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| The following are representative examples of projects carried out by Brekke Associates, Inc.
since 1985. Though by no means an exhaustive list, these projects are typical of the size, type, and
scope of endeavors in which BAI specializes. |
Current Projects
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A Web-Based Coronary Heart Disease Decision Support Tool,
a project of HealthPartners Research Foundation (HPRF),
funded by a grant from the Association of Teachers of
Preventive Medicine (ATPM) and Centers for Disease
Control (CDC).
The project will create an interactive, open-access, web-based system with which
state health departments and other public health policy-makers can model the
effect of various intervention strategies, both primary and secondary, on the
morbidity, mortality, and cost of heart disease on their populations. BAI is
responsible for: the design and development of the simulation software and the
web-based modeling system; the derivation of model parameters from existing and
new databases; the analysis datasets using data extracted or abstracted from
HPRF sources; the design, execution, and interpretation of the sensitivity and
validation analyses; evaluation of project objectives; and co-authoring
publications.
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Day One Website,
a project of Cornerstone to provide online support for
domestic violence shelters in Minnesota. BAI completely redesigned and redeveloped the website for Cornerstone and continues to support the site.
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CardioVision
2020, a collaborative, community-based initiative to reduce the burden of
cardiovascular disease in Olmsted County, MN. BAI is responsible for data analysis,
website development and maintenance, and contest management software.
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Million Minute Mission,
a project of MultiCare.
BAI has hosted and supported web-based physical activity contests for MultiCare since 2004.
The contests have involved thousands of participants in Washington state.
BAI has used its own Contest Management Software
for these public health initiatives.
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Completed Projects in Health
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Change Management,
a project of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI).
Since 1995, BAI has collected evaluation data from ICSI member organizations (including
hundreds of interviews with leaders of large health providers and insurers in
Minnesota, an electronic survey, and several focus groups), compiled and
summarized the findings, and reported the results to ICSI for their use in
planning and development every 12 to 18 months. The most recent evaluation was completed in 2005.
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Evaluation of the SAVE QPR+ Training Pilot Program, a project of
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE). This was an
evaluation of a pilot school-based program for the
education of communities in depression awareness and
suicide prevention. Evaluation objectives included
presentation fidelity and educational effectiveness.
BAI's responsibilities included instrument development, data analysis, and a written report
summarizing the results of the evaluation. Completed in 2004.
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Improving the Suicide Prevention Capacity of Minnesota Schools Survey, a project of
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE). SAVE surveyed 1,000 Minnesota
public school districts and private K-12 schools regarding
their: (1) current crisis management policies related to suicide and suicide
prevention; (2) current attitudes, knowledge, organizational behaviors related
to suicide prevention; (3) current programming; and (4) interest level in
enhanced programming. BAI provided consultation
regarding development of follow-up interview instrument, data analysis, and a written report of findings.
Completed in 2004.
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Blood Pressure in Minnesota: Review of Assessment Methodologies, a
project of Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Minnesota. BAI conducted a literature review and summary of methodologies for the
assessment of prevalence of hypertension in populations, including: equipment
and procedures; sampling; recruitment; locations; personnel; recording
instruments; quality control processes; and summary of recommendations.
Completed in 2003.
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Employee Health Index, a project of
BASF Corporation. In this
project, BAI developed a single-score indicator of an individual's or group's
likelihood of suffering hospitalization or death which can be used for
monitoring and comparisons much like a "safety index" is used in manufacturing
plants. Completed in 2002.
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Computer Replication of ECG Coding, a project of
Mayo Clinic and Foundation. BAI developed a
computer program based on the Marquette Matrix-12 Short Measurement Matrix to
replicate coding by the Minnesota ECG coding laboratory. Patient diagnoses resulting from the program
were compared statistically to the lab diagnoses.
Completed in 2000.
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Improving Disease Prevention in Primary Care: The IMPROVE Project, a project of
Health Partners Research Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic, was
a randomized clinical trial in 44 primary care clinics to
test whether an HMO, by teaching continuous quality improvement as a method of
planned organizational change, can significantly increase the level of 8
preventive services (mammography, Pap testing, clinical breast examination,
advice to quit smoking, measurement of serum cholesterol, measurement of blood
pressure, and immunization for influenza and for pneumonia) in its affiliated
clinics. It was funded by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR). BAI personnel served as Evaluation Director and Co-Investigator.
Completed in 2000.
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A Physician-Based Nutrition Program to Lower CHD Risk, a
project of the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN to develop procedures used by primary practice staff
to help patients reduce their serum cholesterol through dietary management.
Members of BAI were responsible for
research and evaluation design, data management, and data analysis.
Completed in 1993.
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Evaluation of the Diabetes Education Program, a project
of Group Health Inc. to determine the effectiveness of a multi-disciplinary program of education for
patients with diabetes. BAI developed chart audit procedures and analyzed them together with data from
clinic and claims databases. Completed in 1991. |
Doctors Helping Smokers, a consortium project of
Rochester Mayo Foundation, the University of Minnesota, and Brekke Associates. BAI personnel
were instrumental in the development of the DHS Model for Smoking Cessation, the design of
the various elements of the model, design of the instrumentation, data analysis, and
development of publications related to the project.
