Transdisciplinary research partnerships: Making research happen!

Given the pressure in health care for producing higher quality outcomes with fewer resources, transdisciplinary approaches are emerging as promising vehicles for advancing efforts from leadership to research. By definition, transdisciplinary teams "value the unique knowledge and skills of each team member and are dependent on communication among team members." The authors describe the experience and findings of a transdisciplinary faculty/student project to define marketing strategies to reach women living in rural areas. The findings of this research survey about "research methods" describe preferred incentives, effective media outlets, survey techniques, and data collection strategies. While highlighting the unique challenge in marketing service rather than goods, the authors also reveal the inherent value of transdisciplinary efforts in clinical, human resource, and business arenas.