Kupfer David J, Schatzberg Alan F, Dunn Leslie O, Schneider Andrea K, Moore Tara L, DeRosier Melissa
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Acad Psychiatry. 2016 Jun;40(3):424-8. doi: 10.1007/s40596-015-0362-5. Epub 2015 Jun 6.
The need for innovative methods to promote training, advancement, and retention of clinical and translational investigators in order to build a pipeline of trainees to focus on mental health-relevant research careers is pressing. The specific aim of the Career Development Institute for Psychiatry is to provide the necessary skill set and support to a nationally selected broad-based group of young psychiatrists and PhD researchers to launch and maintain successful research careers in academic psychiatry. The program targets such career skills as writing, negotiating, time management, juggling multiple demanding responsibilities, networking, project management, responsible conduct of research, and career goal setting. The current program builds on the previous program by adding a longitudinal, long-distance, virtual mentoring, and training program, seen as integral components to sustaining these career skills.
Career development activities occur in four phases over a 24-month period for each annual class of up to 18 participants: online baseline career and skills self-assessment and goal setting, preparations for 4-day in-person workshop, long-distance structured mentoring and online continued learning, peer-mentoring activities, and post-program career progress and process evaluation. Program instructors and mentors consist of faculty from the University of Pittsburgh and Stanford University as well as successful past program graduates from other universities as peer mentors. A comprehensive website facilitates long-distance activities to occur online. Continued training occurs via webinars every other month by experts discussing topics selected for the needs of each particular class. Personally assigned mentors meet individually bimonthly with participants via a secure web-based "mentor center" that allows mentor dyads to collaborate, share, review, and discuss career goals and research activities.
Preliminary results after the first 24 months are favorable. Almost uniformly, participants felt the program was very helpful. They had regular contact with their long-distance mentor at least every 2 months over the 2-year period. At the end of the 2-year period, the majority of participants had full-time faculty appointments with K-award support and very few were doing primarily clinical work.
The longitudinal program of education, training, mentoring, peer support, and communications for individuals making the transition to academic research should increase the number of scientists committed to research careers in mental health.
迫切需要创新方法来促进临床和转化研究人员的培训、职业发展及留任，以建立一支专注于心理健康相关研究职业的受训人员队伍。精神病学职业发展研究所的具体目标是为全国范围内选拔出的广泛年轻精神科医生和博士研究人员提供必要的技能组合及支持，以在学术精神病学领域开启并维持成功的研究职业生涯。该项目针对写作、谈判、时间管理、兼顾多项艰巨职责、建立人际关系网、项目管理、负责任地开展研究以及设定职业目标等职业技能。当前项目在前一个项目的基础上增加了纵向、远程、虚拟指导和培训项目，这些被视为维持这些职业技能的不可或缺的组成部分。
对于每年最多18名参与者的每个班级，职业发展活动在24个月内分四个阶段进行：在线基线职业和技能自我评估及目标设定、为期4天的面对面研讨会准备、远程结构化指导和在线持续学习、同伴指导活动以及项目结束后的职业进展和过程评估。项目教员和导师包括匹兹堡大学和斯坦福大学的教师以及其他大学过去成功毕业的项目学员作为同伴导师。一个综合网站便于远程活动在线进行。每隔一个月通过网络研讨会进行持续培训，专家们会讨论根据每个特定班级的需求选定的主题。个人指定的导师通过一个安全的基于网络的“导师中心”每两个月与参与者单独会面一次，该中心允许导师二人组协作、分享、审查和讨论职业目标及研究活动。
头24个月后的初步结果是积极的。几乎所有参与者都认为该项目非常有帮助。在这两年期间，他们至少每两个月与远程导师进行定期联系。在两年期结束时，大多数参与者获得了有K奖支持的全职教员职位，很少有人主要从事临床工作。
为向学术研究转型的个人提供的纵向教育、培训、指导、同伴支持和交流项目应能增加致力于心理健康研究职业的科学家数量。
