The health service perspective on determinants of success in allied health student research project collaborations: a qualitative study guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research

BACKGROUND

A research culture in health care organisations is associated with improved healthcare performance. Allied health (AH) students undertake research training as part of their professional degree qualifications. This may include participation in research projects, sometimes undertaken in association with health services. Co-supervision of these projects by health service staff provides research capacity building opportunities and staff-centred outcomes for the individuals involved, as well as improvements in clinical knowledge and practice within the local area. Also, publications from these projects contribute to the wider evidence base. Identification of barriers and facilitators to engagement in, and conduct of, these projects may optimise systems for improved health service outcomes.

METHODS

This formative evaluation used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to guide analysis of qualitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews with health service-employed allied health professionals, including clinicians and research fellows, who had supervised students on clinical-related research placements within the previous five years.

RESULTS

Eleven AH clinicians described 18 collaborative projects with 24 students from five AH disciplines across four universities. Three health service-employed AH research fellows described their involvement in these and other student research projects. Twenty key determinant constructs were identified and mapped across all five CFIR domains. Facilitators included health service cosmopolitanism, project adaptability and implementation climate (compatibility). Health service-employed research fellows provided readiness for implementation and a facilitator for project execution. The main barriers identified were cost to staff in workload and personal time and aspects related to project complexity. Differing student characteristics affected the relative advantage of collaborative projects in positive and negative manners.

CONCLUSIONS

This study describes the facilitators and barriers to the conduct of collaborative AH student research projects. Addressing these determinants when establishing each new project may enable health services to optimise communication, role delineation and project success, and thus ultimately, healthcare performance and patient care.

Experiences of hospital allied health professionals in collaborative student research projects: a qualitative study

Background

Active engagement in research by healthcare organisations and clinicians is associated with improvements in healthcare performance. Barriers to research engagement by clinician allied health (AH) professionals include competing priorities from high clinical workloads, lack of research skills and confidence, and lack of supportive research relationships. Collaboration with universities on joint clinical research projects is well recognised as a means of building health service research capacity. Research projects undertaken by students as part of their qualifying degree represent one such opportunity. However, there are few reports evaluating these collaborations from the health service perspective.

Methods

A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore the experiences of AH professionals in the co-supervision of students completing research placements as part of their professional degree course.

Results

Fourteen health service employees from six allied health disciplines described collaborations on research projects with 24 students from four different universities. Student placements and projects varied widely in length of placement, extent of collaboration, supervision structure and study design. Three overarching themes were identified in the AH professional co-supervision experience: 1) Professional growth; 2) Mismatch with expectations; and 3) Focus on the student. Project outcomes were categorised from the health system perspective. These were 1) Healthcare performance improvements, including local increases in staff clinical practice knowledge and wider contributions to the evidence base; 2) Research capacity gains within the health service, including research knowledge and skill development, collaborative linkages and opportunity for future research; and 3) Staff-centred outcomes including increased job satisfaction.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the potential for AH professional supervision of students on research placements to contribute to healthcare performance improvements and research capacity gains within health services, alongside providing personal benefits for the AH professionals involved. Early consultation with a health service-employed research specialist may support health professional and student learning, team collaboration and project coordination for these student projects.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-08119-7.

Mentoring upcoming researchers for non-communicable diseases' research and practice in Malawi

The Malawi College of Medicine and its partners are building non-communicable diseases’ (NCDs’) research capacity through a grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Several strategies are being implemented including research mentorship for junior researchers interested to build careers in NCDs’ research. In this article, we present the rationale for and our experiences with this mentorship program over its 2 years of implementation. Lessons learned and the challenges are also shared.

Challenges in postgraduate research supervision in nursing education: Integrative review

AIM

The aim of this study was to investigate challenges associated with postgraduate research supervision in nursing education and possible implications for improvement efforts.

BACKGROUND

Postgraduate research-based programs in nursing education are particularly new compared to other professions. Anecdotal notes from nursing education stakeholders indicate that postgraduate research supervision encounters numerous challenges, with negative consequences for the nursing profession and for society.

METHOD

Integrative review that combines empirical and theoretical evidence was used to obtain a comprehensive picture of challenges in the supervision of postgraduate research.

DATA SOURCES

EBSCOhost; Science Direct; Google Scholar.

REVIEW METHODS

The quality of included studies was appraised using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool for quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method studies. Two reviewers extracted data and did quality appraisal.

ANALYSIS

Inductive content analysis was used to analyse extracted data from included studies.

RESULTS

Seven studies were included. Three main categories of challenges associated with (a) institutional context, (b) research supervisors, and (c) postgraduate students.

DISCUSSION

Institutional context challenges were lack of clear guidelines for nursing schools, limited pool of appropriate research supervisors, and recruitment of many postgraduate students leading to mismatch, confusion and limited support. Research supervisors are insufficiently prepared, predominantly use traditional face-to-face method, and provide inconsistent feedback. Postgraduate students are inadequately prepared and are mostly full-time employed.

CONCLUSION

Many challenges continue to beset postgraduate research supervision in nursing discipline, with negative consequences for the quality of graduates and the quality of their research output.

THE IMPLICATION FOR NURSING POLICY

To generate useful knowledge and increase the number of motivated nursing scholars, challenges associated with postgraduate research supervision need to be addressed, with emphasis on formal training for research supervisors and development of clear guidelines for postgraduate research supervision and for recruitment of postgraduate students.

A qualitative inquiry into the challenges and complexities of research supervision: viewpoints of postgraduate students and faculty members

INTRODUCTION

The supervision of academic theses at the Universities of Medical Sciences is one of the most important issues with several challenges. The aim of the present study is to discover the nature of problems and challenges of thesis supervision in Iranian universities of medical sciences.

METHODS

The study was conducted with a qualitative method using conventional content analysis approach. Nineteen faculty members, using purposive sampling, and 11 postgraduate medical sciences students (Ph.D students and residents) were selected on the basis of theoretical sampling. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and field observations in Shiraz and Isfahan universities of medical sciences from September 2012 to December 2014. The qualitative content analysis was used with a conventional approach to analyze the data.

RESULTS

While experiencing the nature of research supervision process, faculties and the students faced some complexities and challenges in the research supervision process. The obtained codes were categorized under 4 themes Based on the characteristics; included "contextual problem", "role ambiguity in thesis supervision", "poor reflection in supervision" and "ethical problems".

CONCLUSION

The result of this study revealed that there is a need for more attention to planning and defining the supervisory, and research supervision. Also, improvement of the quality of supervisor and students relationship must be considered behind the research context improvement in research supervisory area.

Graduate nursing faculty workload in the United States

Faculty workload is an ever-present issue in nursing education, but little is known about how workload is managed across institutions. Even less is known about faculty workload in the supervision of research and practice for graduate nursing students. The purpose of this study was to describe workload assignments for graduate nursing faculty supervising both research and advanced clinical nursing students. Using the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's list of schools, we sent 617 e-mails with links to an electronic survey to administrators of colleges of nursing. One hundred sixty (26%) administrators responded. Forty schools reported having a doctor of philosophy program, and 31 administrators answered the question about workload for dissertations, with 20 (65%) giving workload credit. Of the 36 respondents with a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program, 22 (61%) gave credit for DNP project supervision. Great variability exists among schools of nursing in the United States for the amount of workload given for supervision of graduate student research and practice.