Page 31 - OPTA Access Spring 2021

Research Committee Report
Abraham Lee, PT, PhD – Co-Chair Andrew Raschke, PT, DPT – Co-Chair
The Research Committee has made great strides forward in the second half of 2020 and the start of the new year. The Committee has worked with three strategic goals: 1) promoting research activities, 2) acknowledging and rewarding individuals being involved in research, and 3) facilitating research activities, and communicating about research results and/or research processes. Here is the list of what we have accomplished or is in the process of being accomplished.
ZOOM MEETINGS
The committee joined the Zoom nation, giving up our telephone conference calls, and held three meetings thus far (September and November in 2020 and January in 2021) with 7-12 participants each meeting, discussing the matters related
to research.
NEWSLETTER PUBLICATION
We began the publication of the newsletter in 2018 to share what is going on among OPTA members in terms of research activities, updates in the area of physical therapy practices, and to facilitate collaborations among the members
of OPTA. In the second half of 2020, we
published a newsletter highlighting the recent grant recipients and their research projects supported by the OPTA research fund. The Research Committee plans to publish the spring newsletter in March of 2021. We also appreciate contributions by Andrew Raschke and Greg Kline who have been instrumental to the publications. They either reached out to potential writers
and communicating with them or organized submitted articles and sought feedback on a draft of the newsletter until being completed. Our newsletters can be found on the OPTA website under About Us > Research.
GRANT REVIEW/RESEARCH
PROCESS TRAINING
One of the principal objectives of the Research Committee is to promote research activities by supporting investigators with research funding. This requires the committee members to evaluate research proposals with research-trained eyes. Improving the quality and consistency of the grant review process
has been a major goal of the committee. To reach this goal, the committee is developing educational material for reviewers, an effort being led by Abraham Lee. The committee has also met to discuss the process of grant review in an effort to improve continuity and year-to- year consistency in the reviewing process and how grants are awarded.
GRANT APPLICATIONS,
EVALUATION, AND AWARDS
During the second half of 2020, the research committee received five grant applications for the 2020 OPTA research grant. The review of these grants was led by Dawn Westfall, who assisted with allocating applications to reviewers and consolidating the reviewers’ findings. This year the Research Committee selected three projects to fund: 1) Matthew Briggs PT, DPT, Ph.D.,
AT, “The Effects of Dry Needling on Muscle Force Production and Movement in those with Patellofemoral Pain,” 2) Alysha C. Walter PT, DPT, “Physical Therapy Management of Advanced Heart Failure Patients in
the Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Case Series,” and 3) Nicole Schroeder, PT, DPT, ATC, “The Effects of a Four-Week Home Yoga Program on the Core Endurance and Strength of Healthy Adults.” These awardees were recognized at OPTA’s Virtual LEAP: Fall 2020, which was completed virtually this year. The efforts of Dawn and all those members who evaluated grant applications are greatly appreciated.
For more information, contact Abraham at:
abraham.lee2@utoledo.edu
or Andrew at andrew.raschke@icloud.com
OPTA | March 2021 | 31