Summaries of Independent Scientist (K) Awards

Wittenberg, Eve

Institution: Brandeis University
Grant Title: Evaluating Utility Measures: Biases and Alternatives
Grant Number:  K02 HS14010
Duration: 5 years (2006-2011)
Total Award: $534,600

Project Description: This grant has three aims:

1. Investigate biases in utility measurement and methods to minimize or prevent them.
2. Investigate biases in the application of utilities in economic analysis.
3. Develop a framework to explore and design new evaluation of methods of health, and to interpret the application of existing measures and tools.

Career Goals: Dr. Wittenburg is a Senior Scientist and Adjunct Lecturer in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.  She earned her Ph.D. in Health Policy at Harvard University and did a post-doc in Outcomes Measurement at the Harvard School of Public Health/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  The grantee's career focus is the effect of adaptation on preferences and individual's ability to forecast adaptation to illness.

Progress to Date: Data analyses and manuscript preparation resulting from work done for Aim #1 were done. Aim #2 has been completed. Regarding Aim #3, a manuscript is under review at Pharmacoeconomics and a research proposal has been submitted to National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). A collaborative development of a utility measurement tool for short-term, acute conditions in children is underway with researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston.

Future Plans: Manuscripts resulting from work done on Aim #1 will be revised and resubmitted as needed. Results from the analysis of the rationales underlying unusable responses will be submitted for presentation. Work on Aim #3 will continue. Applications for future funding opportunities will be developed.

Highlights and Specific Accomplishments:

• Founder of Boston-wide working group on preference assessment methodology, based in the Harvard School of Public Health.

K-Generated Publications:

Wittenberg E, Joshi M, Thomas K, McCloskey K. Measuring the effect of intimate partner violence on health-related quality of life: A qualitative focus group study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2007; 5:67.

Gerber, MR, Wittenberg E, Ganz ML, et al. Changes in intimate partner violence exposure and women's physical symptoms over time. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2007.

Punglia R, Sher D, Wittenberg E, et al. Partial breast irradiation versus whole-breast irradiation for early-stage breast cancer: A decision-analysis. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics 2007.

Gonzalez JS, Safren SA, Cagliero E, Wexler DJ, Delahanty L, Wittenberg E, et al. Depression, self-care and medication adherence in Type 2 diabetes: Relationships across the full range of symptom severity. Diabetes Care 2007. 30(9):2222-7.

Thomas KA, Joshi M, Wittenberg E, McCLoskey LA. Intersecting pathways of intimate partner violence and women's health: A qualitative study. Violence Against Women 2008; 14(11):1252-73.

Sher D, Wittenberg E, et al. partial breast irradiation versus whole-breast irradiation for early-state breast cancer: A decision-analysis. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics 2008; 70(2):469-76.

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