Article type
Abstract
Background:
Mentorship is important in influencing and enhancing a successful career path in health research which positively impacts the constantly-evolving demands of patient care. Expanding research capacity is therefore critical in low-resource settings such as low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) to improve population outcomes, where more than 90% of the world’s diseases are localized. Regrettably, the research capacities in these regions are quite often poor relative to high income countries (HICs). Collaborations between HICs and LMICs in research mentorship is one way to increase research capacity in LMICs, but there is still a gap in knowledge on research mentorship in these settings.
Objectives:
To describe the LMIC-HIC health research mentoring programs identified from our scoping review of health research mentoring programs focused on improving equity and discuss lessons learned.
Methods:
JBI guidance for scoping reviews was followed and we searched Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, LILACS, and Scopus for publications from the last 10 years with no language restrictions. Data extracted included characteristics of mentoring programs, PROGRESS-Plus equity framework factors, and lessons learned from mentoring programs. We conducted a sub-analysis of the program reports that were specific to LMIC-HIC partnerships.
Results:
Our review identified 30 reports of 22 LMIC-HIC mentoring programs. Most of the HIC partners were from the United States and a few others from Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Switzerland. The LMIC partners were from African, Latin American, Asian and Eastern European regions. Most of the programs identified pertained to medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy, and clinical oncology. Program duration ranged from 1 month to 60 months. All of the programs identified considered 5 dimensions of the PROGRESS-Plus framework in selection of mentors and mentees, most common was place of residence. Challenges mentioned by the mentorship programs included language barriers, time constraints of mentees, cultural differences, and immigration bottlenecks for some in-person training sessions.
Conclusions:
There were several successful LMIC-HIC partnerships identified, despite the challenges. The lessons learned from this study can inform future LMIC-HIC partnership mentorship programs on how to better support mentees and their research in low-resource settings.
Mentorship is important in influencing and enhancing a successful career path in health research which positively impacts the constantly-evolving demands of patient care. Expanding research capacity is therefore critical in low-resource settings such as low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) to improve population outcomes, where more than 90% of the world’s diseases are localized. Regrettably, the research capacities in these regions are quite often poor relative to high income countries (HICs). Collaborations between HICs and LMICs in research mentorship is one way to increase research capacity in LMICs, but there is still a gap in knowledge on research mentorship in these settings.
Objectives:
To describe the LMIC-HIC health research mentoring programs identified from our scoping review of health research mentoring programs focused on improving equity and discuss lessons learned.
Methods:
JBI guidance for scoping reviews was followed and we searched Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, LILACS, and Scopus for publications from the last 10 years with no language restrictions. Data extracted included characteristics of mentoring programs, PROGRESS-Plus equity framework factors, and lessons learned from mentoring programs. We conducted a sub-analysis of the program reports that were specific to LMIC-HIC partnerships.
Results:
Our review identified 30 reports of 22 LMIC-HIC mentoring programs. Most of the HIC partners were from the United States and a few others from Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Switzerland. The LMIC partners were from African, Latin American, Asian and Eastern European regions. Most of the programs identified pertained to medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy, and clinical oncology. Program duration ranged from 1 month to 60 months. All of the programs identified considered 5 dimensions of the PROGRESS-Plus framework in selection of mentors and mentees, most common was place of residence. Challenges mentioned by the mentorship programs included language barriers, time constraints of mentees, cultural differences, and immigration bottlenecks for some in-person training sessions.
Conclusions:
There were several successful LMIC-HIC partnerships identified, despite the challenges. The lessons learned from this study can inform future LMIC-HIC partnership mentorship programs on how to better support mentees and their research in low-resource settings.