OVERVIEW: The Community Engagement (CE) group within SC CTSI has introduced Zippy, the virtual research navigator to engage children and families in clinical research, at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. 

GOALS: The virtual research navigator is designed to interact with families, address concerns and misperceptions about clinical research, answer questions, and empower families and young people to be informed research participants. 

CURRENT ACTIVITIES: In collaboration with USC’s Institute for Creative Technology, we developed a beta version of Zippy and supplied it with a compendium of questions and concerns that potential pediatric research participants and their families might have. Feedback from an initial pilot with adolescents/parents revealed that Zippy was engaging and informative. We are currently conducting a randomized trial with forty participants to formally evaluate Zippy's effectiveness to increase knowledge and readiness for clinical research.


NIH Funding Acknowledgment: Important - All publications resulting from the utilization of SC CTSI resources are required to credit the SC CTSI grant by including the NIH funding acknowledgment and must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.