Transdisciplinary Team Research Articles

The RADx Tech Test Verification Core and the ACME POCT in the Evaluation of COVID-19 Testing Devices: A Model for Progress and Change.

Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the US system for developing and testing technologies was challenged in unparalleled ways. This article describes the multi-institutional, transdisciplinary team of the “RADxSM Tech Test Verification Core” and its role in expediting evaluations of COVID-19 testing devices. Expertise related to aspects of diagnostic testing was coordinated to evaluate testing devices with the goal of significantly expanding the ability to mass screen Americans to preserve lives and facilitate the safe return to work and school. Focal points included: laboratory and clinical device evaluation of the limit of viral detection, sensitivity, and specificity of devices in controlled and community settings; regulatory expertise to provide focused attention to barriers to device approval and distribution; usability testing from the perspective of patients and those using the tests to identify and overcome device limitations, and engineering assessment to evaluate robustness of design including human factors, manufacturability, and scalability.

Transdisciplinary Team Approach to Children with Cleft Lip and Palate

Transdisciplinary Team Approach to Children with Cleft Lip and Palate

Better News about Math: A Research Agenda

Numeracy is not a luxury: numbers constantly factor into our daily lives. Yet adults in the United States have lower numeracy than adults in most other developed nations. While formal statistical training is effective, few adults receive it – and schools are a major contributor to the inequity we see among U.S. adults. That leaves news well-poised as a source of informal learning, given that news is a domain where adults regularly encounter quantitative content. Our transdisciplinary team of journalists and social scientists propose a research agenda for thinking about math and the news. We engage here in a dialogue about two recent news articles, contrasting journalist and researcher perspectives on each. We close by talking about the particular opportunities and challenges that the global COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare for both of our professions.

Об актуальности развития трансдисциплинарной модели организации работы специалистов службы ранней помощи

The team approach is one of the priorities in modern social practice and it is necessary for social practitioners to have professional and team-working competencies as well, and it is important for them to understanding the specifics of different approaches of team working organizing. For Russian social practitioners is important to know the essential specifics of different models of team work, their correct terminology definition and practical application. Based on the analysis of domestic and foreign sources, the article discusses the main models of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, trans-disciplinary team work of early intervention specialists; highlighted their essential characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Interdisciplinary model of early intervention is the most common this time. The authors position is that the trans-disciplinary model of early intervention is the most promising and effective in family work. The needs, the barriers and the prospects of implementation of the trans-disciplinary model of early intervention family work in Perm region are analyses in this article.

Co‐designing the Cabriotraining: A training for transdisciplinary teams

Accessible summary The research was conducted by a team of researchers. Some of the researchers have experience of living with a disability. The researchers created training for other research teams that include experts by experience. The training has six parts. To decide what happened in the training, the researchers read articles and asked the research teams they trained about what problems they had and what they wanted to know about. The article tells why and how the training was made. It also says what training is needed for researchers with and without disabilities to learn and work together in a way that feels safe and useful. In developing and providing the training, it was very crucial to search for a safe and welcome space for all people involved (Figure 8). As we don't know what is “safe” for the other, this means we have to search together, in respect and with enough time to get to know each other. AbstractBackgroundResearchers collected questions and needs for training from 10 inclusive research projects in the Netherlands. Based on literature research and the information collected, six training modules were developed. Researchers sought to learn how to develop and provide training and coaching to inclusive teams on organising collaboration in the different stages of their research projects.MethodAn iterative training development process to support inclusive research projects was initiated by a research duo backed by a transdisciplinary team including researchers, trainers and designers. Some members of the team have experiential knowledge based on living with a disability.ResultsLiterature research resulted in four guiding theories, including Universal Design for Learning, Derrida's concept of Hospitality, post‐materialist theory looking at agency as an assemblage, and Romiszowski's model situated within Instructional Design theory. Insights gained during development of the training modules are documented with text, figures and vignettes. A core finding was the need to add “Level Zero” to Romiszowski's model: a collective term created for all the interacting issues trainers had to consider because of research group diversity.ConclusionsHospitality formed the heart of “Level Zero.” Creating a failure‐free space for learning is an important pre‐condition for the development and organisation of training. Training can inspire exploration and reflection on collaboration and can illuminate how to conduct research within transdisciplinary teams. Essential practices included working with nonverbal research methods, as these are (more) fit for purpose when including the knowledge of experts by experience and incorporating practice‐ and stakeholder‐based knowledge.

