Virtual Mentoring to Enhance Diversity of the Mental Health Research Workforce

描述(由申请人提供)：我们对VNED的长期目标是培养一支研究自杀预防的精神健康研究人员队伍，他们是不同人群的成员，或对与不同人群合作感兴趣。要做到这一点，需要吸引具有这些背景和兴趣的早期职业调查人员，并为他们提供成功的学术生涯所需的指导、知识和技能。我们的第一个目标是让不同人群的成员参与到科学事业中来，支持他们研究与其社区相关的重大公共卫生问题，如自杀。我们的第二个目标是探索将人们吸引到虚拟和面对面活动中的创新方式，这些活动将鼓励和支持指导、研究合作和培训体验。提供培训、咨询和支持的最具成本效益和效率的方式是通过使用虚拟技术来补充更传统的面对面(F2F)会面；即创建虚拟网络。这项建议的具体目标是(1)招募足够数量的自杀预防研究团队，由导师和门徒组成；(2)为每个门徒创建一个学术发展计划(ADP)，反映所有团队成员的预期参与和贡献；(3)通过旨在在不同人群中传播自杀研究现状内容的活动，提供体验式学习的机会；以及(4)评估该网络在招募、留住和教育其成员方面的有效性，从而发展一个强大的支持自杀研究人员的虚拟社区，代表美国人口的异质性。可衡量的成果是产生两个网络研讨会系列，供网络成员提交一份手稿，概述在不同人群中进行自杀研究方面的经验教训，为每个门徒构建一个经过深思熟虑的研究提案大纲和个性化的ADP，以及为门徒和导师参加F2F焦点小组会议。由此产生的指导网络将提供基础设施，以促进与地理上分散的自杀研究科学家的学习和接触，这些科学家代表了美国人口的多样性。 公共卫生相关性：通过特定的虚拟和面对面的互动计划、职业发展机会和量身定制的指导，来自不同背景的VNED学员将发展必要的技能和知识，以便在研究主要公共卫生问题：不同人群中的自杀问题时建立职业生涯。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our long-term goal for the VNED is to create a cadre of mental health researchers studying suicide prevention who are members of, or interested in working with, diverse populations. To do so requires attracting early career investigators with these backgrounds and interests, and providing them with the mentorship, knowledge, and skills needed for successful academic careers. Our first objective is to engage members of diverse populations in the scientific enterprise by supporting their study of a major public health problem of relevance to their communities, such as suicide. Our second is to explore innovative ways of drawing people into virtual and face-to-face activities that will encourage and support mentoring, research collaborations and training experiences. The most cost-effective and efficient way to provide nurturing, consultation and support is through the use of virtual technologies to supplement more traditional, face-to- face (F2F) encounters; that is, to create a virtual network. The specific aims of this proposal are (1) to recruit a critical mass of suicide prevention research teams consisting of mentors and proteges; (2) to create an Academic Development Plan (ADP) for each protege that reflects expected participation and contributions by all the team members; (3) to provide opportunities for experiential learning through activities designed to disseminate content on the current state of suicide research in diverse populations; and (4) to evaluate the effectiveness of the network to recruit, retain and educate its members and thereby develop a robust supportive virtual community of suicide researchers that represent the heterogeneity of the US population. Measurable outcomes are to produce two webinar series, for network members to submit a manuscript outlining lessons learned with regards to suicide research with diverse populations, for each protege to construct a well thought out research proposal outline and an individualized ADP, and for the proteges and mentors to participate in a F2F focus group session. This resulting mentoring network will provide the infrastructure to facilitate learning and engagement with geographically-dispersed suicide research scientists who represent the diversity in the US population. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Through specific virtual and face-to-face interactive programs, career development opportunities, and tailored mentoring VNED proteges from diverse backgrounds will develop skills and knowledge necessary for establishing a career in the study of a major public health concern: suicide in diverse populations.