Building sustainable research capacity at higher learning institutions in Tanzania through mentoring of the Young Research Peers

Abstract

Background Sustainability of research culture in Sub-Saharan Africa is threatened in part by the lack of a critical mass of young researchers with the requisite skills and interest to undertake research careers. This paper describes an intensive mentorship programme combining hierarchical (vertical) and peer-to-peer (horizontal) mentoring strategies among young researchers in a resource limited setting in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods A consortium of three partnering large Tanzanian health training institutions (MUHAS, CUHAS and KCMUCo) and two collaborating US institutions (UCSF and Duke University) was formed as part of the five-year Transforming Health Professions Education in Tanzania (THET) project, funded by the NIH through Health Professional Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI). Within THET, the Community of Young Research Peers (CYRP) was formed, comprising of inter-professional and cross-institutional team of 12 Master-level Young Research Peers and 10 co-opted fellows from the former MEPI-Junior Faculty (MEPI-JF) project. The Young Peers received mentorship from senior researchers from the consortium through mentored research awards and research training, and in turn provided reciprocal peer-to-peer mentorship as well as mentorship to undergraduate students. Results At the end of the first 2 years of the project, all 12 Young Peers were proceeding well with mentored research awards, and some were at more advanced stages. For example, three articles were already published in peer reviewed journals and two other manuscripts were in final stages of preparation. All 12 Young Peers participated in CYRP-wide thematic training workshops on mentoring and secondary data analysis; 11 had undertaken at least three research training short courses in identified areas of need; 9 joined at least one other ongoing research project; 5 made at least one scientific presentation, and 5 participated in at least one submitted grant application. Half of the Young Peers have enrolled in PhD programmes. A collective total of 41 undergraduate students were actively mentored by the Young Peers in research. Conclusion The CYRP has demonstrated to be an effective model for dual vertical and horizontal mentorship in research to young investigators in resource-limited settings. This model is recommended to educators working on developing research competence of early career researchers, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Quantitative Comparison between Traditional and Intensive Face-to-Face Education through an Organizational Model

“…TFE presents a lack of flexibility in class schedule for students who need to reconcile their academic and professional life [3,5,14]. This can generate anxiety patterns in students [15] and especially affects students with a job [16] or family responsibilities [17,18]. According to Sprung and Rogerts [15], the balance between personal and professionaleducational life is an important antecedent of mental health of university students, and educational institutions should facilitate this balance to improve the university experience.…”

“…[21]. Given the growing demand of students for a model of these characteristics, some universities offer intensive face-to-face education programs (IFE) to allow non-conventional students to opt for face-to-face education [13,[16][17][18]20,22,23]. The intensive academic day generally covers 8 h a day [18,23] and includes all the training contents of the subject [17,18,23].…”

“…In the traditional style, there are mostly young students who have just finished secondary education and do not have family responsibilities [26]. On the contrary, in the intensive style, the students that make their education compatible with their job predominate [7,16,27]. They are generally older people who financially support their family [17].…”

“…There is a social responsibility of the institutions to offer quality training styles appropriate to each student profile [16][17][18] and to promote more efficient and innovative educational methods [1,38]. There is a lack of quantitative research that compares faceto-face education [7] and identifies its organizational and collaborative elements [12].…”

Effectiveness of an Academic-Practice Team Approach on Research Capacity Building of Nurses and Public Health Professionals

“…Balandya et al reported on the effectiveness of the first 2 years of a 5-year project where all 12 participants joined in training workshops and proceeded with mentored research awards. Three manuscripts were published in peer reviewed journals [44]. Holden et al recommended that a two-year course is possibly realistic to bring desirable research outcomes [13].…”