Bringing Transdisciplinary Aging Research From Theory to Practice.

There is a growing emphasis to use a transdisciplinary team approach to accelerate innovations in science to solve complex conditions associated with aging. However, the optimal organizational structure and process for how to accomplish transdisciplinary team science is unclear. In this forum, we illustrate our team's experience using transdisciplinary approaches to solve challenging and persistent problems for older adults living in urban communities. We describe our challenges and successes using the National Institutes of Health four-phase model of transdisciplinary team-based research. Using a de-identified survey, the team conducted an internal evaluation to identify features that created challenges including structural incongruities, interprofessional blind spots, group function, and group dynamics. This work resulted in the creation of the team's Transdisciplinary Conceptual Model. This model became essential to understanding the complex interplay between societal factors, community partners, and academic partners. Conducting internal evaluations of transdisciplinary team processes is integral for teams to move beyond the multi- and interdisciplinary niche and to reach true transdisciplinary success. More research is needed to develop measures that assess team transdisciplinary integration. Once the process of transdisciplinary integration can be reliably assessed, the next step would be to determine the impact of transdisciplinary team science initiatives on aging communities.

Virtual connection between older people with dementia and families during COVID-19 pandemic

People staying in hospitals need more support to cope with the lockdown and visitor restriction during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for older people with cognitive or physical impairment. Everyday technology such as a touchscreen tablet has great potential to support person-centred care. We aimed to support the adoption of tablets for hospitalized people with dementia to connect with families and friends. A patient-oriented research approach was employed to co-produce the toolkit. We are a transdisciplinary team, including a medical student, physicians, nurses, patients, and family partners. We facilitated staff focus groups (n=3), and conducted stakeholders’ interviews (n=4) to gain a more comprehensive understanding of users’ needs. The sample included ten patients, ten family members, 40 staff members, nurses, care workers, physicians, and unit clerks (n=40). The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) guided the research design and qualitative analysis. A toolkit was developed based on participants’ perspectives on what needs to be in place to support successful adoption. We developed a mobile tablet with one mechanical arm and one leg on wheels. Participants reported impacts: (a) it puts a smile on the patient’s face, (b) it alleviates anxiety and worries on both sides, and (c) it reduces responsive behaviors. The conceptual framework CFIR provides helpful guidance in identifying barriers to implementation. Working with users including patient and family partners to explore possible solutions was key to our success. Future research should engage patient and family partners to seek proactive strategies to address obstacles to advance the science of technology implementation.

A transdisciplinary evaluation framework for the assessment of integration in boundary-crossing collaborations in teacher education

This study provides a) an evaluative framework for boundary-crossing collaboration in teacher education which is inspired by the discourse of transdisciplinarity. In addition, it offers b) empirical insights about so-called Transdisciplinary Development Teams, which comprise practitioners, researchers, and student teachers. The framework bases on (1) epistemic, (2) social, and (3) organisational integration characteristics such as (1a) mutual learning, (1b) knowledge integration, (2a) perceived trustworthiness, (2b) appreciation within the team, and (3a) collective ownership of goals. Drawing on a written survey with n = 62 participants, the empirical study provides findings on three research questions. First, all dimensions of integration characteristics have been rated high on average. Second, the results of a one-way ANOVA establish that the main actor groups perceive the work in Transdisciplinary Development Teams as integrative with regard to previously stated characteristics. Third, the analysis of a manifest path model substantiates theoretically assumed effect relationships. Subsequently, transdisciplinary dimensions of integration characteristics appear suitable for assessing boundary-crossing collaboration in teacher education.

