Barriers and facilitators to conducting research by early career psychiatrists: a literature review

Abstract

ObjectivesTo understand and identify factors that promote and prevent research participation among early career psychiatrists (ECPs), in order to understand what would encourage more ECPs to pursue a research career.MethodsWe conducted an electronic search of databases (PubMed and the Cochrane library) using the keywords ‘doctors’, ‘trainees’, ‘residents’, ‘physicians’ and ‘psychiatric trainees’ as well as ‘research’ (MeSH) and ‘publishing’ (MeSH). This search was complemented by a secondary hand search.ResultsWe identified 524 articles, of which 16 fulfilled inclusion criteria for this review. The main barriers included lack of dedicated time for research, lack of mentoring and lack of funding. The main facilitators were opportunities to receive mentorship and access to research funding.ConclusionsAction is needed to counteract the lack of ECPs interested in a career in research. Specific programs encouraging ECPs to pursue research careers and having access to mentors could help increase the current numbers of researching clinicians in the field.

Research by Psychiatric Trainees and Early Career Psychiatrists—Results of a Survey From 34 Countries in Europe

“…The results of this cross-sectional European survey are similar to those identified in a previous review of barriers and facilitators of research (12), as well as a review of research activities (11). In particular these findings confirm that higher income countries, such as Sweden or the Netherlands make for stronger research backgrounds, which draws migrants from across Europe (13).…”

“…Some European countries have also already included research topics in their regular curricula. However, in many countries research is neither a topic in the education of trainees or ECPs nor is protected research time a reality in European countries (12). In particular, to reduce brain-drain in both clinical and research work, resources to conduct research need to improve.…”

“…This might be due to different challenges, including a lack of time for research activities (1,(5)(6)(7), insufficient funding (6,(8)(9)(10) and less access to scientific literature and internet databases in some European countries (11). In psychiatry, obstacles as lack of appreciation of the field, fewer research funding from pharmaceutical companies and stigmatization of psychiatric research might be some of the obstacles that specifically ECPs face (12). Few resources to conduct research in the home country might lead psychiatric trainees and ECPs to move to higher resourced countries, in a trend so-called "brain-drain" (13,14).…”

“…A recent review on the barriers and facilitators for ECPs to conduct research reported data from small studies covering only eight countries (USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UK, Croatia, France, Portugal, Serbia), of which the majority were Englishspeaking (12). However, little is known about the wider barriers and facilitators for psychiatric trainees and ECPs to conduct research across the European continent.…”

Peer Learning, Research, and Support in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Case Study of the Early Career Psychiatrists Model

“…Nevertheless, these initiatives are commonly centered on a model of mentor-mentee or senior-junior, in which an experienced professional supports a less experienced one. Although these models can be productive and successful, they may also have limitations when they cannot provide adequate mentorship and might introduce a hierarchical gap, leading to potential inhibition of rapport among mentor-mentee and may cause work stress [ 5 ]. Other barriers are the deficiency of mentors in LMICs, restrictions on the number of mentees per mentor from training institutes, and overburdened mentors [ 5 , 6 ].…”