November Updates
R3 has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UVA’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and program liftoff can officially begin.
The signed MOU has allowed R3 to begin conducting outreach and interviews for the Resident Reviewer positions. Along with raising general awareness within the community about R3, this outreach was meant to encourage Residents to come to a virtual informational session, where they would be able to ask questions about R3 and learn more about the position.
After conducting this informational session, the team has begun accepting applications for Resident Reviewers, and will be hosting interviews before the end of the month. To help generate more awareness and momentum for the R3 project, the team has been planning monthly roundtables for all to attend, where Residents will have the opportunity to share their experiences and concerns.
R3’s major successes this month include:
- Conducting outreach to raise awareness for R3
- Hosting a virtual R3 Info Session for Residents to learn about R3
- Distributing and accepting applications to be an R3 Reviewer
- Conducting interviews for R3 Reviewer Applicants
- Signing of the IRB-R3 MOU
- Beginning the process of formal documentation of R3’s development over time
- “The Road so Far,” a roadmap of our progress over the years
- Constructing and expanding the onboarding process for Resident Reviewers, including the creation of a curriculum filled with educational materials on research
October Updates
R3 Team at McIntire Park for the R3 Retreat on September 24, 2021
Front (left to right): Laura Goldblatt, Todd Niemeier, Cecilia Barber Rear (left to right): Shelby Edwards, Sherica Jones-Lewis, Kathleen Glenn-Matthews, David Edmunds, Rupa Valdez, Karen Waters-Wicks, Pam Rosen
For the month of October, the team has focused on community outreach with an emphasis on the relationship between research and tangible change. The team had planned to conclude the trash pick-up series with events at Michie Dr. and Westhaven, but had to cancel them due to COVID-19. Now the team has turned its head towards research topics that have come from the community: one related to dog breed bans and the other is in support of the Westhaven Nursing Clinic.
We are excited to confirm that R3 research has once again, allowed us to both inform residents and PHAR impact this month. Related to dog breed bans, the team was able to explore the ways that breed bans negatively affect residents and inform PHAR’s analysis and negotiations of pet policies within the community. This project is particularly exciting because it was informed by the R3’s Coordinator’s personal interest and enabled PHAR’s intervention in a case with potentially negative outcomes for a resident.
On October 15, Cecilia joined the Nursing Clinic’s Self-Care event and helped pass out goody bags. The team put together a guided gratitude booklet and created homemade play-dough. The playdough and gratitude booklets came from research findings indicating the benefits of practicing gratitude and sensory stimulation, and were developed to help change the mindset that self-care has to be difficult or expensive. These efforts are representative of PHAR and R3’s commitment to creating legitimate change as a result of research findings, and a demonstration of the team’s desire to build trust and create change with Residents, not for them.
To prepare for R3 for its next steps, the team hosted its first retreat at the end of September. At this retreat, the team discussed the procedures which will govern our program’s operations after logistics with the IRB and other community partners are solidified. Cecilia and the team are in the process of drafting formal operating procedures with the hope of beginning hiring efforts as soon as possible. Over the next few months we intend to hire resident reviewers and onboard them into the PHAR staff.
For more information, please contact R3 Coordinator Cecilia Barber at cecilia@pharcville.org.