Mentoring health researchers globally: Diverse experiences, programmes, challenges and responses

Abstract

Mentoring experiences and programmes are becoming increasingly recognised as important by those engaged in capacity strengthening in global health research. Using a primarily qualitative study design, we studied three experiences of mentorship and eight mentorship programmes for early career global health researchers based in high-income and low- and middle-income countries. For the latter, we drew upon programme materials, existing unpublished data and more formal mixed-method evaluations, supplemented by individual email questionnaire responses. Research team members wrote stories, and the team assembled and analysed them for key themes. Across the diverse experiences and programmes, key emergent themes included: great mentors inspire others in an inter-generational cascade, mentorship is transformative in personal and professional development and involves reciprocity, and finding the right balance in mentoring relationships and programmes includes responding creatively to failure. Among the challenges encountered were: struggling for more level playing fields for new health researchers globally, changing mindsets in institutions that do not have a culture of mentorship and building collaboration not competition. Mentoring networks spanning institutions and countries using multiple virtual and face-to-face methods are a potential avenue for fostering organisational cultures supporting quality mentorship in global health research.

Post-doctoral research fellowship as a health policy and systems research capacity development intervention: a case of the CHESAI initiative

“…Both of these strategies have been applied in the CHESAI PDRFs, as discussed in the findings, whereby we were attached to projects through which we gained practical experience of researcher–practitioner engagement and we were involved in teaching and student co-supervision alongside our mentors in the form of apprenticeship. Cole et al [25] also identified mentorship as crucial for capacity strengthening in health research.…”

“…There is evidence where, in some developed countries, fellows have been able to use a PDRF to establish networks and find employment [22–24]. On the other hand it has been reported that fellows in developing countries (although similar incidents reported elsewhere) have also experienced some negative effects of the PDRF including lack of committed mentorship [25]. …”

Achieving success in clinically based research: the importance of mentoring

“…The mentee also needs to be able to accept constructive feedback, corrections and even failures, and take a proactive role in managing their research project/research career. Some key strategies for sustaining a mentor‐mentees relationship are outlined in Table 1 8, 9, 11, 12, 13…”

“…3 Arguably a key strategy is ensuring clinicians have access to research mentors. [7][8][9] Mentoring is more than just supervision, and achieving effective mentoring requires numerous factors, and can be enhanced by mentor training. [8][9][10] Mentoring busy clinicians to develop research skills and capacity requires a unique understanding of clinical pressures and workforce limitations.…”

Building a mentoring network

“…Mentoring as an interprofessional concept has grown in popularity as a means for achieving research productivity and academic success (Byrne Keefe, 2002; Cole et al, 2015; Conn, Porter, McDaniel, Rantz, Maas., 2005; Haddi, Lindquist, Buckwalter, 2013; Kubiak, Guidot, Trimm, Kamen, Roman, 2012; Mass et al, 2006; Morrison-Beedy, Aronowitz, Dyne, Mkandawire, 2001; Schrubbe, 2004; Travis Anthony, 2011; Yin et al, 2015). The National Advisory Committee (NAC) of the Nurse Faculty Scholars (NFS) program, which was charged with shaping this Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commitment to the development of junior nursing faculty, saw mentoring as a means of “increasing cultural capital” for sustainable academic success (Chanderbhan-Forde, Heppner, Borman, 2012) and of decreasing levels of role conflict and role ambiguity (Specht, 2013) and looked to it as the key component in building the capacity of nursing science.…”