Motivators, enablers, and barriers to building allied health research capacity

Abstract

PurposeA sound, scientific base of high quality research is needed to inform service planning and decision making and enable improved policy and practice. However, some areas of health practice, particularly many of the allied health areas, are generally considered to have a low evidence base. In order to successfully build research capacity in allied health, a clearer understanding is required of what assists and encourages research as well as the barriers and challenges.Participants and methodsThis study used written surveys to collect data relating to motivators, enablers, and barriers to research capacity building. Respondents were asked to answer questions relating to them as individuals and other questions relating to their team. Allied health professionals were recruited from multidisciplinary primary health care teams in Queensland Health. Eighty-five participants from ten healthcare teams completed a written version of the research capacity and culture survey.ResultsThe results of this study indicate that individual allied health professionals are more likely to report being motivated to do research by intrinsic factors such as a strong interest in research. Barriers they identified to research are more likely to be extrinsic factors such as workload and lack of time. Allied health professionals identified some additional factors that impact on their research capacity than those reported in the literature, such as a desire to keep at the “cutting edge” and a lack of exposure to research. Some of the factors influencing individuals to do research were different to those influencing teams. These results are discussed with reference to organizational behavior and theories of motivation.ConclusionSupporting already motivated allied health professional individuals and teams to conduct research by increased skills training, infrastructure, and quarantined time is likely to produce better outcomes for research capacity building investment.

Achieving success in clinically based research: the importance of mentoring

“…However, it is acknowledged that engaging the clinical workforce in research has its challenges. Challenges that have been reported within radiation therapy include limited time, research facilities, access to mentors and workforce capacity 4, 5, 6…”

Learning to navigate and enriching the research process by engaging in a collaborative practice research capacity strategy

“…This finding is consistent with other literature that delineates the paramount role that mentors have in working with clinicians to develop their research skills. [8,14,22] This relationship requires having sufficient time for for the mentors to work with the teams to develop and conduct a research project with clear deliverables, timelines, and assigned responsibilites. [15] Support for mentorship and targeted team-based education for building research capacity has been reported in other studies.…”

“…[11] However, undergraduate and postgraduate entry to practice courses may not always equip nurses and health disciplines with the competencies required to undertake research. [14] Further, despite efforts to build research capacity through a variety of initiatives (e.g. educational programs, fellowships, funding), [6][7][8][15][16][17] nurses and health care professionals continue to report lacking skills and confidence to conduct research due to minimal or no experience and not having enough time to participate in research.…”

“…educational programs, fellowships, funding), [6][7][8][15][16][17] nurses and health care professionals continue to report lacking skills and confidence to conduct research due to minimal or no experience and not having enough time to participate in research. [1,6,12,14,[18][19][20][21] In this context, an Academic Health Sciences Center (AHSC) developed and hosted a competitive grants competition with a comprehensive learning approach as part of a larger strategy aimed at building CPBR. Underpinning the CPBR competition was the view that engaging point of care clinicians in research opportunities will motivate them to provide better care to patients.…”

“…Underpinning the CPBR competition was the view that engaging point of care clinicians in research opportunities will motivate them to provide better care to patients. [14] Part of the learning approach included undertaking a study aimed at exploring the perceptions and experiences of nurses and other health disciplines in an interprofessional, collaborative research capacity building strategy. This paper provides the results from this study.…”