Attitudes and Barriers to Research Among Oncology Trainees in East Africa

Abstract

Background East Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world and faces a rising burden of cancer; however, few people are equipped to effectively conduct research in this area. Materials and Methods A 31‐item questionnaire was distributed to current trainees and recent graduates of the Master in Medicine in Clinical Oncology Program at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania. Areas that were assessed included (a) demographic information, (b) prior research training, (c) prior and current research activities, (d) attitudes toward the importance of research, and (e) supports and barriers to inclusion of research in an oncology career path. Results A total of 30 individuals responded to the survey, of whom 53% (n = 16) were male and 70% (n = 21) identified as current trainees. Among the majority of respondents, attitudes toward research were strongly favorable. Although only 37% (n = 11) reported receiving any formal training in research methodology, 87% (n = 26) reported intentions to incorporate research into their careers. The absence of protected time for research and lack of access to research funding opportunities were identified by a majority of respondents as critical barriers. Conclusion A majority of current or recent oncology trainees in Tanzania desire to incorporate research into their careers, but most also lack adequate training in research methodology and longitudinal mentorship. Our future collaboration will focus on creation of appropriate research training curriculums and fostering an environment that catalyzes interprofessional development and transforms and extends context‐specific cancer research in East Africa. Implications for Practice Current and recent oncology trainees in East Africa expressed a high enthusiasm for research, driven by a sense of urgency related to the burden from cancer that the region faces. This highlights the need for cancer research training and mentorship in this setting. This work hypothesizes that African principal investigators can operate effectively if proper attention is given to selection and provision of high‐quality foundational didactic training to learn the theory and implementation of research as well as to the development of an environment conducive to mentoring.

A mixed methods needs assessment and gap analysis for establishment of a cancer research training program in East Africa

“…Post-graduate trainees expressed high motivation to incorporate research in their careers, although existing curriculums in terminal clinical degree programs do not emphasize research training. These findings echo our previous findings from an evaluation of oncology trainees in Tanzania, 11 demonstrating that this disconnect prevails across post-graduate training programs. Lack of training in research skills has been reported to hinder clinicians' involvement in research in both developed and developing countries, [32][33][34] highlighting the need for dedicated research training programs.…”

“…Different qualitative data collection methods were utilized and involved different groups of participants with the aim of collecting wider views on the different themes and draw harmonized conclusions/opinions/suggestions. 11 , 13 , 14 …”

“…Different qualitative data collection methods were utilized and involved different groups of participants with the aim of collecting wider views on the different themes and draw harmonized conclusions/opinions/ suggestions. 11,13,14 The tools aimed to collect data on four major thematic areas: (a) policies and research agendas; (b) research capacity and training needs; (c) mentorship resources; and (d) the research support environment. 11,[15][16][17][18][19][20] The The IDIs were conducted by five Tanzanian team members (SKN, EJM, BPM, ISM, GS), who had participated in the development of the interview guides.…”

“…While higher learning institutions in Africa offer research training, there are notable deficiencies in research competencies among graduate clinicians in areas such as clinical research methods, cancer epidemiology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, and database management. 11 As part of our ongoing effort to develop a sustainable cancer research training program in Tanzania, we performed a needs assessment and gap analysis of cancer-related research training resources.…”

The Upper Digestive Tract Microbiome and Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, and Clinical Implications in Africa

“…Yet, cancer research is still scarce in the continent to meet this public health challenge and few people are equipped to conduct research in the area despite remarkable progress in building human research capacity over the last decade [7, 112, 113]. In Tanzania, a great part of oncology trainees would like to incorporate research into their careers, but inadequate training in research methodology and absence of longitudinal mentorship is a drawback [114].…”