Exploring Challenges of Hospital Chaplains in Transdisciplinary Teams

Hospital chaplains experience obstacles in contributing to team objectives when a part of transdisciplinary teams. This case study explores the communication challenges of membership on transdisciplinary teams for hospital chaplains, using a fictional account based on data from a previous study. Chaplain David Howard is one of three chaplains at Grace Hospital and is assigned to the newly formed palliative care transdisciplinary team. The purpose of this team is to work towards providing quality care to patients in the upcoming integrative medicine wing. Although the team is tasked with improving the quality of life for patients, David notices that his concerns of quality care often clash with his medical colleagues' concerns about improved medical health outcomes. As the team's differing perspectives are revealed, it is evident that their communication is crucial to their ability to work together successfully.

Lessons From the Field: Developing and Implementing an Intervention for Jailed Parents and Their Children

ObjectiveIn this Lesson from the Field, we describe an intervention designed by our transdisciplinary team focusing on opportunities for enhanced parent–child visits when a parent is incarcerated in jail. We present implementation challenges and lessons learned from our pilot feasibility study.BackgroundSeparation from one's parent because of incarceration has become an increasingly common experience for U.S. children, with one in 14 children experiencing a coresident parent leaving for prison or jail. Parental incarceration is associated with elevated risk for less optimal child development outcomes, yet few evidence‐based interventions are available to mitigate this risk.ExperienceOur field experience underscores knowledge about intervention development and lessons learned in four areas: (a) use of visit coaching with jailed parents and caregivers, (b) application of video chat technology, (c) serving families holistically, and (d) developing family‐focused services in jails.Conclusion and ImplicationsOur study highlights the value of integrating multiple perspectives, ensuring flexibility with families, combining technology with enhanced support strategies, and collaborating with community organizations and government agencies. The intervention can be implemented without extensive training and can be useful across different family professionals working with families involved in the criminal justice system.

Connecting patients and families by a tablet on wheels during the time of COVID‐19 pandemic

BackgroundPeople staying in hospitals need more support to cope with the lock down and visitor restriction during the COVID‐19 pandemic, especially for older people with cognitive or physical impairment. Everyday technology such as a touchscreen tablet has great potential to support person‐centred care. Aims: We aimed to support the adoption of tablets for hospitalized people with dementia to connect with families and friends.MethodsA patient‐oriented research approach was employed to co‐produce the toolkit. We are a transdisciplinary team, including a medical student, physicians, nurses, patients, and family partners. We facilitated staff focus groups (n = 3), and conducted stakeholders' interviews (n = 4) to gain a more comprehensive understanding of users' needs. The sample included ten patients, ten family members, 40 staff members, nurses, care workers, physicians, and unit clerks (n = 40). The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) guided the research design and qualitative analysis.ResultsA toolkit was developed based on participants’ perspectives on what needs to be in place to support successful adoption. We developed a mobile tablet with one mechanical arm and one leg on wheels. Participants reported impacts: (a) it puts a smile on the patient’s face, (b) it alleviates anxiety and worries on both sides, and (c) it reduces responsive behaviours.ConclusionsThe conceptual framework CFIR provides helpful guidance in identifying barriers to implementation. Working with users including patient and family partners to explore possible solutions was key to our success. Future research should engage patient and family partners to seek proactive strategies to address obstacles to advance the science of technology implementation.

Relationships Between Communication, Time Pressure, Workload, Task Complexity, Logistical Issues and Group Composition in Transdisciplinary Teams: A Prospective Observational Study Across 822 Cancer Cases

