Based Initiative grant. The purpose of this project was to design and implement a nutrition curriculum, focusing on the importance of eating vegetables every day, into preschool/child care settings. The target audience was children ages 2-6 who attended one of four participating preschool/child care centers located in Elkins, WV and the surrounding area.

The project consisted of two main components. The first component was planting and harvesting of vegetables by the students at the four sites. Each site either planted a vegetable garden on the school property or, if space was limited, they planted in large pots. The second component was the nutrition curriculum focusing on the importance of eating vegetables every day, through fun and educational activities in four different subject areas including: art, science, foods/cooking, and reading.

West Virginia Adult Tobacco Survey

The 2002 West Virginia Adult Tobacco Survey (WV ATS) was an effort to measure the prevalence of tobacco use within the state and gather information on health concerns and environmental policy issues surrounding tobacco usage among the state's adult population. Primary areas within this study included: cigarette and smokeless tobacco use among respondents; smoking cessation; the role of health care professionals in smoking cessation; environmental tobacco smoke and secondhand smoke; the benefits of quitting smoking; purchasing habits; health risk perception and social influences surrounding tobacco use; and priority policy issues surrounding tobacco, such as workplace smoking policies, tobacco sales to minors, and increased cigarette tax.

State Data Center Project

In addition to carrying out health-related applied research projects, OHSR has at times housed a vast amount of health, demographic, and economic data. From 1979 to 1998, OHSR was an active coordinating agency within the State Data Center(SDC) program, a nationwide network of agencies responsible for local dissemination of Census Bureau data. OHSR's functions included generation of publications and custom reports from Census Bureau computer tape files, distribution of census maps, publication of the quarterly West Virginia State Census Data Center Newsletter, providing interpretation of census data and explanation of census concepts, and sponsoring, attending, and developing presentations for meetings related to census issues. Through the State Data Center project, OHSR had access to a vast amount of federal data from the Census Bureau and other agencies and to experts who could assist in interpretation of the data. The project was funded by the West Virginia Development Office.

As data have increasingly become available on CD ROM and the excellent web site maintained by the Census Bureau, many more people are able to access data via these means. Although OHSR is still a State Data Center, its function as a data repository has shifted to interpretation and analysis of data rather than dissemination.

Health Care Cost Review Authority Data Project

From 1986 through 1998, OHSR worked with the WV Health Care Authority (HCA) to collect and manage inpatient hospital discharge data for all acute care hospitals in West Virginia.

OHSR oversaw the conversion of a data system that relied primarily on paper submissions to one in which virtually all submissions were electronic, i.e., cartridge, tape, diskette, or e-mail. In addition, an "error check" program was developed which simplified decision-making regarding questionable or erroneous records, and assisted hospitals in preparing to resubmit rejected records. In 1996, data were collected for more than 250,000 discharges from West Virginia's 65 acute care hospitals.

Data from the project were used in the Primary Care Access Plan which OHSR produced for the Primary Care Association.

Breast and Cervical Cancer Project

In 1991, OHSR was given the responsibility of developing and managing the data from a multi-year cancer prevention project funded by the National Cancer Institute to increase breast and cervical cancer screening rates among low-income, rural women in West Virginia. OHSR staff developed and installed a computerized cancer screening reminder system in five health care provider sites in two counties. Endpoint data collection activities were conducted in the Fall of 1997.

Primary Care Access Plan

OHSR was funded by the West Virginia Primary Care Association and the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health to complete the Primary Care Access Plan for the State. This project was conducted to document available primary health care resources, especially those accessible to medically underserved populations. The plan also involved identifying areas in West Virginia with the greatest need for new or expanded resources. The project entailed documenting the location of every practicing primary care physician in West Virginia. Data were compiled using a number of sources including physician licensure files, files maintained by Health Access and Information, West Virginia University, and survey results. The final report was issued in June 1996.

Department of Family Medicine Summer Externship Project

Mr. Pollard worked with Greg Doyle, M.D. to develop the research component for the Summer Externship project for second year medical students. Each year a research project was conducted by the externship students. During 1995 and 1996 the research project focused on measuring the immunization rates at preceptor sites throughout West Virginia, and these data were prepared for publication.

Rural Graduate Medical Education Demonstration Project

The Rural Graduate Medical Education Project was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Professions. The project provided funds for training in rural areas for up to three months duration per year for residents practicing Family Medicine, primary care Pediatrics, primary care Internal Medicine, or combination of Pediatrics/Medicine. Participating hospitals were required to have fewer than 100 beds and be located in a county that is not included in a Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Office of Health Services Research provided the administrative coordination and evaluation of the project. The coordination included scheduling the residents' rotation with the rural sites, arranging for housing and reimbursement, reporting to departmental residency program coordinators and the Bureau of Health Professions. The evaluation component included pre- and post-test measures of residents' attitudes and beliefs about rural medicine, and the type, quality and impact of the rural experience.

