This is an exciting year for research activities at the 2018 AOSW 34th Annual Conference in Atlanta! Whether you are an experienced researcher looking to share your interests with others with similar interests, or an oncology social work practitioner looking to get more involved in research, there will be many exciting research-focused events to choose from. Here is an overview.

Wednesday: Research Special Interest Group (SIG), 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. This session will give you an opportunity not only to meet with other oncology social workers who are interested in research but also to learn about what’s been happening in the Patient Centered Research Collaborative (PCRC), which AOSW developed last year. Brad Zebrack will lead a panel of members of the PCRC Advisory Board to provide an introduction to its structure, activities and potential to advance research in oncology social work through collaboration and coordination of effort. This session will also discuss ways oncology social work practitioners who are interested in research can become part of the PCRC.

The Reception and Poster Session Wednesday evening includes some excellent research posters. This is an opportunity to catch up on some of the most recent research in oncology social work as well as meet and talk with the researchers themselves.

Thursday: Learning Institute: “Using Intervention Research to Inform Practice: Critical Steps in Intervention Research With Exemplars From the Field,” 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Intervention research is especially important for our field because it provides the type of information necessary for “evidence-based practice.” You will learn six steps used in this type of research, from identifying a problem in practice to disseminating your results. You will hear about eight intervention research projects—four oncology social work researchers and four oncology social work practitioners will explain how they used the six steps in their research. At the end of the formal presentations, participants will work (individually or in small groups) on identifying and beginning to develop an intervention research project in their own practice. This institute is offered at an introductory level; you do not need to have research experience to attend and benefit from the Learning Institute.

Friday and Saturday: Research Institute

Following the end of the AOSW conference, a free one-day Research Institute will offer a tremendous opportunity to further your research skills, connect with others who have similar research interests, hear some cutting-edge speakers and learn about and connect with the new PCRC.

Registration and Survey: Be sure to register for the Research Institute when you register for the AOSW conference. After you register, you will receive an email asking you to complete a survey to identify which topics you consider the most important in two areas—the field of oncology social work and patient perspectives—from a list that was created at the 2017 Research Institute. The results of this survey will be used to identify the most important research topics in the 2018 Research Institute. (If you did not register in advance, you will still be able to attend the Research Institute. A registration table will be available before the Institute begins, from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.)

Patient-Centered Research Collaborative in Psychosocial Oncology (PCRC): The PCRC is a group of 15 oncology social workers, 15 patient advocates and six researchers that was established with AOSW and the University of Michigan in 2016. The group met at the 2017 AOSW conference and has been meeting regularly since then to build a structure for patient-centered collaborative research. The Research Institute will have some overlapping activities with the PCRC. The Friday evening activities are all joint with the PCRC. On Saturday, the keynote address and the lunch will also meet jointly with PCRC members.  

Friday: Research Institute Schedule

The Research Institute begins at 3:00 p.m. on Friday with a reception and some informal ice-breaking activities. Following the reception, a panel of patient advocates will discuss patient contributions to patient-centered research (5:00 – 6:00 p.m.). From 6:00 – 7:00 p.m., the first keynote speaker, Jean S. Kutner, MD, MSPH, FAAHPM, FACP (Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Chief Medical Officer, University of Colorado Hospital), will speak on “Enhancing Care for People with Serious Advanced Illness Through Interdisciplinary Evidence Generation and Research Infrastructure Development.” (Dinner is on your own.)

Saturday: Research Institute Schedule
    
The Research Institute continues on Saturday morning with a light breakfast (7:30 a.m.) followed by the second keynote speaker, Claire Snyder, MHS, PhD, (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine) who will speak on “Unlocking the Potential of Patient-Reported Outcomes.” Following, Daniela Wittman, PhD, MSW, will lead a session on how to move from a research topic to an actual research study for all the Research Institute participants who are not part of the PCRC. This group exercise will begin with a presentation on the results of the survey on which research topics are most important to the field of oncology social work. Participants will then brainstorm critical research questions for the top topics and divide into three groups, one for each of the three research methodologies: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. These groups will work to develop the structure of a specific research project to include data gathering and data analysis procedures. Discussion will follow.

The Research Institute will end with a lunch (12:00 – 1:00 p.m.), where all participants will gather together. Oncology social workers, researchers and patient advocates will be able to connect with others who share their research interests.

In addition to the activities specifically listed here, many of the conference papers, speakers and symposia will offer research results, as well as stimulate ideas for new research to advance the profession of oncology social work. We hope you can join us this year in Atlanta to celebrate the wonderful accomplishments in oncology social work research, and to participate in the various research activities described here.