Virtual Mentoring to Enhance Diversity of the Mental Health Research Workforce

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的VNED的长期目标是创建一个研究自杀预防的心理健康研究人员的骨干，他们是不同人群的成员，或者有兴趣与不同人群一起工作。要做到这一点，需要吸引具有这些背景和兴趣的早期职业研究者，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通过支持不同群体的成员研究与其社区相关的重大公共卫生问题（如自杀），使他们参与科学事业。我们的第二个目标是探索吸引人们参与虚拟和面对面活动的创新方式，这些活动将鼓励和支持指导、研究合作和培训体验。提供培育、咨询和支持的最具成本效益和最有效的方法是使用虚拟技术来补充更传统的面对面交流；即创建一个虚拟网络。本提案的具体目的是：(1)招募由导师和门徒组成的临界质量的自杀预防研究团队；(2)为每位被保护人制定学术发展计划（ADP），以反映所有团队成员的预期参与和贡献；(3)通过旨在传播不同人群自杀研究现状内容的活动，为体验式学习提供机会；(4)评估该网络在招募、保留和教育其成员方面的有效性，从而发展一个强大的支持性自杀研究人员虚拟社区，代表美国人口的异质性。可衡量的结果是产生两个网络研讨会系列，网络成员提交一份手稿，概述与不同人群的自杀研究有关的经验教训，为每个门徒构建一个深思熟虑的研究计划大纲和个性化的ADP，为门徒和导师参加一个F2F焦点小组会议。由此产生的指导网络将提供基础设施，以促进与地域分散的自杀研究科学家的学习和参与，这些科学家代表了美国人口的多样性。

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.