Academic Research
Study of Managed Care in Five States
- Principal Investigators: Carol Simon, Boston University; William White, Yale University
The Survey Lab conducted primarily face-to-face (and some phone) interviews in the state capitals of California, Massachusetts, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin with health care experts about managed care and its effects on physicians and their practices. Informed about the issues and controversies in each state, we then interviewed physicians in different parts of each state in practices with different structures (size, specialty, etc.). A supplementary project added under-represented doctors (African-American and Hispanic) as well as the associations that represent them to the study. We conducted interviews with a total of 325 respondents (106 experts, 127 physicians, and 92 practice administrators). The Survey Lab designed the quota sample and the Interview Guides used with experts, doctors and practice administrators. We compiled and processed extensive field notes using Atlas TI qualitative software.
Physicians' Religious Beliefs
- Principal Investigator: Farr Curlin, MD
The Survey Lab provided consulting for Dr. Farr Curlin who conducted a mail survey of physicians concerning their religious views. We advised him about the questionnaire, cover letter, sampling and follow-up issues, receipt control and other logistics associated with data collection. Publications resulting from this survey include:
- Hall DE, Curlin FA. Can physicians' care be neutral regarding religion? Academic Medicine. 2004;79:677-679.
- Curlin FA and Moschovis PP. Is religious devotion relevant to the doctor-patient relationship? Journal of Family Practice. 2004;53(8):632-640
- Survey on physicians' religious beliefs shows majority faithful The University of Chicago Chronicle. 2005; 24(19)
Adjustment to Residential School
- Principal Investigator: Lauren Rich, Ph.D., Chapin Hall Center for Children
This study is the first year in a longitudinal study of children attending Milton Hershey residential school in Pennsylvania (MHS), a boarding school for children from low-income families. The study seeks to understand how well children and their families adjust to having a child live at a residential school. The principal investigator conducted a first round of interviews with the parents/ guardians of students enrolling their child/ren in the school for the first time in the Fall of 2004. In the Spring of 2005, Ms. Rich contracted with the University of Chicago Survey Lab to contact parents/guardians who had participated in the first round of interviews to gain their permission to allow their children to participate in surveys at the school and to administer the second parent/caretaker survey over the phone.
HIV Transmission to Infants
- Principal Investigator: Stacy Lindau, MD
The Survey Lab conducted open-ended interviews with a small group of HIV-Positive Women with DCFS involvement and who have had pregnancies since knowing their HIV status. The Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative funded the project and individuals form The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, The University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the Cook County Bureau of Health Services CORE Center and AIDS Legal Council participated in summarizing the results. In this study, the investigators sought to uncover ways to increase prenatal care, post-natal care and the disclosure of HIV status at childbirth in order to reduce transmission during labor and delivery.
The clients published the results in Social Science & Medicine:
- Lindau, Stacy Tessler , Jessica Jeromeb, Kate Miller, Elizabeth Monk, Patricia Garcia, Mardge Cohen. "Mothers at the margins: Implications for eradicating perinatal HIV," (January, 2006).
Access to Urgent Ambulatory Care Follow-up Appointments
- Principal Investigator: Brent Asplin, MD
This study had an experimental design, with two major goals:
- To assess the availability and timing of outpatient appointments for medical and surgical conditions requiring urgent Emergency Department follow-up care for patients with three insurance types (Medicaid, private insurance, uninsured).
- To assess the degree to which access to follow-up care following an emergency room visit varies by region of the country, by foreign vs native accent of the patient, by gender of the patient and by medical condition of the patient.
Eight Survey Lab research assistants called 499 randomly selected ambulatory clinics in 9 US cities (May 2002–February 2003). Callers explained that they had been seen in an emergency department the prior evening, and they were calling to schedule an urgent follow-up appointment (within 1 week). Callers identified themselves as having 1 of 3 medical conditions (pneumonia, hypertension, or possible ectopic pregnancy). The same person called each clinic twice using the same clinical vignette but different insurance status. Callers posing as patients documented a number of characteristics about the call, including whether or not they were able to obtain appointments (all successful appointments were immediately canceled). The principal investigators published the results in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The citation for this article and link follow below:
- Asplin, Brent R. MD, MPH; Karin V. Rhodes, MD; Helen Levy, PhD; Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH; A. Lauren Crain, PhD; Bradley P. Carlin, PhD; Arthur L. Kellermann, MD, MPH, "Insurance Status and Access to Urgent Ambulatory Care Follow-up Appointments," JAMA Vol. 294 No. 10, September 14, 2005.
