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Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia

The incidence of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing rapidly, yet cancer research in the region continues to lag. One contributing factor is limited exposure to clinical research among trainees. We describe implementation and results of a virtual clinical research training program for Zambian...

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Autores principales: Diao, Kevin, Lombe, Dorothy C., Mwaba, Catherine K., Wu, Juliana, Kizub, Darya A., Cameron, Carrie A., Chiao, Elizabeth Y., Msadabwe, Susan C., Lin, Lilie L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer Health 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9173571/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35594499
http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/GO.21.00372
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author Diao, Kevin
Lombe, Dorothy C.
Mwaba, Catherine K.
Wu, Juliana
Kizub, Darya A.
Cameron, Carrie A.
Chiao, Elizabeth Y.
Msadabwe, Susan C.
Lin, Lilie L.
author_facet Diao, Kevin
Lombe, Dorothy C.
Mwaba, Catherine K.
Wu, Juliana
Kizub, Darya A.
Cameron, Carrie A.
Chiao, Elizabeth Y.
Msadabwe, Susan C.
Lin, Lilie L.
author_sort Diao, Kevin
collection PubMed
description The incidence of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing rapidly, yet cancer research in the region continues to lag. One contributing factor is limited exposure to clinical research among trainees. We describe implementation and results of a virtual clinical research training program for Zambian clinical oncology fellows developed jointly by the Cancer Diseases Hospital in Zambia and the MD Anderson Cancer Center to address this need. METHODS: The clinical research training program consisted of 14 weekly virtual lectures, development of research questions by Zambian clinical oncology fellows, assignment of faculty and peer mentors, longitudinal mentorship of research protocols, and anonymous precourse and postcourse surveys. The paired t-test was used to analyze the change in academic self-efficacy scores. RESULTS: Fourteen Zambian clinical oncology fellows participated. Senior fellows were paired with research mentors, leading to the development of eight research protocols. A total of 70 meetings and 126 hours of mentorship occurred with a median of seven meetings and 15 hours per pairing. The precourse and postcourse survey response rates were 86% and 79%, respectively. There were statistically significant increases in nine of 12 academic self-efficacy domains. The largest gains were in ability to independently perform research (P < .001) and research mentorship (P = .02) with an average increase of 1.5 points on a five-point scale in both domains. CONCLUSION: The Cancer Diseases Hospital MD Anderson Cancer Center clinical research training program for Zambian clinical oncology fellows led to increases in multiple academic self-efficacy domains among participants, formation of longitudinal mentorship groups with both faculty and peer mentors, and development of Zambian-led research protocols, demonstrating the feasibility of implementing a virtual model. This may be especially relevant because of shifting international collaboration paradigms after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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spelling pubmed-91735712022-06-08 Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia Diao, Kevin Lombe, Dorothy C. Mwaba, Catherine K. Wu, Juliana Kizub, Darya A. Cameron, Carrie A. Chiao, Elizabeth Y. Msadabwe, Susan C. Lin, Lilie L. JCO Glob Oncol ORIGINAL REPORTS The incidence of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing rapidly, yet cancer research in the region continues to lag. One contributing factor is limited exposure to clinical research among trainees. We describe implementation and results of a virtual clinical research training program for Zambian clinical oncology fellows developed jointly by the Cancer Diseases Hospital in Zambia and the MD Anderson Cancer Center to address this need. METHODS: The clinical research training program consisted of 14 weekly virtual lectures, development of research questions by Zambian clinical oncology fellows, assignment of faculty and peer mentors, longitudinal mentorship of research protocols, and anonymous precourse and postcourse surveys. The paired t-test was used to analyze the change in academic self-efficacy scores. RESULTS: Fourteen Zambian clinical oncology fellows participated. Senior fellows were paired with research mentors, leading to the development of eight research protocols. A total of 70 meetings and 126 hours of mentorship occurred with a median of seven meetings and 15 hours per pairing. The precourse and postcourse survey response rates were 86% and 79%, respectively. There were statistically significant increases in nine of 12 academic self-efficacy domains. The largest gains were in ability to independently perform research (P < .001) and research mentorship (P = .02) with an average increase of 1.5 points on a five-point scale in both domains. CONCLUSION: The Cancer Diseases Hospital MD Anderson Cancer Center clinical research training program for Zambian clinical oncology fellows led to increases in multiple academic self-efficacy domains among participants, formation of longitudinal mentorship groups with both faculty and peer mentors, and development of Zambian-led research protocols, demonstrating the feasibility of implementing a virtual model. This may be especially relevant because of shifting international collaboration paradigms after the COVID-19 pandemic. Wolters Kluwer Health 2022-05-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9173571/ /pubmed/35594499 http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/GO.21.00372 Text en © 2022 by American Society of Clinical Oncology https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
spellingShingle ORIGINAL REPORTS
Diao, Kevin
Lombe, Dorothy C.
Mwaba, Catherine K.
Wu, Juliana
Kizub, Darya A.
Cameron, Carrie A.
Chiao, Elizabeth Y.
Msadabwe, Susan C.
Lin, Lilie L.
Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia
title Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia
title_full Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia
title_fullStr Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia
title_full_unstemmed Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia
title_short Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia
title_sort building capacity for cancer research in the era of covid-19: implementation and results from an international virtual clinical research training program in zambia
topic ORIGINAL REPORTS
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9173571/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35594499
http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/GO.21.00372
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