Completed in 1989.
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Work Site Incentives for Non-Smoking (WIN), a project of
Bloomington Division of Public Health, Bloomington, MN.
Completed in 1988.
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Completed Projects in Religion
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Vital Evangelical Leadership Collaboration (VELC),
a collaboration of Changing Church (affiliated with
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, MN), Joy Leadership Center (affiliated with
Community Church of Joy in Glendale, AZ), and the
ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, supported by a grant from Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans. VELC uses a common "coaching" methodology to train and guide
pastors, congregational leadership teams, and lay congregants toward
transforming their churches into growing, evangelism-focused congregations of
disciples. BAI responsibilities as the external evaluator include: evaluation design; evaluation
instrumentation, including the Vital
Congregation Profile, an assessment of 33 dimensions of congregational life;
data collection and analysis; and reporting to client and funder.
Completed in 2006.
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Study of Exemplary Congregations in Youth Ministry (EYM),
a project of
Luther Seminary, funded by the Lilly Endowment. EYM was a seven-denomination project to
study the defining characteristics of congregations that effectively and
consistently develop mature Christian high school graduates. BAI's responsibilities included:
Lead and conduct the quantitative part of the study, with personal
responsibilities including: overall research design; development of four
surveys, each approximately 300-350 items, to measure aspects of youth ministry
among youth, parents, adult youth workers, and youth ministers; compilation of
survey data with data from four historical study datasets; design of analysis
objectives; interpretation of results; presentation of results; presentation(s)
in August, 2005 conference. Completed in 2005.
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A Study of Protestant Youth Ministers in America, a research project of
Link Institute for Faithful and Effective Youth Ministry, Huntington College, Huntington IN, examined key issues
relevant to the profession of youth ministry. It sought to provide youth
workers, senior pastors, and denominational leaders with a better understanding
of the youth ministry enterprise. In this project, BAI consulted regarding the
development and administration of a 260 item mail survey. From the responses from a national sample of youth ministers, BAI empirically derived
48 multi-item scales and
7 families of scales and identified of subgroups of respondents with
significantly different standard scale scores. The results of the study were published in the book,
Youth ministry that transforms: A comprehensive analysis of the hopes, frustrations, and effectiveness of today's youth workers.
Completed in 2000.
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Theological Explorations of Vocation, a research and
planning project of St.Olaf College, Northfield, MN,
with the ultimate objective to identify and nurture a new generation of highly talented and religiously committed leaders.
BAI provided consultation regarding focus group design and data interpretation.
Completed in 2000.
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Profiles of Ministry Trend Study, a project
The Association of Theological
Schools in the U.S. and Canada (funded by Educational Testing Service).
This project investigated trends in characteristics (attitudinal,
psychological, and demographic) of incoming and graduating seminarians from 1976
to 1990 in seminaries and theological schools in the U.S. and Canada. BAI had responsibility for
the entire project.
Completed in 1992.
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Selection of Administrators of Homes for Aging, a project
of The American Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN.
BAI developed and assessed the reliability and validity of 17 scales from a
structured interview to be used for selection of chief administrators of
facilities for longterm care of the aging.
Completed in 1986.
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Congregational Tools for Effective Evangelism, a project
of The American Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN, to study why people join and why people leave Lutheran congregations.
BAI had responsibility for instrument development, data collection, and data analysis.
Completed in 1986.
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Completed Software and Statistical Projects
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| 2003 Information Sources and Needs Survey (ISN), a project of
Data Recognition Corporation
(DRC) for the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). A DMDC-provided
ISN sample file was used in combination with ISN survey returns to construct the final
weight. This weight would be used for constructing sample estimates from the
ISN survey. The final weight was the result of adjustments made to the original
sampling weight to account for survey non-response, unknown survey eligibility,
and survey completeness. A trimming of the top 1% of weights was also
performed. BAI, together with DRC staff, developed the
final weight and wrote the weighting section of the Statistical Methodology
Report for the project.
Completed in 2004.
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Contest Management System.
BAI has developed and continues to enhance a system for the online management of health promotion contests.
More about the system can be viewed
here. First versions completed in 2003.
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Scale Development System.
Based on over 30 years of experience developing reliable and valid survey scales, BAI has developed software which uses three
cluster analysis methods (principal factor analysis, principal components analysis, and homogeneous keying) with up to three groups, all
simultaneously, to identify reliable item sets for use in the assessment of groups and individuals. BAI has used this system
in multiple projects with both large and small surveys, yielding dozens of scales with high reliability. Though not visible to its
clients, this software has been invaluable for the success of BAI's recent research projects. Completed in 2002.
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Multi-Rater Feedback Web System, a project of Data
Recognition Corporation, Minnetonka, MN. BAI staff led the development of an online,
sample-driven "360 degree" personnel evaluation data collection and reporting system. Completed in 1999. |
Online Survey Reporting System, a project of Data
Recognition Corporation, Minnetonka, MN. BAI staff led the development of online,
sample-driven survey collection and reporting systems for Fortune 500 companies. Completed in 1999. |
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