The Research Agenda-Setting Project (RASP)

Abstract

In 2001, the John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) and the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) commissioned a research agenda-setting project (RASP) to achieve the following goals: (1) to increase research activity in the field of geriatrics within specific surgical and related medical specialties; (2) to attract new specialty researchers to study and subsequently meet the unique needs and requirements of the older patient in these specific surgical and related medical specialties; (3) to increase the number and quality of age-related research grant applications (e.g., the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other agencies); and (4) to improve the well-being of older patients in specialty care. The search terms were for “65 or older” or “aged” or “geriatric,” followed by a list of content topics of importance in each specialty. The ophthalmology RASP chapter included the following: (1) key elements of the literature review for that specialty or for the crosscutting issues; (2) a complete reference section at the end of each chapter; (3) individual sections ending with the pertinent research agenda-setting items with a unique section identifying number to facilitate cross-referencing and citation; (4) discussion of the issues of most concern in the care of older patients by practitioners in the specific discipline; (5) key research questions with the highest priority in the opinion of the experts participating in the project; and (6) examples of hypothesis-generating and hypothesis-testing research needed to address each key question. Each of the agenda items in each section was labeled with a letter from A to D (designating the type of research design and the clinical priority or importance of the proposed study). The RASP has been updated over time, and much of the initial agenda has been achieved over the 15 years since its inception by JAHF and AGS. Researchers in vision and eye care in the elderly may be interested in the research questions posed by the RASP.