Mentoring in research: development of competencies for health professionals

Abstract

Background

Mentoring programmes in health research are beneficial for both mentors and mentees and are essential for the development of the next generation of research leaders. This study describes the self-assessment of research skills in health professionals participating in a research mentoring programme and determines the correlation between the participants’ self-assessment of research skills and professional characteristics.

Method

This was a quasi-experimental, time-series study conducted in a Brazilian tertiary hospital. Thirty-five health professionals holding a master’s or PhD degree were included. The participants answered a survey in which they self-assessed their research skills distributed into eight domains, with one group responding before training and another group responding after training. The level of significance was set at 5% (p < 0.05).

Results

Those who received training scored better in research skills related to two domains: critical analysis of the literature and identification of appropriate research methods (p = 0.0245).

Conclusion

Trained professionals performed better in the domains of critical thinking and knowledge and management of steps in the research process.