Rural Primary Care Fellowship Program

The Rural Primary Care Fellowship Program was developed in 1994 to enable communities to participate in the recruitment of health professions students. It also cultivated skills that help students to become culturally competent providers. Students selected to participate in the program were exposed to an interdisciplinary model in which they collaborated with students and professionals in other disciplines both within the health care environment and the community. Students from West Virginia University, Marshall University, the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Alderson-Broaddus, and the New Frontier School of Nursing were eligible to apply for the fellowships. The disciplines of these students included Medicine, Nursing, Physician Assistant, and Psychology.

The Evaluation Component of the Rural Primary Care Fellowship Program consisted of pre- and post-tests administered to participating students. The pre-test was completed by students prior to the beginning of their rural rotation. At the end of their rural experience they were asked to complete the post-test. These surveys asked information on the students' attitudes and beliefs related to health care delivery and their career preferences and choices.

Health Sciences Technology Academy

The Health Sciences Technology Academy (HSTA) is a 9th-12th grade math and science program which encourages talented minority and underrepresented students towards training in health sciences programs. HSTA was developed in part by funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The program goals include providing teacher development in the following areas: multicultural and diversity training; leadership and self-esteem building; sharing problems and solutions; hands-on project development; and integrated math and science curriculum development and implementation. In an effort to increase the number of under-represented individuals who pursue careers in health sciences, HSTA offered programs designed to improve the science, math, leadership skills and knowledge of middle and high school students. The major components of HSTA were the summer campus-based programs which include teacher training workshops and student enrichment programs; and the community-based programming. The summer campus-based program involved teachers and students coming to the West Virginia University campus for one to three weeks to attend workshops and interact with Health Sciences Center faculty. The Community-based programming included HSTA Clubs which further supported the achievement of program goals in the form of community leadership and enrichment projects based on community health issues.

The Office of Health Services Research was responsible for the evaluation of HSTA. Questionnaires were used to evaluate the summer campus-based and community-based programming. Because teachers and students were to be involved in this program for a number of years, these questionnaires were administered periodically to track their involvement in HSTA. In addition, a control group of students with similar demographic characteristics was to be identified to determine if HSTA students had a higher likelihood of pursuing careers in the health sciences than those not involved in the program.

Risk Factors for Incomplete Immunization among Preschool Children in Rural West Virginia

An immunization study was conducted to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for incomplete immunization among two-year-old children in three rural West Virginia counties. The study was a collaborative effort between the Office of Health Services Research and WVU's Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics.

A population-based study of chart audits was conducted on children born between May 1, 1991 and April 30, 1992. Three hundred twenty eight charts (80%) of the cohort group were review. Parent's age, marital status, mother's education level, trimester prenatal care began, number of prenatal visits, child's birth order and insurance status were obtained from the West Virginia Vital Statistics database and linked with the child's medical chart data.

For purposes of the study, complete immunization was defined as a child having received four doses of DPT, three doses of OPV, and one dose of MMR by age two plus 30 days. The study concluded that the rate of complete immunizations in rural areas is low. Recommendations proposed an integrated program that includes a tracking system, parent's education and vaccination updates to health care providers which are essential to improving the immunization rate. In addition, special efforts need to be directed toward high-risk children: mothers less than 20 years-old, those who had inadequate prenatal care, and children who have older siblings.

Dental School Focus Groups

For a 2-year period of time, focus groups of WVU School of Dentistry students were conducted each semester by the Office of Health Services Research. They were held as part of the feedback mechanism of the Outcomes Assessment Plan developed in 1993 by the OHSR. The purpose of these groups was to provide a mechanism to insure that the Students Committee became aware of concerns relating to the educational atmosphere within the school which would ultimately lead to an enhanced environment for learning. A report on each focus group was given to the Students Committee. Faculty representatives from the Students Committee shared the report and recommendations with the Dental School Administration. In addition, issues from the report were discussed by faculty and students during individual class meetings.

Prevention Research Center

Mr. Pollard is a member of the core faculty of the Prevention Research Center. His contributions to the Center include: Center evaluation, review of ongoing research and demonstration projects, assisting with project development and grant writing, working with collaborators, and interagency networking. The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health has awarded the PRC monies for OHSR to evaluate the outcome of the West Virginia Diabetes Eye Project.

West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships

The West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships (WVRHEP)has evolved from the merging of the W.K. Kellogg Community Partnerships and Rural Health Initiative projects. Since the inception of the Community Partnership project, OHSR had the responsibility to evaluate the implementation and outcomes of these health professions community education projects. As part of this responsibility OHSR provided data to the legislature, the Vice Chancellor, schools, and oversight committees. Data were maintained on rural rotations for the four major health professions. In addition, OHSR attempted to track alumni from West Virginia's three Health Sciences Centers to determine whether the project(s) were effective in recruiting health professionals to rural or under served areas of the state.