Introduction. Functional perspective of team decision-making highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between team interaction/communication during a given task, the internal factors that emanate from within a group (e.g. team composition), and the external circumstances (e.g. workload and time pressures). As an underexplored area, we explored these relationships in the context of multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings (aka tumor boards). Materials and methods. Three cancer MDTs with 44 team members were recruited from 3 teaching hospitals in the United Kingdom. Thirty of their weekly meetings encompassing 822 case reviews were filmed. Validated instruments were used to assess each case: Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis that captures frequency of task-oriented and socio-emotional interactions/communication; and Measure of case-Discussion Complexity that captures clinical and logistic complexities. We also measured team size, disciplinary diversity, gender, time-workload pressure, and time-on-task. Partial correlation analysis controlling for team/tumor type and case complexity was used for analysis. Results. Clinical complexity positively correlated with task-oriented communication, e.g. gives opinion (r=0.51, p 0.05), however, case reviews with more males present were associated with more tension (r=0.09, p<0.01) and less disagreements (r=-0.11, p<0.01), while when more females present there were more disagreements (r=0.10, p<0.01) and less tension (r=-0.11, p<0.01). Discussion. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the relationship between MDT interaction/communication and the external/internal factors. Smaller size, gender balanced teams with core disciplines present, and streamlining workload to reduce time-workload pressure, time-on-task effects, and logistical issues appear more conducive to building and maintain optimal MDTs. Our methodology could be applied to other MDT-driven areas of healthcare.

Building a Community of Practice to foster Multidisciplinary Disaster Research

Disaster research requires rapid assembly of transdisciplinary research teams. These partnerships take time to assemble and develop. A network of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) investigators has been assembled to form a community of practice for disaster response research. Expertise is shared and multidisciplinary teams across multiple academic institutions can rapidly be assembled. Environmental health disaster research can be advanced through cross-institutional collaboration.

Effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of black and brown racialized populations in the U.S.

Effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of black and brown racialized populations in the U.S.

Socio-Ecological Challenges as Modulators of Women's Reproductive Trajectories

Amenorrhea, anovulatory cycles, miscarriages, and other reproductive outcomes are often seen as pathological. Life history theory, in contrast, treats those outcomes as adaptations that helped women optimize the timing of reproductive ventures across our evolutionary history. Women's bodies adjust their reproductive strategies in response to socio-ecological conditions, a process mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA). Here, we review the links between socio-ecological conditions, HPAA activity, and the pace of women's reproductive transitions such as puberty, age at first birth, interbirth interval, and perimenopause. We also discuss the HPAA's role as a modulator of reproductive function: It not only suppresses it but may also prime women's bodies for future reproductive ventures. We conclude by reviewing challenges and opportunities within our subfield, including the need for transdisciplinary teams to develop longitudinal studies to improve our understanding of women's reproductive trajectories and outcomes from the moment they are conceived.

The Translational Approaches to Personalized Health Collaborative: Pharmacogenomics for African American Older Adults.

Older adults (i.e., 60 years and older), are the leading consumers of medications, and consequently are suffering the most from medication‐related adverse events. Not only are older adults the largest consumers of medications, they are more likely to experience an adverse drug event contributing to increased hospitalization, utilization of emergency medical services, and mortality. Translational Approaches to Personalized Health (TAPH) is a transdisciplinary team of researchers conducting community‐engaged participatory research focused on the discovery and translation of pharmacogenomic (PGx) data to improve health outcomes. Underserved and ethnically diverse older adults living in urban settings are significantly under‐represented in PGx studies. To address the issue of under‐representation, our study enrolls older African American adults into a community‐based PGx study. Therefore, we will characterize the frequency of actionable PGx genotypes and identify novel PGx response genes in our cohort of older community dwelling African Americans. The translational component of our work is to use the PGx findings to improve therapeutic outcomes for medication management in older adults. Such findings will serve as a foundation for translational PGx studies aimed at improving medication efficacy and safety for older adults. In this article, we describe the process for launching the TAPH collaborative group, which includes the transdisciplinary team, community‐engaged participatory research model, study measures, and the evaluation of PGx genes.

Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project: Supporting families of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous children with Otitis Media

ABSTRACT Otitis Media (OM) is an important global issue that can have a long-lasting impact on a child’s life. There is no easy fix! For a family who has a child with OM, the ramifications can be short term and have minimal consequences, or they can be very complex and involve medical, educational, behavioural and wellbeing issues, and may even be life-threatening. Navigating diagnosis and then the combinations of interventions in all areas is just the start of a very daunting journey. As a preventable disease, we have the opportunity to make a difference. This paper presents the development and implementation of the Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project (HoHEBP) within a regional city in western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The HoHEBP supports families of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous children with OM through a transdisciplinary approach incorporating health and education, in partnership with families and communities to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and young people. We present how the HoHEBP provides a unique vehicle for change in the way we approach OM as a transdisciplinary team. Longitudinal data from 2014 to 2019 shows that numbers of children and young people being tested and diagnosed with OM, and referred to medical and educational specialists through the HoHEBP have increased, with over one third identifying as Indigenous (in this paper Indigenous is used respectfully to refer to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples).

