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Do You Want To Know More About Participating In Research?
All disciplines conduct research. In the mental health and substance abuse fields, research is used to advance treatments, improve care and quality of life, and to find new ways of promoting recovery. It is the way we learn more about what works and what doesn’t. Research is also used to explore issues that we know very little about. Research can include medication research, interviewing people, trying new therapy treatments, observing people in various activities, evaluating the effectiveness of a program, etc. In essence, research is about asking important questions with the hope of finding some direction and/or answers.
All members of the community participate in recovery or rehabilitation research. Most research studies have researchers who are involved in finding people to participate, collecting necessary information (data), and summarizing the results of the information collected in a research project. These researchers can include students, doctors, mental health consumers, etc. Research participants are those persons who have the experiences that are the focus of the research questions. For example, in a research study about how families are involved in mental health care for their children, the research participants could be the family members and/or the children. This is why not everyone can participate in any research study, unless they meet the “criteria” to do so.
VA is a leading research organization, so there are many ongoing research studies that focus on a wide range of issues. MIRECC is one of the research organizations within the VA system. There are also other government and non-government organizations looking for research participants. Click Here for Links to These Websites If you are interested in participating in a MIRECC research study, please click MIRECC to the left and there will be information about ongoing research studies and potential research position openings.
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