PROMIS History

The PROMIS initiative began in 2004 with six primary research sites and a statistical coordinating center. The aims for this network were to:

  • Establish a domain framework and develop candidate items for an initial set of adult and pediatric item banks
  • Administer the candidate items to a large sample of individuals suffering from a variety of chronic diseases
  • Analyze the data to calibrate the items to build the PROMIS v1.0 item banks.
  • Initiate validation studies of the PROMIS v1.0 measures as well as a mode of administration study
  • Build a Web–based resource for administering computerized adaptive tests and other patient–reported instruments, track accrual, score and export data for clinical research
  • Conducted feasibility studies to evaluate the utility of PROMIS and promote widespread use of the instrument for clinical research and clinical care
  • Link with external scientists to share PROMIS methodology, instruments, and software
  • The report PROMIS: A Walk Through the First Four Years Adobe Acrobat Reader, provides more detailed summary of the work of the PROMIS Network from 2004 – 2009.

In 2010, a second round of PROMIS funding was provided by the NIH expanding the network to 13 researchers at 12 research sites. Expanded aims in the current round of funding include:

  • Develop additional item banks in new content areas (e.g., self–efficacy in management of chronic disease)
  • Conduct additional longitudinal validation studies to test PROMIS reliability and validity in new populations and treatments
  • Expand the public–private partnership to sustain the instrument repository, ensure scientific excellence, improve future data collection activities, add new domains and items to the system, test and adapt the system for new populations, maintain the system in the public domain, and extend the application of the system for clinical research and practice
  • Build collaborations
  • Develop additional translations for existing and newly produced item banks