PR01: PaCE 101: What are the basic elements of patient and community engaged primary care research
Brenda Andreas, LCSW, Raymond Haeme, MS, Susan Lowe, MSW, Co-I , Kirk Mason, BSc, MDes, Udoka Okpalauwaekwe, PhD, MBBS, MPH, Anna Templeton, DNP

Friday, November 20th | 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Rationale: The NAPCRG Patient and Clinician Engagement (PaCE) committee is committed to a research culture that prioritizes partnerships and collaborations with patients, communities, clinicians, primary care teams, and health researchers. Engaged research is essential to producing relevant, representative evidence for effective person-centered care and outcomes. PaCE workshops use interactive, reflective activities to co- develop and evaluate engagement approaches and concepts and create opportunities for shared learning. This session aims to provide a foundation for understanding and getting started in engaged research. How can we cultivate and strengthen engagement in research teams? Audience Participation: Following a brief welcome, introduction to PaCE, PaCE members will present the basic elements of primary care, primary care research and the benefits of engaging community, patient and non-research-oriented clinicians as full partners on research teams. We will share examples of successful projects and indicators of success from patient, clinician, and researcher perspectives. Attendees will break into small groups (6-8 people) for a co- development exercise building on these basic elements to identify potential opportunities and challenges. Small groups will: 1) Identify opportunities for research in their community, 2) Apply an engagement in research guide tool to work through a case example, and 3) produce a list of key factors contributing to success. Attendees will re-convene for report outs from each small group and facilitated discussion. We will close with a ‘final word’ from each participant. Content to be Presented: We will share a brief introduction to PaCE and a brief tutorial on primary care research and what “engagement” as partners in research means. PaCE members will provide examples of patient and community engagement in primary care research to inform and spark discussion. Method of Evaluation: Post-session satisfaction survey. We will collect, analyze, and disseminate small group output. Prerequisite knowledge: None.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Define and explain the core principles of patient and community engaged primary care research, including the roles of patients, clinicians, and researchers as partners.

2. Apply an engagement framework or tool to identify opportunities, challenges, and key success factors for implementing engaged research in their own primary care or community setting.

Fee: $0

PR02: Designing Digital Health Interventions: A Hands-On Workshop with the Computerized Intervention Authoring System (CIAS)
Eva Noack, Steve Ondersma, Frank Mueller, MD, PhD, MSc, Lea Roddewig

Friday, November 20th | 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Rationale: Digital health interventions have enormous potential for primary care research and practice. However, their development requires substantial funding and technical expertise which makes digital innovation projects difficult, especially investigator-initiated studies or those employing participatory or community-based approaches. CIAS (Computerized Intervention Authoring System, www.cias.app) is a no-code platform that democratizes digital intervention development by enabling researchers to create, test, and deploy interactive interventions without programming. CIAS is an open-source, non-commercial platform developed at Michigan State University and successfully used in numerous research projects. A European version is currently being developed (www.cias-app.eu). CIAS has many powerful features, including easy personalization, animated narrators that speak aloud in over 40 languages, instant translation, tailored SMS to participants and third parties, aggregate data visualization, and secure live chat. All functions are accessible through a graphical interface. Interventions are deployed as cross-platform compatible web apps.
Audience Participation: In this a hands-on workshop, we will introduce CIAS’ key features and capabilities, followed by independent practice during which participants can practice using the platform while presenters circulate and provide guidance. Content to be Presented: Participants will learn to embed multimedia content (images, videos, audio), utilize narrator characters, create diverse question types, design adaptive intervention pathways based on participant responses, structure interventions into timed sessions, randomize participants into study arms, send SMS reminders, and manage anonymous or personalized participant access.
Method of Evaluation: Workshop participants will leave with the information and skills needed to begin developing their own custom digital interventions using CIAS that are ready for use in research or other healthcare settings. Participants will complete a brief post-workshop evaluation assessing confidence in using CIAS, relevance to their research, and workshop quality. We will also collect feedback on challenges encountered and suggestions for improvement. Prerequisite Knowledge Needed: No programming experience required. Participants should bring a laptop (PC/Mac – no iPad!) with internet access. Understanding of digital health concepts and research study design is helpful but not mandatory

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Have the knowledge and skills needed to independently build their own basic digital interventions using CIAS, including multimedia content, branching logic, and data collection features.
2. Evaluate whether CIAS is appropriate for their research needs and identify specific use cases for digital interventions within their primary care research programs.

Fee: $105 USD

PR03: Keeping engagement evaluation engaging – Picking and using evaluation tools to keep engagement meaningful
Anna Templeton, DNP, Raymond Haeme, MS, Udoka Okpalauwaekwe, PhD, MBBS, MPH, Kirk Mason, BSc, MDes, Brenda Andreas, LCSW, Dea Papajorgji-Taylor, MA, MPH

