| The
research proposed here will develop, implement, assess, and disseminate
the next generation of cross-platform, visually-enabled geospatial
analysis methods and tools to support cancer-related public health
research and policy. The primary objective of the work is to develop
a coordinated visual, statistical, and computational approach that
extends current abilities to explore, identify, investigate, and explain
spatial patterns of cancer incidence and mortality, and their relationships
to population demographics and health policy. Of special note are
new mechanisms to assess the potential for errors of omission and
commission in that analysis. The proposed methods and tools will facilitate
the integration of epidemiological, demographic, and health-policy
data, enabling researchers and analysts to take a holistic view of
communities, their health with respect to cancer, and relationships
to health policy (e.g. screening, accessibility). A series of proof-of-concept
case studies will be used to demonstrate and assess the methods and
tools developed and, at the same time, to address specific cancer
research questions relevant to the Appalachia Cancer Network (ACN).
Formal usability assessment methods will be applied throughout the
human-centered process of software design, implementation, and deployment.
The goal of these assessments will be to ensure that the methods and
tools developed are both accessible to and useable by the cancer researchers
and analysts whose work they are intended to support. We will take
full advantage of outreach efforts within the ACN and the Center for
Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS), to disseminate software
developed and to provide training in its use to the cancer research
and policy communities within Appalachia and beyond. |
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