Candidate Background and Educational Plan: Michael S. Yi, MD, MSc, completed his internal medicine and pediatrics residency at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC). He then completed his Outcomes Research Fellowship at the Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research, and a Master of Science in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. He recently joined the faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine with appointments in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. His division and department directors are strongly committed to fostering Dr. Yi's plans to examine the determinants of health outcomes and the value of health in adolescents with chronic illness. Joel Tsevat, MD, MPH, the project mentor, offers considerable content and methodologic expertise in the measurement of health-related quality of life and health values and has a K24 mentorship grant. The institution is committed to provide an environment that will support a didactic program that includes relevant courses in the behavioral and social sciences, advanced biostatistical methods, and research ethics, as well as interaction with other independent investigators from multiple disciplines. Research Plan: The primary objective of this proposal is to delineate the pathways underlying health values in adolescents with chronic illness.
The aims of this proposal are: 1) to determine the impact of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on health status, general health perceptions, well being, and health values; 2) to determine the differences in individual traits and perceptions and in the family and social environment of a general population of adolescents versus those living with IBD; and 3) to determine the relationships between developmental age, individual traits and perceptions, and family and social environment on the sense of overall well being and the value placed on health in a general population of adolescents and those living with IBD. The findings will inform on how both individual characteristics and structural and subjective family/social environmental factors impact health outcomes. It will break new ground in adolescent health values research by incorporating previously unstudied clinical, psychological, family, and environmental factors. Values/preferences methodology will be useful not only to assess health outcomes at a population level but also to assist individual-level health care decision-making; understanding the process by which young patients determine preferences/values will provide information for improving patient-centered health care delivery. The challenge and the major strength of this research agenda is its integration of behavioral and social science paradigms with clinical disease information.