A transdisciplinary collaborative journey leading to sensorial clothing

ABSTRACT Recent science funding initiatives have enabled participants from a diverse array of disciplines to engage in common spaces for developing solutions for new wearables. These initiatives include collaborations between the arts and sciences, fields which have traditionally contributed very different forms of knowledge, methodology, and results. However, many such collaborations often turn out as science communication and dissemination activities that make no concrete contribution to technological innovation. Magic Lining, a transdisciplinary collaborative project involving artistic and scientific partners working in the fields of e-textile design, cognitive neuroscience and human-computer interaction, creates a shared experiential knowledge space. This article focuses on the research question of how a transdisciplinary collaborative design processinvolving material explorations, prototyping, first-person-perspective and user studies, can lead to the creation of a garment that invites various perceptual and emotional responses in its wearer. The article reflects on the design journey, highlighting the transdisciplinary team’s research through design experience and shared language for knowledge exchange. This process has revealed new research paths for an emerging field of ‘sensorial clothing’, combining the various team members’ fields of expertise and resulting in a wearable prototype.

Lexicons, Literacies and Design Futures

As the world in which we live becomes more complex and contested, economically and politically but also in terms of rapid and long-lasting environmental change, design education faces new demands and challenges. We frame and situate these in terms of what we call “design futures literacies.” At stake in such a framing is a rethinking of design’s priorities in the context of climate change and resource use and reuse in futures that are uncertain, contingent and emergent. The article positions design as having shifted away from a techno-modernist design solutionism and to how it may engage in shaping futures through experimentation and exploration in the critical and productive engagement with techno-cultural life. These arguments are located within the prior experience of the transdisciplinary team of co-authors as well as a European level project between four leading design universities. The article takes up their first work package on the co-creation of a Lexicon for Design Futures Literacies and early experimentation towards generating resources and experience for its wider use. The article addresses the largely under articulated relations between language and design (from lexis to discourse). First, we present the development of an alphabetic, lexical semantic set and core grouping of design and futures terms. This vocabulary, drawn from a range of sources and experiences, is linked to the design of a related lexically centred card game. Second, the focus on vocabulary was extended to a section on situating lexis in cultural historical contexts, 3-dimensional haptic form giving and the language of abstraction. This was achieved via reference to a design narrative fiction experiment on emerging technologies and a historical costume annotation project as a prompt for making connections between items from the lexicon and modelling abstract forms in clay. Third, in collaboration with a government ministry and a design council, students developed four future digital urban living scenarios with trust as their central focus. “Languaging” the future was embodied in physical scenarios open to the public, connected to a professional seminar and to international research events where verbal descriptions, explanations and reflections were voiced by the students alongside their educator-researcher. The article closes with suggestions that there is further opportunity for attention to lexis and multimodal discourse modes in shaping design futures literacies, within and across the project but also in practice, in policy and for and as design pedagogy.

Exploring the awe-some: Mobile eye-tracking insights into awe in a science museum.

Informal learning environments provide the opportunity to study guests' experiences as they engage with exhibits specifically designed to invoke the emotional experience of awe. The current paper presents insight gained by using both traditional survey measures and innovative mobile eye-tracking technology to examine guests' experiences of awe in a science museum. We present results for guests' visual attention in two exhibit spaces, one chosen for its potential to evoke positive awe and one for negative awe, and examine associations between visual attention and survey responses with regard to different facets of awe. In this exploratory study, we find relationships between how guests attend to features within an exhibit space (e.g., signage) and their feelings of awe. We discuss implications of using both methods concurrently to shed new light on exhibit design, and more generally for working in transdisciplinary multimethod teams to move scientific knowledge and application forward.