Friday, November 20th | 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Rationale: The NAPCRG Patient and Clinician Engagement (PaCE) committee is committed to a research culture that prioritizes partnerships and collaborations with patients, communities, clinicians, primary care teams, and health researchers. Engaged research is essential to producing relevant, representative evidence for effective person-centered care and outcomes. PaCE workshops use interactive, reflective activities to co-develop and evaluate engagement approaches and concepts and create opportunities for shared learning. This session will contribute to ongoing discussion and community building within PaCE and NAPCRG around how we can cultivate and strengthen engagement in research teams. Specifically, we will focus on selecting and using tools to evaluate engagement in ways that maintain principles of partnership such as co-ownership and relational equity. Audience Participation: Following a brief welcome, introduction to PaCE, and summary of learning from previous PaCE workshops, PaCE members will present examples of engagement evaluation tools which have been developed or proposed in Canada and the US. We will then facilitate a 3–4-person panel to share examples and reflections on using such tools and indicators of success from patient, clinician, and researcher perspectives. Attendees will break into small groups (6-8 people) for a co-development exercise reviewing sample tools to consider benefits, challenges, utility, and supplemental needs when applying structured, validated engagement measures in team-based and community-partnered research. Small groups will: 1) discuss a given tool’s indicators and measures of engagement, 2) identify potential benefits or challenges using the tool, and 3) produce recommendations of how, when, and where the tool might be best used, supplemented, or improved. Attendees will re-convene for report outs from each small group and facilitated discussion. We will close with a ‘final word’ from each participant. Content to be Presented: We will share a brief introduction to the PaCE community and portfolio of learning across NAPCRG meetings. We will present an inventory of available tools for evaluating engagement in primary care research to guide discussion. Method of Evaluation: Post-session satisfaction survey. We will collect, synthesize, and disseminate small group output. Prerequisite knowledge: Attendance at a previous PaCE preconference or a PaCE 101 Session recommended.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Identify 1-2 standardized tools for evaluating engagement
2. Describe 1-2 strategies you could use with a standardized tool to evaluate engagement in a way that fits your team values and best practices

Fee: $0

PR04: From Research Team Member to Project Leader: A Roadmap for Emerging Leaders and Their Mentors
Stephen Stacey, DO, FAAFP, Joan Ilardo, PhD, LMSW, Melanie Steiner, PhD, David Schneider, MD, MSPH

Friday, November 20th | 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Transitioning from a contributing member of a research team to leading a research project is a critical but often under-supported step in the development of primary care researchers. Many emerging investigators are expected to assume project leadership roles without a clear understanding of how responsibilities, expectations, and required competencies evolve during this transition. At the same time, mentors are often asked to guide this progression without a shared framework to structure their support.

This interactive preconference introduces a practical, stage-based roadmap describing the transition from research team member to project leader. The roadmap is informed by domains of individual research capacity drawn from the Research Capacity and Culture (RCC) framework, articulating key shifts in responsibility such as moving from task execution to project direction, from individual contribution to team coordination, and from participation in research design to ownership of project decisions. For each stage, it identifies essential skills and outlines strategies for developing them.

The roadmap is designed as a shared framework for both emerging leaders and their mentors. It supports self-assessment (“How am I progressing?”) as well as mentor-guided assessment (“How is my mentee progressing?”). This creates a common language for evaluating readiness, identifying gaps, and planning next steps.

Participants will engage with the roadmap through brief didactic segments, small-group discussion, and applied exercises. Attendees will map their (or their mentee’s) current position within the transition, identify gaps in skills and experience, and develop a personalized plan for progressing toward project leadership. By the end of the session, participants will have a structured plan for advancing to research project leadership, along with practical tools to support continued development along this pathway.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Describe the key stages and role transitions involved in moving from research team member to project leader using a structured model.
2. Assess readiness for leading a research project and identify at least two specific actions to advance toward project leadership.

Fee: $105 USD

PR05: NAPCRG Trainee Pre-conference: Climate Change and Primary Care 
Chloe Warpinski, PhD, Pamela Padilla, MPH, Mary Christie, MS, Anna Walsh, BSc, MSc, PhD (c), Hiromitsu Kaneko, MD, Nour el houda Laieb, MS, Olha Svyntozelska, MD, MSc, Kimberley Norman, PhD

Friday, November 20th | 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM 

Rationale: The Trainee Pre-Conference is a vital opportunity for NAPCRG trainees to network, gain comfort and experience in a major international conference setting and explore topics of interest to trainees. In 2026, the preconference will center on the theme of climate change and primary care. Content to be Presented and Audience Participation: The preconference will thematically center highly interactive discussions on climate change from three perspectives: (A) implementation/clinical practice, (B) health inequalities and vulnerable populations, and (C) the North American context and the NAPCRG Climate Change SIG perspective. Throughout trainees will have the opportunity to meet other trainees with diverse research interests as well as engage with seasoned practitioners working at the nexus of primary care and climate change. Our highly interactive programming will directly respond to known needs of NAPCRG trainees as informed by the NAPCRG trainee committee: including opportunities to share novel research tools and methods amongst peers, trainee confidence-building through a supported orientation to a major international primary care conference, recommendations for trainee focused programming at the NAPCRG annual meeting, and introduction to key NAPCRG contacts including the current president, executive director, and staff trainee committee liaison. The preconference will be highly participatory, emphasizing trainee engagement, peer learning, and collaboration which are core values of NAPCRG. Interactive small‑group discussions, facilitated breakout sessions, and full‑group dialogues will enable trainees to actively explore climate change in primary care from clinical, equity, and systems perspectives. Trainees will share research tools, methods, and emerging ideas, receive mentorship from experienced NAPCRG members, and contribute to shaping trainee‑focused programming. This format promotes diversity, equity and inclusivity, international collaboration, and research capacity building by centering trainee voices and fostering meaningful connections across disciplines and career stages. Evaluation: All attendees will be asked to respond to a short survey at the end of the pre-conference. Prerequisite Knowledge Needed: None. All trainees are welcome and encouraged to attend!

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Understand the impact of climate change on primary care from three perspectives: clinical practice, implementation, and research.
2. Address common challenges primary care research trainees face through resources within and outside of NAPCRG.

Fee: $0 | This preconference is open Students, Residents, and Fellows. Registration is required.

If you have any questions about pre-conference workshops, please email our team at napcrgoffice@napcrg.org.