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Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 presented challenges for global health research training programs. The Clean Air Research and Education (CARE) program, which aims to enhance research capacity related to noncommunicable diseases and environmental health in the country of Georgia, was launched in 2020—as the COVID-19 pandem...

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Autores principales: Berg, Carla J., Sturua, Lela, Marsit, Carmen J., Baramidze, Levan, Kiladze, Nino, Caudle, William Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9266433/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35805812
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138154
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author Berg, Carla J.
Sturua, Lela
Marsit, Carmen J.
Baramidze, Levan
Kiladze, Nino
Caudle, William Michael
author_facet Berg, Carla J.
Sturua, Lela
Marsit, Carmen J.
Baramidze, Levan
Kiladze, Nino
Caudle, William Michael
author_sort Berg, Carla J.
collection PubMed
description COVID-19 presented challenges for global health research training programs. The Clean Air Research and Education (CARE) program, which aims to enhance research capacity related to noncommunicable diseases and environmental health in the country of Georgia, was launched in 2020—as the COVID-19 pandemic began. At its foundation is mentorship and mentored research, alongside formal didactic training, informal training/meetings, and other supports. Current analyses examined CARE’s initial 1.5 years (e.g., program benefits, mentorship relationships) using data from an evaluation survey among trainees and faculty in January 2022. Trainees (100% response rate: n = 12/12; 4 MPH, 8 PhD) and faculty (86.7% response rate: n = 13/15; 7 Georgia-based, 6 United States-based) rated factors related to mentor-mentee relationships highly, particularly mutual consideration of each other’s thoughts, opinions, and perspectives; one major challenge was completing goals planned. Trainees and faculty identified several growth experiences and program benefits (e.g., skills development, expanding professional network) but also identified challenges (e.g., meeting program demands, communication gaps, unclear expectations)—exacerbated by the pandemic. Findings underscore the importance of strong mentorship relationships and that the pandemic negatively impacted communication and clarity of expectations. Given the likely ongoing impact of the pandemic on such programs, program leaders must identify ways to address these challenges.
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spelling pubmed-92664332022-07-09 Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic Berg, Carla J. Sturua, Lela Marsit, Carmen J. Baramidze, Levan Kiladze, Nino Caudle, William Michael Int J Environ Res Public Health Article COVID-19 presented challenges for global health research training programs. The Clean Air Research and Education (CARE) program, which aims to enhance research capacity related to noncommunicable diseases and environmental health in the country of Georgia, was launched in 2020—as the COVID-19 pandemic began. At its foundation is mentorship and mentored research, alongside formal didactic training, informal training/meetings, and other supports. Current analyses examined CARE’s initial 1.5 years (e.g., program benefits, mentorship relationships) using data from an evaluation survey among trainees and faculty in January 2022. Trainees (100% response rate: n = 12/12; 4 MPH, 8 PhD) and faculty (86.7% response rate: n = 13/15; 7 Georgia-based, 6 United States-based) rated factors related to mentor-mentee relationships highly, particularly mutual consideration of each other’s thoughts, opinions, and perspectives; one major challenge was completing goals planned. Trainees and faculty identified several growth experiences and program benefits (e.g., skills development, expanding professional network) but also identified challenges (e.g., meeting program demands, communication gaps, unclear expectations)—exacerbated by the pandemic. Findings underscore the importance of strong mentorship relationships and that the pandemic negatively impacted communication and clarity of expectations. Given the likely ongoing impact of the pandemic on such programs, program leaders must identify ways to address these challenges. MDPI 2022-07-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9266433/ /pubmed/35805812 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138154 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Berg, Carla J.
Sturua, Lela
Marsit, Carmen J.
Baramidze, Levan
Kiladze, Nino
Caudle, William Michael
Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short Research Capacity Training on Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Country of Georgia: Challenges and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort research capacity training on environmental health and noncommunicable diseases in the country of georgia: challenges and lessons learned during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9266433/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35805812
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138154
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