PHCoE employs a systematic process for identifying and prioritizing psychological health research gaps in the Military Health System (MHS). This process is conducted and refined regularly to produce research recommendations reports for selected topic areas. The goal of this effort is to inform and prioritize research funding and increase the likelihood that comprehensive research portfolios will target areas of greatest need and potential for impact.

Processes

Periodically, a broadly defined topic area of importance to psychological health care in the MHS is identified for gaps analysis.

Based on this topic, our team of subject matter experts (SMEs) synthesizes information from a variety of sources to identify subtopic areas and a preliminary list of potential research gaps most relevant to the military.

Next, recent and in-progress studies are mapped to the potential gaps to determine the degree to which each gap may be addressed by recently funded or completed research. This produces a refined list of gaps, which are unlikely to be closed by current efforts.

Our team of SMEs then uses a set of standard criteria and metrics to prioritize the remaining, refined research gaps based on the need and potential for impact in the MHS.

The results are disseminated to key stakeholder groups in a final report, which details the precise methodology and prioritized research gaps.