Objectives

Participant Characteristics:
Junior faculty from backgrounds underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce per NSF data. Data collected – include, grants received, publications and career promotions in Academia.

Questionnaires:
In addition to surveys assessing receipts of grants, publications and promotions, data on research self-efficacy and mentors are also collected.

Background

Population differences in health outcomes are well-documented in the United States and a more diverse biomedical workforce may be needed to address these disparities. Therefore, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) called for increasing the diversity of the biomedical research workforce, which inspired the development of diversity-focused educational and research-training programs at academic institutions across the United States. These programs aim specifically to promote the recruitment and retention of individuals from underrepresented groups in science, medicine, and biomedical-research careers. For instance, women at senior levels, persons from racial/ethnic minority groups, and persons with disabilities.

A growing body of evidence indicates that mentors can promote junior faculty members’ professional development and positively support their perceived self-efficacy. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded six diversity-focused, mentored-research education programs for early-career investigators engaged in heart, lung, blood, and sleep research.

Participants

A participant was eligible if he or she was from an underrepresented group in biomedical research; had a faculty position; had a heart, lung, blood, or sleep (HLBS) research focus; and was a U.S. citizen/permanent resident.

Data are available from 391 participants from PRIDE cohorts 1-9.

Design

Participants attended two consecutive Summer Institutes (SI) lasting 2-3 weeks each at one of the participating academic institutions hosting a PRIDE summer institute program. The participating institutions were SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, Augusta University, Washington University in St. Louis, New York University Langone Medical Center, Columbia University, and San Diego State University. The six training programs were each specialized in mentored training in different areas of science and substantive training content, although all focused on HLBS disorders. Common components included: didactic and/or laboratory training specific to the research emphasis of the program, research design and analysis methods, responsible conduct of research training, grant writing workshops, research project and grant proposal development, regular support and networking activities, and career planning. In addition, all programs assigned one or more PRIDE-research mentors.

A brief 1-2 day mid-year face-to-face meeting was held for progress reviews and included a mock study session to review on-going grant writing projects. In addition, an annual 3-day scientific meeting was held in Bethesda where trainees from all programs met to present their scientific research, engage in mock grant reviews, and to expand their professional networks across programs. During the year, participants reviewed their grant-writing progress through webinar sessions.

Data were collected via online surveys at enrollment, during training, and annually after program completion for up to 10 years total. Data consists of demographic information and career-development outcomes, including promotions, tenure, publications, grant submissions and awards. Data from curriculum vitae (CV), Scopus (abstract and citation database) and NIH RePORTER (NIH-funded research projects database) were used.

Questionnaires:
In addition to surveys assessing career development outcomes, participants were administered two previously developed questionnaires. The 69-item Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory (CRAI) for research self-efficacy was administered at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. The 33-item Ragins and McFarlin Mentor Role Instrument (RMMRI) for mentor-role appraisals was administered two months after mentor assignment. 10-year follow-up of PRIDE mentees is planned. To reduce participant burden for future evaluations, items were removed from the RMMRI questionnaire when >10% of mentees chose ‘Not Applicable’ as their response. This left 9 items on the RMMRI. The principal components analysis yielded a 19-item, 4-factor solution on the CRAI: writing manuscripts, study design/data analysis, collaborations/grant preparation, and consent forms/process.

Conclusions

Participant Characteristics:
Mentees reported their career development benefited from PRIDE participation. Evaluation of long-term career outcomes is ongoing.

Rice TK, Jeffe DB, Boyington JEA, et al. Mentored Training to Increase Diversity among Faculty in the Biomedical Sciences: The NHLBI Summer Institute Programs to Increase Diversity (SIPID) and the Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health-related Research (PRIDE). Ethn Dis. 2017;27(3):249-256. Published 2017 Jul 20. doi:10.18865/ed.27.3.249

Questionnaires:
The RMMRI-9 and CRAI-19 retained the excellent psychometric properties of the longer measures. Findings support use of the shortened measures in future evaluations of PRIDE.

Jeffe DB, Rice TK, Boyington JEA, et al. Development and Evaluation of Two Abbreviated Questionnaires for Mentoring and Research Self-Efficacy. Ethn Dis. 2017;27(2):179-188. Published 2017 Apr 20. doi:10.18865/ed.27.2.179

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