Research Analyst I, Sanford School of Public Policy

Duke University:

Duke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan Duke. Today, Duke is regarded as one of America’s leading research universities. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is positioned in the heart of the Research Triangle, which is ranked annually as one of the best places in the country to work and live. Duke has more than 15,000 students who study and conduct research in its 10 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. With about 40,000 employees, Duke is the third largest private employer in North Carolina, and it now has international programs in more than 150 countries.

Job Description

Research Analyst I

Center for Child and Family Policy

Sanford School of Public Policy

Duke University

Occupational Summary

During some of the most critical years of child development, prenatally through age three, families spend significant time and resources navigating a fragmented system of care. Some families are able to get needed resources for their children, while others do not do so for a variety of reasons.

The Get Ready Guilford Initiative (GRGI) charts a new vision that will offer all families universal screening to connect them to the right resources at the right time. The goal of the initiative is for families of infants, toddlers and preschoolers to get what resources and services they need and when they need it, so every child enters school ready to succeed. GRGI is implementing prenatal and postnatal universal navigation visits with volunteering pregnant women to learn about the process, the screening tools, and integration with pregnancy care managers (OBCM). GRGI has worked with local and state partners at the Guilford County Department of Public Health (DPH), Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC), Partnership for Community Care (P4CC), Care Coordinator for Children (CC4C), Guilford Family Connects, Nurse-Family Partnership, HealthySteps, and other local providers to develop a plan to pilot a universal approach to prenatal and postnatal screening.

In Durham, in collaboration with our colleagues in Guilford County, our team at the Center for Child and Family Policy (CCFP) and Duke Children’s Primary Care (DCPC) is overseeing a randomized control trial to assess the impact of prenatal and postnatal navigation. This work includes building an understanding of the existing programs and services in the prenatal and postnatal space; implementing and evaluating universal approach, screening for individual needs of families, and referral to community resources; identifying questions or challenges to implementing this process and solutions to these challenges; and developing documentation for consent, data sharing, and follow-up contacts.

Working with the project team at CCFP and DCPC, the Community Navigator will implement and test aspects of a universal screening approach prenatally and postnatally at 12-, 24-, and 36-months.

Work Performed

A detailed description of functional areas and tasks follows:

In coordination with both teams described above, the Community Navigator will:

• Coordinate and participate in a variety of duties to assist investigators in the implementation of a research study with families and children.
• Participate in scheduling navigation visits via email, phone, as well as letter and/or in-person scheduling when required.
• Organizing and conducting virtual and in-home family navigation visits, as permitted by COVID restrictions 
  • Duties will include scheduling visits, obtaining consent to participate, conducting navigation visits per manual protocol, administering standardized assessments, recording interview responses when required, and follow-up with families after they have received referrals to community agencies to ensure connection to resources and get feedback about the process.
  • Work with families in a respectful, family-centered manner, to support successful connections to community resources.

• Enter data gathered from identified screening tools in a specified database following Duke University Hospital System’s data privacy protocol ensuring that only clients who have provided informed consent are entered into the database.
• Work with the research team to develop measures related to acceptability of the process to families, providers, clinical and administrative personnel, and community programs.
• Work with the research team to assess feasibility of the navigator role, anticipating an expansion of the program after the pilot work.
• Maintain external liaison with community and professional referral sources to meet families’ needs.

• Prepare and maintain files of research materials.

• Prepare and type related correspondence, operate office machines as required.
• Attend and contribute to project meetings and other meetings held with both the Durham and the Guilford teams.
• Assist in the compilation and distribution of reports related to research findings.
• If fluent in Spanish, navigator may be called upon for occasional translation of study related materials.

Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this classification. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required of personnel so classified.

EDUCATION/TRAINING

Work requires a bachelor's degree in a field related to the specific position

EXPERIENCE

Requires two years of progressive experience in human services in the public sector, skill in interacting with human service providers and agency leaders, and an understanding of the role of evaluation in social services.

In addition the successful candidate will possess the following qualities/attributes:

• Requires two years of progressive experience in human services in the public sector, skill in interacting with human service providers and agency leaders, and an understanding of the role of evaluation in social services.
• Preference for prior experience working on research studies and/or randomized controlled trials.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish is preferred, but not required.
• Relevant experience needed to respond to acute and chronic concerns and needs of families being interviewed.
• Ability to communicate clearly and professionally with a range of community stakeholders.

• Local travel required.
• Must be available to work some nights and weekends.
• Proven ability to engage and build relationships with parents and children.
• Must be willing to collaborate with other staff members and be readily accessible to communicate with other team members both during and outside of regular work hours.
• Must demonstrate strong organizational skills.

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.