Perkins Daniel F, McCarthy Kimberly J, Morgan Nicole R, Balotti Brandon A, Davenport Katie E, Aronson Keith R, Lockwood William, Andros Megan
Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State (Clearinghouse), The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.
Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2024 Dec 24;12:1346057. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1346057. eCollection 2024.
Research-practice-policy partnerships are shifting the academic research paradigm toward collaboration and research-informed action at community and policy levels. In this case study, researchers partnered with philanthropic foundations to actualize data findings from a rigorous, longitudinal study.
In 2016, a survey of post-9/11 military veterans began assessing veterans' well-being in key domains: health, vocation (education and employment), finances, and social relationships. Data were collected from 9,566 veterans with three study aims: document factors affecting well-being, describe the use of transition-assistance programs and distill them into common components, and identify components associated with positive changes in veterans' well-being.
The study evolved into a partnership among an academic applied research center and philanthropic funders to disseminate survey findings, investigate additional research questions of practical application, and help ensure public and private funds are invested in evidence-informed programs and services that support veterans' well-being. Four RPP partnership goals were identified.
Goal 1 included survey expansion to capture data on emerging concerns (e.g., COVID-19 impacts, educational experiences, burn pit exposure, civic engagement, social-media use). This resulted in eight waves of data collection over 6.5 years. Goal 2 involved co-interpretation of data to define successful military-to-civilian transition (MCT) and strategic communications to engage national leaders in policy change for veterans. Goal 3 focused on evaluation support of partners' organizational portfolios and programs, which resulted in new tools such as an online screener that veteran-serving providers could use to identify veterans' MCT risks and respond with tailored, research-informed resources and program components. Goal 4 allowed for the application of research findings with an innovative model for using longitudinal study variables within robust comparison analyses to assess partners' program components; propensity matching demonstrated that effective component use leads to better outcomes for veterans (e.g., higher salaries).
Partnerships can equip funders and service organizations with credible data, clear messaging, and tools to advocate for and champion the well-being of populations. This partnership, galvanized by using data for co-learning and collaborative action, has augmented the nation's understanding of veterans' reintegration and has led to veterans receiving data-driven support for successful transitions and enhanced well-being.
研究-实践-政策伙伴关系正在将学术研究范式转向社区和政策层面的合作以及基于研究的行动。在本案例研究中，研究人员与慈善基金会合作，以实现一项严谨的纵向研究的数据结果。
2016年，一项针对9·11事件后退伍军人的调查开始评估退伍军人在关键领域的福祉：健康、职业（教育和就业）、财务和社会关系。从9566名退伍军人那里收集了数据，有三个研究目标：记录影响福祉的因素，描述过渡援助计划的使用情况并将其提炼为共同要素，以及确定与退伍军人福祉积极变化相关的要素。
该研究演变成一个学术应用研究中心与慈善资助者之间的伙伴关系，以传播调查结果，研究更多具有实际应用价值的问题，并帮助确保公共和私人资金投入到支持退伍军人福祉的循证项目和服务中。确定了四个研究-实践-政策伙伴关系目标。
目标1包括扩大调查范围，以获取有关新出现问题（例如，新冠疫情的影响、教育经历、接触燃烧坑、公民参与、社交媒体使用）的数据。这导致在6.5年的时间里进行了八轮数据收集。目标2涉及对数据进行共同解读，以定义成功的从军事到平民的过渡（MCT），并进行战略沟通，以使国家领导人参与有关退伍军人的政策变革。目标3专注于对伙伴组织的投资组合和项目进行评估支持，这产生了一些新工具，例如在线筛选器，退伍军人服务提供者可以使用它来识别退伍军人的MCT风险，并以量身定制的、基于研究的资源和项目要素做出回应。目标4允许通过一种创新模型应用研究结果，即在强大的比较分析中使用纵向研究变量来评估伙伴的项目要素；倾向匹配表明，有效使用要素会为退伍军人带来更好的结果（例如，更高的薪资）。
伙伴关系可以为资助者和服务组织提供可靠的数据、清晰的信息以及工具，以倡导并支持民众的福祉。这种通过利用数据进行共同学习和合作行动而形成的伙伴关系，增强了国家对退伍军人重新融入社会的理解，并使退伍军人获得了数据驱动的支持，以实现成功过渡并提升福祉。
