A website based out of UNC’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention called Research4NC is making resources developed at UNC available to clinicians and practitioners. The goal of the site is to be a “one-stop shop” for health professionals who are seeking to incorporate evidence-based methods into their practice.
Resources included in the site adhere to best practice recommendations and have been evaluated for efficacy and usefulness in a real-world practice environment. The resources are packaged into a simple, ready-to-use format and most of the materials health professionals need to implement them can be easily downloaded from the website.
“There is a wealth of rigorous research coming out of UNC that can be used to promote health and wellness,” said Jennifer Leeman, DrPH, MDIV, leader of the Research4C project and an assistant professor at the SON. “Our aim is to make it as easy as possible for health professionals and policy makers to access research-based tools they can use to make their communities healthier.”
The resources cover many aspects of health and wellness. Visitors to the site can either browse through a list of available resources or search for resources that apply to a particular area, such as cancer care. Many of the resources focus on prevention. Family Matters, for example, is a program designed to help families reduce drug and alcohol use in adolescents. Another resource, called Safe Dates, is an intervention that aims to reduce dating violence among teens. Other resources focus on helping people make decisions about their healthcare, such as CHOICE, a computer program created to help people understand their risk for colorectal cancer and what screening options they have.
Dr. Leeman plans to add more resources to Research4NC as they come in. She encourages UNC researchers and practitioners who have developed a health resource to contact Nancy Aycock at the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for details about submission.