Building Up a Biomedical Research Workforce Trial

Abstract

Introduction: Scientific teams that are comprised of different types of researchers have higher research productivity, and there is a need for evidence-based methods to improve the biomedical research workforce. Building Up a Biomedical Research Workforce (Building Up) was a multi-center, cluster-randomized, unblinded controlled trial with one intervention arm and one control arm, conducted at 25 United States academic medical centers. The authors tested the hypothesis that participants from backgrounds underrepresented in science who are randomized to the intervention will have greater numbers of peer-reviewed publications and increased Psychological Capital, compared to the control group.

Methods: The study included a 10-month intervention period and follow-up assessments occurring one, two, and three years after the intervention began. The intervention arm received a 10-month intervention with monthly meetings, near-peer mentoring, networking opportunities, and grant- and scientific-writing coursework. Participants in the control arm experienced the usual forms of mentoring, networking, and coursework that their institutions provided.

Results: Of the 220 participants who completed the pre-intervention assessment (98% of all enrolled participants), 71% completed the post-intervention assessment at year 1, 60% at year 2, and 66% at year 3. Individuals in the intervention arm had significantly higher levels of self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism in the three years following the start of the intervention, compared to the control arm.

Discussion: This finding suggests that the Building Up intervention can increase participants' Psychological Capital.

Keywords: Psychological Capital; academic medical centers; career advancement for underrepresented groups; career development; cluster randomized controlled trial.

Figure 1.

Institution and Participant Flow Diagram for the Building Up a Biomedical Research Workforce Trial.

Figure 2.

Number of peer-reviewed publications over time in Building Up intervention and control arms. Mean number of peer-reviewed publications at each timepoint is in Supplementary Table 2. P-values for comparisons of the number of peer-reviewed publications between different timepoints (year 1 versus pre-intervention and years 1-3) within the intervention arm and control arm, respectively, are in Supplementary Table 3. P-values are from linear mixed models with person- and institution-level random intercepts and control for highest degree as a fixed effect.

Figure 3.

Psychological Capital over time in Building Up intervention and control arms. Mean Psychological Capital score at each timepoint is in Supplementary Table 2. P-values for comparisons of Psychological Capital components between different timepoints (year 1 versus pre and years 1-3) within the intervention arm and control arm, respectively are in Supplementary Table 3. P-values are from linear mixed models with person- and institution-level random intercepts and control for highest degree as a fixed effect.