A thematic analysis of the role of the organisation in building allied health research capacity: a senior managers’ perspective

Abstract

BackgroundEvidence-based practice aims to achieve better health outcomes in the community. It relies on high quality research to inform policy and practice; however research in primary health care continues to lag behind that of other medical professions. The literature suggests that research capacity building (RCB) functions across four levels; individual, team, organisation and external environment. Many RCB interventions are aimed at an individual or team level, yet evidence indicates that many barriers to RCB occur at an organisational or external environment level. This study asks senior managers from a large healthcare organisation to identify the barriers and enablers to RCB. The paper then describes strategies for building allied health (AH) research capacity at an organisational level from a senior managers’ perspective.MethodsThis qualitative study is part of a larger collaborative RCB project. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with nine allied health senior managers. Recorded interviews were transcribed and NVivo was used to analyse findings and emergent themes were defined.ResultsThe dominant themes indicate that the organisation plays an integral role in building AH research capacity and is the critical link in creating synergy across the four levels of RCB. The organisation can achieve this by incorporating research into its core business with a whole of organisation approach including its mission, vision and strategic planning. Critical success factors include: developing a co-ordinated and multidisciplinary approach to attain critical mass of research-active AH and enhance learning and development; support from senior managers demonstrated through structures, processes and systems designed to facilitate research; forming partnerships to increase collaboration and sharing of resources and knowledge; and establishing in internal framework to promote recognition for research and career path opportunities.ConclusionsThis study identifies four key themes: whole of organisation approach; structures, processes and systems; partnerships and collaboration; and dedicated research centres, units and positions. These themes form the foundation of a model which can be applied to assist in achieving synergy across the four levels of RCB, overcome barriers and create an environment that supports and facilitates research development in AH.

Learning to navigate and enriching the research process by engaging in a collaborative practice research capacity strategy

“…Our study demonstrated the value of providing opportunity for nurses and health disciplines to engage in CPBR and undertake a project relevant to clinical practice that adds to the body of knowledge on the value of collaborative practice based research capacity building strategies [6][7][8][15][16][17] and communities of practice. [22,27,28] Despite the valuing of the experience, challenges emerged that necessitate future efforts to provide support for nurses and health disciplines participating in research capacity building strategies.…”

“…This finding is consistent with other literature that delineates the paramount role that mentors have in working with clinicians to develop their research skills. [8,14,22] This relationship requires having sufficient time for for the mentors to work with the teams to develop and conduct a research project with clear deliverables, timelines, and assigned responsibilites. [15] Support for mentorship and targeted team-based education for building research capacity has been reported in other studies.…”

“…[14] Further, despite efforts to build research capacity through a variety of initiatives (e.g. educational programs, fellowships, funding), [6][7][8][15][16][17] nurses and health care professionals continue to report lacking skills and confidence to conduct research due to minimal or no experience and not having enough time to participate in research. [1,6,12,14,[18][19][20][21] In this context, an Academic Health Sciences Center (AHSC) developed and hosted a competitive grants competition with a comprehensive learning approach as part of a larger strategy aimed at building CPBR.…”

“…[1][2][3] Over the last decade, several research capacity assessment and strategies have been undertaken. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Research capacity is a process of individual and institutional development that leads to higher levels of competencies and capabilities to perform useful research. [13] More recently, there are efforts to provide opportunities that involve partnerships between researchers and clinicians to produce practice-relevant knowledge, which has been referred to as collaborative applied research10 or collaborative practice based research (CPBR).…”

Enhancing collaborative practice-based research in an academic health science center

“…[1] Further, a focus on collaborative applied research including disciplinary specific and interprofessional research is critical to achieving quality outcomes and cost efficiencies in health care and a global priority. [2][3][4][5] Interprofessional research focuses on generating clinically relevant knowledge of collaborative teams from different healthcare professional backgrounds [6] working with patients, their families, caregivers and communities (referred to collaborative practice-based research). Healthcare professionals working within AHSCs are well positioned to carry out collaborative practice-based research due to their proximity to patients and opportunity to generate clinically driven research questions; [5,7] particularly nurses and health disciplines that collectively comprise the largest healthcare workforce within health care.…”