Pamela Asquith

Training Mentors of Clinical and Translational Research Scholars: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose To determine whether a structured mentoring curriculum improves research mentoring skills. Method The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) at 16 academic health centers (June 2010 to July 2011). Faculty mentors of trainees who were conducting clinical/translational research ≥50% of the time were eligible. The intervention was an eight-hour, case-based curriculum focused on six mentoring competencies. The primary outcome was the change in mentors’ self-reported pretest to posttest composite scores on the Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA). Secondary outcomes included changes in the following: mentors’ awareness as measured by their self-reported retrospective change in MCA scores, mentees’ ratings of their mentors’ competency as measured by MCA scores, and mentoring behaviors as reported by mentors and their mentees. Results A total of 283 mentor–mentee pairs were enrolled: 144 mentors were randomized to the intervention; 139 to the control condition. Self-reported pre-/posttest change in MCA composite scores was higher for mentors in the intervention group compared with controls (P < .001). Retrospective changes in MCA composite scores between the two groups were even greater, and extended to all six subscale scores (P < .001). More intervention-group mentors reported changes in their mentoring practices than control mentors (P < .001). Mentees working with intervention-group mentors reported larger changes in retrospective MCA pre-/posttest scores (P = .003) and more changes in their mentors’ behavior (P = .002) than those paired with control mentors. Conclusions This RCT demonstrates that a competency-based research mentor training program can improve mentors’ skills.

A Research Mentor Training Curriculum for Clinical and Translational Researchers

To design and evaluate a research mentor training curriculum for clinical and translational researchers. The resulting 8‐hour curriculum was implemented as part of a national mentor training trial.

A National Survey of Mentoring Programs for KL2 Scholars

There is limited information on how academic institutions support effective mentoring practices for new investigators. A national semistructured telephone interview was conducted to assess current “state of the art” mentoring practices for KL2 scholars among the 46 institutions participating in the Clinical Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Consortium. Mentoring practices examined included: mentor selection, articulating and aligning expectations, assessing the mentoring relationship, and mentor training. Telephone interviews were conducted in winter/fall 2009, with 100% of the CTSAs funded (n= 46) through 2009, participating in the survey. Primary findings include: five programs selected mentors for K scholars, 14 programs used mentor contracts to define expectations, 16 programs reported formal mentor evaluation, 10 offered financial incentives to mentors, and 13 offered formal mentoring training. The interviews found considerable variation in mentoring practices for training new investigators among the 46 CTSAs. There was also limited consensus on “what works” and what are the core elements of “effective mentoring practices. Empirical research is needed to help research leaders decide on where and how to place resources related to mentoring. Clin Trans Sci 2010; Volume 3: 299–304

Research Mentor Training: Initiatives of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) has served as a hub of multidisciplinary expertise in both research mentor and mentee training and evaluation, with long-standing, federally-funded efforts to support innovative practice, training interventions, and research to improve training programs for diverse scholars in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Ten years ago, the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching, co-directed by Drs. Pfund, Miller and Handelsman, led an effort to train future biology faculty to become more effective research mentors. Cohorts of biology graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, faculty, and staff met to discuss mentoring challenges and solutions, generating case studies and discussion questions along the way. Following evaluation and revision, these materials were published as Entering Mentoring,1 a manual to help others facilitate research mentor training seminars and workshops. Published evaluations of the Entering Mentoring seminars indicate that mentors who participate in training gain important skills.2 These trained mentors are more likely to consider issues of diversity, discuss expectations with their mentees, and to seek the advice of their peers. Entering Mentoring, since adapted to create nine different curricula that target specific STEM disciplines, has subsequently been used across the country to train hundreds of research mentors. All of these developed materials have been field-tested at UW in the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL, PI: Robert Mathieu) and are available at no charge on the project website (http://www.researchmentortraining.org). Entering Mentoring has served as a foundation and framework for the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA)-funded initiatives of the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR). In 2010, a multidisciplinary team from five CTSA-funded institutions, supported by a CTSA Administrative Supplement awarded UW, sought to adapt Entering Mentoring to make it applicable for the mentors of clinical and translational researchers. Over a 6-month period, the curriculum team outlined, reviewed, and adapted learning objectives and core training activities to address six research mentoring competencies: (1) maintaining effective communication; (2) aligning expectations; (3) assessing understanding; (4) addressing diversity; (5) fostering independence; and (6) promoting professional development.3 Further adaptations and beta-testing followed, with the final curriculum published as Mentor Training for Clinical and Translational Researchers.4 Using this curriculum, as designed, allows small groups of mentors to engage in a discussion of case studies and activities intended to help them meet specific learning objectives, set forth for each of the six competencies. The curriculum is typically implemented in four 2-hour sessions, led by two trained facilitators. The Mentor Training for Clinical and Translational Researchers4 curriculum was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial conducted at 16 U.S. institutions (15 CTSA sites), between January 2010 and July 2011. A total of 283 mentor-mentee pairs were recruited, with 98% retention of participants through the trial. Mentors were allocated to the 8-hour training group (n = 144) or to the control group (n = 139). We hypothesized that this systematic, formal mentor training strategy would improve mentoring skills across the six core curriculum competencies, and positively influence behaviors. Baseline and six month post randomization interviews were conducted using the validated Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) tool5, newly developed for this trial. Follow-up surveys of mentors, who received training, documented statistically significant self-reported skill gains and self-reported changes in mentoring behaviors.6 In addition, interviewed mentees corroborated these positive changes. With this documented success, the most recent research mentor training initiative at UW, funded by a CTSA supplement, has been creation of a web-based Legacy Resource for mentoring development, which has been established to serve national and international mentors and mentees by dissemination of resources, most notably research mentor training curricula (https://mentoringresources.ictr.wisc.edu/). This website provides information on best mentoring practices, as well as access to mentor training curricula, such as Mentor Training for Clinical and Translational Researchers4. The website also offers facilitator training materials, assessment instruments, and centralized data collection for the evaluation of mentoring relationships and mentor training efforts, thus creating a mechanism for ongoing evaluation. Development of the new website consisted of three phases: 1) assembling and testing three new specialized curricula; 2) developing the web- based resources, and 3) integrating the assessment mechanism into the website.

Building a Sustainable National Infrastructure to Expand Research Mentor Training

An evidence-based research mentor training (RMT) curricular series has been shown to improve the knowledge and skills of research mentors across disciplines and career stages. A train-the-trainer model was used in the context of several targeted approaches aimed at sustainability to support national dissemination of RMT and expand the network of facilitators prepared to implement the curricula. These infrastructure elements included 1) an expansion initiative to increase the number of trained facilitators able to deliver train-the-trainer workshops nationwide; 2) adaptation of RMT curricula for multiple audiences and career stages to increase accessibility; 3) implementation resources to support facilitators and help them overcome implementation barriers; and 4) standardized evaluation of training. This approach to dissemination and implementation has resulted in the preparation of nearly 600 trained facilitators, a large percentage of whom have implemented mentor training for more than 4000 graduate student, junior faculty, and senior faculty mentors. Implications for and challenges to building and sustaining the national dissemination of RMT are discussed.