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Ontology-Based Interactive Visualization of Patient-Generated Research Questions
David Borland1, Laura Christopherson1, Charles Schmitt2
1RENCI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States.
Applied Clinical Informatics
|June 6, 2019
Summary
Researchers can now better explore patient-suggested research topics for Crohn's disease and colitis. An interactive tool and ontology help identify and prioritize research agendas from patient discussions.
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Patient-Reported Outcomes
- Ontology Engineering
Background:
- Crohn's disease and colitis significantly impact patients' quality of life, necessitating effective disease management strategies.
- The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation-IBD Partners at UNC-Chapel Hill developed an interactive website with a forum for patient experiences and research suggestions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To enhance researchers' ability to navigate and analyze patient-generated research topics from online discussion forums.
- To facilitate the identification of key research themes, their scope, and interconnections for prioritizing research agendas.
Main Methods:
- Developed a domain-specific ontology to structure themes within the patient discussion forum.
- Created a prototype interactive visualization tool integrating the ontology with forum content for linked data exploration.
Main Results:
- The visualization tool offers linked views of the ontology, clustered research topics, and detailed forum discussions.
- Demonstrated an example scenario of researchers utilizing the tool to identify and analyze patient-suggested research.
Conclusions:
- Integrating a community-specific ontology with interactive visualization tools offers a powerful method for analyzing user-generated research questions.
- This approach aids researchers in more effectively understanding and prioritizing research agendas based on patient input.
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