HEAL Semantic Search Resources

The following use cases provide insight into how HSS can elevate and expand your research. This is not an exhaustive list.

Research Landscape Analysis

Dr. Lee is researching muscle pain in older adults. They are preparing a HEAL research proposal and want to conduct a landscape analysis to inform study planning. Dr. Lee searches for the concept “muscle pain.”

• Because HSS uses semantic search, which looks beyond exact keywords to include synonyms, definitions, and related concepts, it returns studies that include “myofascial pain syndrome”, “fibromylalgia” and “myalgia” as well. This expands Dr. Lee’s search to include potentially relevant results they might not get from traditional search options.

• In the Studies tab, Dr. Lee finds related studies and detailed information including study description, award information, and variables and standardized questionnaires used. This helps Dr. Lee understand the current state of HEAL research on muscle pain and find potential collaborators.

• HSS provides links to these studies on the HEAL Platform, which contains further study and variable information, including if a study has submitted data.

Cohort Building for Secondary Analysis

Dr. Ray and Dr. Wang are biostatisticians looking for data on how chronic pain affects quality of life among adolescents and teens. They search for “chronic pain teens”.

• In the Studies tab, HSS returns a list of studies that have studied chronic pain among adolescents and provides study information, including Common Data Elements (CDEs) used by each study. They see studies using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and the PROMIS Pediatric Anxiety Scale.

• They then navigate to the CDEs tab where they find further information about relevant CDEs including exact measures and responses. This helps them to identify datasets for building a cohort for secondary analysis.

Designing Questionnaire For Multiple Clinical Trials Sites

Jordan, a data coordinating center manager for a HEAL research network, is preparing a questionnaire that will be used across the different clinical trials sites for the network. He is trying to identify standardized measures for concepts such as anxiety, depression and quality of life and pain acceptance. He searches for the concept “depression”.

• In the CDEs tab, HSS returns a list of CDEs related to depression. Jordan is able to see the exact measures and responses for the CDEs, and a list of studies using each CDE.

• Jordan uses this information to identify standardized questionnaires for the HEAL research network.