Abstract
BackgroundThe prevalence of mental health disorders is increasing globally. Countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East regions carry high burdens of mental health need; however, there are relatively few mental health research publications from this region, suggesting inadequate research funds and a paucity of qualified research personnel. To increase and strengthen the pool of mental health researchers in India and Egypt, we conducted three psychiatric research programmes in these countries: the Training Program for Psychiatric Genetics in India (2002–2011), the Tri-National Training Program for Psychiatric Genetics (2009–2014) and the Cross-Fertilized Research Training for New Investigators in Egypt and India (2014–2019). A total of 66 trainees, including psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers, clinical psychologists and research psychologists, were supported in research development, which included didactic training, proposal development, hands-on research and manuscript preparation.MethodsThe aim of this study is to evaluate these three training programmes using the four-level Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation that assesses reaction, learning, behaviour and outcomes. A descriptive analysis was used to explore the data collected throughout the duration of the three training programmes. Online surveys were crafted and sent to the mentors and trainees of the three programmes to supplement objective training data.ResultsIn addition to positive changes in the areas of reaction, learning and behaviour, significant outcomes were demonstrated. As of the writing of this manuscript, the trainees published a total of 130 papers, 59 as first author. In addition, 26 trainees have co-authored papers with one or more trainees or mentors, which demonstrates successful research networking and collaboration.ConclusionOur findings suggest that our training approach is a successful model for building independent mental health researchers. This is a critical step in the development of effective mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries.
Highlights
The prevalence of mental health disorders is increasing globally
The prevalence of mental disorders has increased in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) partly due to their rapidly growing populations and increases in life expectancy
We report on findings of the three training programmes and two workshops, evaluation results based on the Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation [17, 18]
Summary
The prevalence of mental health disorders is increasing globally. Countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East regions carry high burdens of mental health need; there are relatively few mental health research publications from this region, suggesting inadequate research funds and a paucity of qualified research personnel. In 2015, 264 million people worldwide were estimated to have some form of anxiety disorder, comprising approximately 3.6% of the world population, reflecting a 14.9% increase since 2005 [3]. The Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions bear high burdens of mental health issues, partly due to their large populations [5]. As the prevalence of mental illnesses continues to rise, so does the global burden of disease [6,7,8,9]. This is especially problematic given that mental disorders such as schizophrenia lack effective treatment and treatment reach, further increasing the global burden [10, 11]. With increasing prevalence and a high burden of psychiatric disorders on the global population, psychiatric research is essential
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