The overall goal of the Nutrition Communication for Health Applications and Interventions (CHAI) Core (www.chaicore.com) is to offer state-of-the-art resources and techniques for the development of high-quality and rigorously-evaluated behavioral science interventions aimed at health promotion and disease prevention via improving nutrition in populations at risk. The Core fills a critical gap in existing resources for nutrition researchers by facilitating member access to, and translation of, science-based research relevant to communication, health behavior theory, intervention design, and evaluation into strategies and tools that can produce more effective interventions. Specifically, the CHAI Core offers a concierge form of resources to researchers by providing grant consultation, assistance in qualitative and formative research, graphic design, web and database development, survey design, message tailoring, usability testing, process evaluation, dissemination services, and development of intervention materials, from print to interactive and web-based under one roof. As sophisticated web-based applications become more commonly a part of nutrition interventions, the CHAI Core becomes even more of a resource for investigators who could otherwise not afford to create such applications. Researchers turning to CHAI are generally reaching out to underserved study populations. The CHAI Core is committed to providing services to nutrition investigators seeking or developing peer-reviewed funded projects. This includes assisting new investigators submitting grants internal to UNC, such as NC TRACS, or to external funding agencies for pilot submissions. As budgets tightened, the CHAI Core has taken on the role of study staff assisting with protocol and IRB submissions, recruitment, qualitative interviews, analysis, and manuscript writing, as well as providing the technical tools needed to implement the study. Paying CHAI to provide these services on an hourly basis instead of paying staff on a contracted basis provides both needed savings and collaboration with staff members with strong research experience.
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