Laurene M. Tumiel-Berhalter, PhD, will lead a participatory
research study to help patients in inner-city Buffalo self-manage
multiple chronic conditions.
Laurene
M. Tumiel-Berhalter, PhD, associate professor of family medicine,
has received a three-year, $800,000 grant from the National Institute on Minority
Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) to assess the needs of a
cohort of patients with complex chronic disease.
The study will involve patients at two primary care sites in
medically underserved areas of Buffalo: Jericho Road Family Practice
and UBMD
Family Medicine at Jefferson.
Researchers will ask 120 patients what factors help or hinder
their ability to self-manage multiple conditions. The research team
will then design and implement a pilot intervention to address
identified needs.
In evaluating the success of the intervention, researchers will
look primarily at changes in chronic disease outcomes but also at
measures of patient empowerment such as social support, patient
activation, self-management skills, functional status and quality
of life.
Not only is it increasingly common for patients to have multiple
chronic conditions, but these patients—and their primary care
providers—face significant challenges.
Many patients see multiple specialists, must manage competing
demands and may need to follow guidelines for specific conditions
that do not account for complications of multiple conditions.
In addition, chronic disease contributes significantly to health
disparities, notes Tumiel-Berhalter.
“Challenges are compounded in underserved communities,
where resources are limited, chronic disease is common and risk
factors are elevated.”
The research project emphasizes shared leadership, helping to
ensure that “everyone is on the same page,” says
Tumiel-Berhalter. The goal, she notes, is to “improve both
practice and patient outcomes.”
“We want the intervention to be something that sticks and
that fits in with the work these practices are doing,” she
says. Through her previous work developing and working with patient
action teams, she finds that “patients are constructive and
creative, and guide what needs to be done.”
In addition to Tumiel-Berhalter, the research team involves
three other principal investigators from the Patient
Voices Network.
Two are providers from the practice sites who also serve as
clinical assistant professors of family medicine: Donald
P. Bartlett, PhD (Jefferson) and Myron Glick, MD (Jericho).
Pamela Harold is a patient representing patient action teams from
both sites.
In 2010, Tumiel-Berhalter used an NIMHD grant to establish
Patient Voices Network, a partnership between UB’s Department of Family
Medicine’s Primary
Care Research Institute (PCRI) and Jericho Road
Ministries.
She also serves as the PCRI’s director of community
translational research.
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