Building research capacity in health services has been recognized internationally as an important pillar for the production of a sound evidence base for decision-making in policy and practice. The developing countries are currently facing an increasing epidemic of non-communicable diseases in addition to non-resolving problems of infections, malnutrition and health problems of reproductive health. Clinical research is the link between advances in research and innovations in medical practice. Physicianscientists, trained in patient care and epidemiological research, are crucial in developing and performing cutting-edge clinical research in developing countries. Due to lack of local research capacity, these challenges have not been matched by the ability and capability of developing countries to carry out appropriate studies, the results of which will enable them deal with the health problems in their national contexts. An effort was made to build and strengthen local research capacity in Pakistan and conducted a 9-day workshop on epidemiology research methods to train the trainers.
Study objectives: (a) To assess the short and long-term effectiveness in terms of knowledge gain from the epidemiologic research training workshop offered to participants by face-to-face (F2F) and Video-teleconferencing (VTC) methods in Pakistan. (b) to assess the impact of the workshop on students future career goals in both F2F and VTC groups and (C) to assess the cost-effectiveness of VTC relative to F2F instruction of training.
Methods: This was a prospective study on 40 F2F and 18 VTC health care professional with post-graduate degrees. A 9- day epidemiological research training workshop was conducted by 5 research faculty from University of Pittsburgh who developed course contents. Pretest and post-test1 were on 1st and last day of the workshop respectively. Post-test 2 was conducted after one year of the workshop. Cost of both teaching methods were obtained using ingredient method and cost effective ratios were calculated
Results: The total study sample included 56 and 49 for the short-term and long-term workshop assessment. Within each group, paired sample t-test showed significant improvement in scores after the completion of workshop (P<0.001 for F2F and VTC). In F2F, mean scores increased from 11.13 (pre-test) to 15.08 (post-test1) and in VTC scores increased from 10.67 (pre-test) to 13.22(post-test1). After one year, post-test2 scores remained higher than pretest scores in both the groups (2-sample T-test P=0.11) and were not statistically significant. On 2-way repeated measure ANOVA, both groups showed significant changes in mean scores over time (P<0.001), and no interaction was seen between time and groups (P=0.31). The between subject-effect of groups was found significant (P=0.013). The total incremental cost per score gained was higher for VTC group for both short-term ($166 incremental cost /score gained) and long-term ($458 incremental cost / score gained).
Conclusion: The epidemiology research training workshop was found to be effective in terms of knowledge gain in both the groups. This study has public health significance and has presented a model for training doctors and other health care professional in research methods by providing in-house training to reduce increasing problems of brain drain.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04122006-013138 |
| Date | 01 June 2006 |
| Creators | Dodani, Sunita |
| Contributors | Ronald E LaPorte |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04122006-013138/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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