Research and Training
The Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences (BCHS) has an extensive array of funded research and training projects. BCHS faculty and staff are skilled in the use of a range of both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and the department is particularly well known for its community-based participatory research strategies designed to improve the health and welfare of communities. Research and training projects are funded by organizations such as:
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
- Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HRSA)
- Pennsylvania Department of Health
- Tobacco Free Allegheny
- Local and national philanthropic organizations
Areas of Research strengths include:
- Diabetes and Chronic Disease Prevention
- Cancer Control
- Health Disparities and Minority Health
- Public Health and Aging
- Maternal and Child Health
- Rural Health Issues
- Tobacco Use and Substance Abuse Prevention
- HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Global Health
Services: The Office of Health Survey Research, which operates the CATI system, is a permanent facility that provides computer-assisted interviewing services to the faculty of the department and to the wider University of Pittsburgh community. In addition to a direct data-entry system for telephone interviewing, the office provides questionnaire design consultation, survey management, and computer-ready data, among other data-collection services.
The Institute for Evaluation Science in Community Health, which is a newly created entity in collaboration with the Department of Health Policy and Management and the University Center for Social and Urban Research, has as its primary goal the advancement of evaluation science, scholarship, and practice through regional, national, and international research, training, and consultation. The fundamental purpose of these activities is to make evaluation science a core component of public health infrastructure as well as an indispensable tool to improve public health practice and the performance of public health and related human service organizations.