PMID- 33198272 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20210128 LR - 20220408 IS - 1660-4601 (Electronic) IS - 1661-7827 (Print) IS - 1660-4601 (Linking) VI - 17 IP - 22 DP - 2020 Nov 12 TI - Evaluating Research Centers in Minority Institutions: Framework, Metrics, Best Practices, and Challenges. LID - 10.3390/ijerph17228373 [doi] LID - 8373 AB - The NIH-funded Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) program is currently funding 18 academic institutions to strengthen the research environment and contribution to health disparities research. The purpose of this multiphase mixed-methods study was to establish a uniform evaluation framework for demonstrating the collective success of this research consortium. Methods included discussions of aims and logic models at the RCMI Evaluators' Workshop, a literature review to inform an evaluation conceptual framework, and a case study survey to obtain evaluation-related information and metrics. Ten RCMIs participated in the workshop and 14 submitted responses to the survey. The resultant RCMI Evaluation Conceptual Model presents a practical ongoing approach to document RCMIs' impacts on health disparities. Survey results identified 37 common metrics under four primary categories. Evaluation challenges were issues related to limited human resources, data collection, decision-making, defining metrics, cost-sharing, and revenue-generation. There is a need for further collaborative efforts across RCMI sites to engage program leadership and community stakeholders in addressing the identified evaluation challenges and measurement. Program leadership should be engaged to apply the Evaluation Conceptual Framework and common metrics to allow for valid inter-institutional comparisons and consortium-wide evaluations. Stakeholders could ensure evaluation metrics are used to facilitate community impacts. FAU - Sy, Angela AU - Sy A AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8071-899X AD - Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology, and Pharmacology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA. FAU - Hayes, Traci AU - Hayes T AD - Department of Public Health, School of Health Professions, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, USA. FAU - Laurila, Kelly AU - Laurila K AD - Department of Anthropology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. FAU - Noboa, Carlamarie AU - Noboa C AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-6853-1663 AD - Department of Surgical Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, 00938 San Juan, Puerto Rico. FAU - Langwerden, Robbert J AU - Langwerden RJ AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2407-9473 AD - Community-Based Research Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. FAU - Hospital, Michelle M AU - Hospital MM AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-9941-9607 AD - Department of Biostatistics, Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. FAU - Andujar-Perez, Doris A AU - Andujar-Perez DA AD - Ponce Research Institute, Ponce Health Sciences University, Ponce 00732, Puerto Rico. FAU - Stevenson, Lakesha AU - Stevenson L AD - Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA 30314, USA. FAU - Cunningham, Suzanne M Randolph AU - Cunningham SMR AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-5021-2480 AD - Center for Community Prevention and Treatment Research, Division of Research and Evaluation, The MayaTech Corporation, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA. FAU - Rollins, Latrice AU - Rollins L AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-0281-9653 AD - Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA. FAU - Madanat, Hala AU - Madanat H AD - Division of Research and Innovation, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA. FAU - Penn, Tanya AU - Penn T AD - Institute of Public Health, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA. FAU - Mehravaran, Shiva AU - Mehravaran S AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-4249-3304 AD - Department of Computer Science, School of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA. LA - eng GR - U54 MD012388/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD007579/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD007597/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD007601/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U13 MD014961/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD007590/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD013376/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD012393/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD007602/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD008149/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States GR - U54 MD012397/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural DEP - 20201112 PL - Switzerland TA - Int J Environ Res Public Health JT - International journal of environmental research and public health JID - 101238455 SB - IM MH - *Academies and Institutes/organization & administration/standards MH - Benchmarking MH - *Evaluation Studies as Topic MH - Humans MH - Leadership MH - *Minority Groups MH - *Universities/organization & administration/standards/statistics & numerical data PMC - PMC7696594 OTO - NOTNLM OT - RCMI OT - collaboration OT - consortium-wide evaluation OT - evaluation framework OT - evaluation metrics OT - health disparities OT - program evaluation COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. EDAT- 2020/11/18 06:00 MHDA- 2021/01/29 06:00 PMCR- 2020/11/01 CRDT- 2020/11/17 01:05 PHST- 2020/10/07 00:00 [received] PHST- 2020/11/02 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2020/11/10 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2020/11/17 01:05 [entrez] PHST- 2020/11/18 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2021/01/29 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2020/11/01 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - ijerph17228373 [pii] AID - ijerph-17-08373 [pii] AID - 10.3390/ijerph17228373 [doi] PST - epublish SO - Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 12;17(22):8373. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17228373.