Short- and Long-Term Outcomes of Student Field Research Experiences in Special Populations

Abstract

Global health education and training of biomedical students in international and minority health research is expending through U.S. academic institutions. This study addresses the short- and long-term outcomes of an NCI-funded R25 short-term summer field research training program. This program is designed for MPH and Ph.D. students in cancer epidemiology and related disciplines, in international and minority settings (special populations) in a recent 7-year period. Positive short-term outcome of 73 students was measured as publishing a manuscript from the field research data. Positive long-term outcome was measured as having a post-doc position, being in a doctoral program, and/or employment in special populations at least 3 years from finishing the program. Significant factors associated with both short- and long-term success included resourcefulness of the student and compatibility of personalities and interests between the student and the on-campus and off-campus mentors. Short-term-success of students who conducted international filed research was associated with visits of the on-campus mentor to the field site. Short-term success was also associated with extent of mentorship in the field site and with long-term success. Future studies should investigate how field research sites could enhance careers of students, appropriateness of the sites for specific training competencies, and how to maximize the learning experience of students in international and minority research sites.

Expert Perspectives on Outbreak Investigation Training: A Quality Improvement Exercise

“…While participants identified these various qualities and attitudes being valuable for supervisors, they also indicated that the dynamic of the relationship between supervisor and trainee is critically important for effective training outcomes. This reflects other findings which state that "the quality of the supervisory relationship strongly affects the effectiveness of supervision" (20), and that the compatibility of personalities between supervisor and trainee is an important predictor of later professional outcomes for trainees in applied epidemiology (21). Similarly, the findings of our study indicate that a compatible and positive relationship between supervisor and trainee is critical for effective supervision and learning to occur.…”

“…Further investigation in this area would be strengthened by including more objective measures of program success and linked to more objective measures of longitudinal trainee outcomes. Studies of supervision in other contexts have used measures such as trainees' later publication rates and job attainment in relevant fields, which could be explored when developing more direct indicators of efficacy in outbreak investigation training [21].…”

Field epidemiology training programmes in the Asia-Pacific: what is best practice for supervision?

“…18 Studies of supervision in other contexts have assessed efficacy using measures such as trainees' publication rates and job attainment in relevant specialist fields, which could be explored in developing indicators of supervisor performance in FETPs. 19 Given the study's sample from Western Pacific and South-East Asian FETPs, this may limit the generalizability of our findings to other regions, though comparison with other findings from African and Asia-Pacific FETPs indicates similar experiences and challenges with regards to supervision. 6,7…”

Building Blocks of Global Health Mentorship: Motivation, Expectations, and Institutional Support

“…In addition to medical students, global health field training is available at many institutions for public health, nursing, engineering, business, and students in other disciplines [12]. An evaluation of a National Cancer Institute-funded traineeship for cancer epidemiology graduate students selected to participate in a summer global health training program demonstrated that mentorship played a role in positive short- and long-term student outcomes as measured by student publications of their field work and employment in the field after three years [7]. It is reasonable to expect that establishing a model of considerations in a mentor-mentee relationship within the global health curriculum would not only improve student experience, knowledge, and skills, but also result in a higher likelihood of continued international engagement from the student and stronger relationships with colleagues and communities overseas.…”