Building family/general practice research capacity

Abstract

To promote the range of interventions for building family/general practice (family medicine) research capacity, we describe successful international examples. Such examples of interventions that build research capacity focus on diseases and illness research, as well as process research; monitor the output of research in family/general practice (family medicine); increase the number of family medicine research journals; encourage and enable research skills acquisition (including making it part of professional training); strengthen the academic base; and promote research networks and collaborations. The responsibility for these interventions lies with the government, colleges and academies, and universities. There are exciting and varied methods of building research capacity in family medicine.

Figure 1.

Glasziou’s triangle: different levels of research engagement. Reprinted from Del Mar C. Sexual dysfunction in the Australian population. Aust Fam Physician 2001;30:1094–1095. Reprinted with permission of Australian Family Physician.