Cluster Randomized Trial Designs in Cancer Care Delivery Research

Tuesday, May 3 - Thursday, May 5, 2022
11:00 am - 5:00 pm EST

Purpose

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites attendance for a virtual short course that will provide training in the design, conduct, and analysis of cluster randomized trials (CRTs), including parallel CRTs, stepped-wedge CRTs, and cluster randomized cross-over trials (CRXO). The course is jointly sponsored by NCI’s Healthcare Delivery Research Program and Implementation Science Team. CRTs are increasingly used to evaluate interventions to improve care delivery and to study strategies for implementing evidence-based interventions into routine clinical practice. They require specific methods of design and statistical analysis. The course addresses the rationale for using these designs, specific design considerations, the randomization process, sample size calculations, analytic methods, ethical considerations, practical issues in trial management, and trial reporting and interpretation. Principles are illustrated using case studies of the different variations of CRTs across the cancer control continuum (prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and at end-of-life).

Intended Audience

This course addresses the training needs of doctorally prepared cancer care delivery researchers and implementation scientists, as well as post-doctoral fellows and other trainees, and other scientific team members such as project coordinators. Some of the sessions are specifically targeted at statisticians, methodologists, and researchers with an interest in more complex statistical topics.

Course Faculty

Karla Hemming, PhD
Professor of Biostatistics
Institute of Applied Health Research
University of Birmingham

Monica Taljaard, PhD
Senior Scientist, Clinical Epidemiology Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Ottawa

NCI Course Directors

Sandra Mitchell, PhD, CRNP, FAAN
Senior Scientist and Program Director
Outcomes Research Branch, Healthcare Delivery Research Program
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute

Wynne Norton, PhD
Program Director
Implementation Science
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute