Center for Reducing Risks in Vulnerable Populations (CRRVP)

Core Units

Biobehavioral Methods

Director: Eileen Collins, PhD, RN

Program Coordinators: Dorie Schwertz, PhD, RN, Peg Covey, PhD, RN, Usha Menon, PhD, RN, and Ed Wang, PhD

Support Staff: Sam Zong, PhD, Programmer, and Linda Graham, MS, RN, Program Coordinator

Services provided by this core:

Resource Center
The CRRVP maintains a compendium of biobehavioral measures appropriate for use in studies:

• Biological & Physiological Function
• Comorbidity
• Environment
• Functional Status
• Health Perception
• Individual
• Psychological
• Quality of Life
• Socioeconomic Status
• Symptoms

DataBANK
The CRRVP maintains a repository for data sets that are available for secondary analysis by faculty, doctoral students, and affiliate members. The collection includes data sets relevant to the following areas:

• Physiological Function
• Symptoms
• Functional Status
• Perceived Health
• Quality of Life

Methodology Consultation Services

1. Consultation services and support for the use of the behavioral and experiential measures
2. Evaluation and adaptation of questionnaires to be used with specific ethnic groups
3. Statistical consultation related to complex and advanced statistics
4. Consultation and support for the use of biological measures
5. Support for qualitative research
6. Consultation and support services for data collection (interviewer training), management, analysis, and sharing
7. Programs for the development of investigators and project staff with respect to methodological issues

Data Management Services

1. Data management services that include manual data entry and certification of small data sets, automated entry of data and verification of large data sets, and consultation regarding other data management issues
2. Computer programming to facilitate data collection in field settings