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OBJECTIVES:The purpose of this article is to report on the Center of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine at RAND Corporation. The overall project examined the appropriateness of chiropractic spinal manipulation and mobilization for chronic low back pain and chronic cervical pain using the RAND and University of California Los Angeles Appropriateness Method, including patient preferences and costs, to acknowledge the importance of patient-centered care in clinical decision-making. METHODS:This article is a narrative summary of the overall project and its inter-related components (ie, 4 Research Project Grants and 2 centers), including the Data Collection Core, whose activities and learning will be the subject of a following series of methods articles. RESULTS:The project team faced many challenges in accomplishing data collection goals. The processes we developed to overcome barriers may be of use to other researchers and for practitioners who may want to participate in such studies in complementary and integrative health, which previously was known as complementary and alternative medicine. CONCLUSION:For this large, complex, successful project, we gathered online survey data, collected charts, and abstracted chart data from thousands of chiropractic patients. The present article delineates the challenges and lessons that were learned during this project so that others may gain from the authors' experience. This information may be of use to future research that collects data from independent practitioners and their patients because it provides what is needed to be successful in such studies and may encourage participation.

This work in progress paper describes the initial stages of a project which aims to characterize the mechanisms of hidden curriculum (HC) in engineering and identify methods for exploring this phenomenon. To effectively study the complex nature of HC, this work brings together researchers with a range of expertise (sociology, engineering education, engineering, statistics, policy analysis, curriculum and instruction) to develop a holistic approach to explore HC in engineering. This work describes the process of gathering input from this multidisciplinary team as well as the literature to develop a mixed-method instrument and model to explore the mechanisms behind HC in engineering, a new realm in engineering education. Early findings suggest that HC may require considerations of an individual’s motivation, self-efficacy, and self-advocacy. The paper also discusses the initial stages of a vignette design used to elicit participants’ responses and reactions to the presented scenes. The vignette scenes focus on HC elements present during classroom preparation and instruction in engineering. Preliminary work on these HC elements per scene are also discussed here.

ObjectiveTo understand the health care access issues faced by Los Angeles (LA) County's uninsured and residually uninsured after implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to identify potential solutions using a community-partnered dialogue.DesignQualitative study using a community-partnered participatory research framework.SettingCommunity forum breakout discussion.DiscussantsRepresentatives from LA County health care agencies, community health care provider organizations, local community advocacy and service organizations including uninsured individuals, and the county school district.Main outcome measuresKey structural and overarching value themes identified through community-partnered pile sort, c-coefficients measuring overlap between themes.ResultsFive overarching value themes were identified - knowledge, trust, quality, partnership, and solutions. Lack of knowledge and misinformation were identified as barriers to successful enrollment of the eligible uninsured and providing health care to undocumented individuals. Discussants noted dissatisfaction with the quality of traditional sources of health care and a broken cycle of trust and disengagement. They also described inherent trust by the uninsured in "outsider" community-based providers not related to quality.ConclusionsImproving health care for the residually uninsured after ACA implementation will require addressing dissatisfaction in safety-net providers, disseminating knowledge and providing health care through trusted nontraditional sources, and using effective and trusted partnerships between community and health care agencies with mutual respect. Community-academic partnerships can be a trusted conduit to discuss issues related to the health care of vulnerable populations.