Online capacity building in translating research into practice for Latin American researchers Eleana C 1Pan
1 Villanueva ,
Maroussia
2 Tzanova
, Luis Gabriel
1 Cuervo ,
Gerard
2 Urrutia ,
Erin
3 Ueffing
American Health Organization, 2Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre, 3 Canadian Cochrane Centre
Background Researchers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) face several constraints that hinder the best use of research to improve health with equity in the Americas. For example, health research methodologies or understanding on how to use and appraise health research are not systematically integrated into the curricula of medical or health schools, and materials in Spanish are not always available or accessible. To address this situation, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) partnered with The Cochrane Collaboration (The Iberoamerican and The Canadian Cochrane Centres) and for the first time provided webinars for non-English speaking researchers aimed at improving the use and production of quality research for health.
Objectives There are two objectives: 1) To allow researchers in the Americas (especially in Latin America and the Caribbean) to strengthen their skills to understand research methodologies and use and produce quality research. 2) Allow non-English speaking researchers, to attend free online webinars conducted in Spanish from their sites. These activities are ultimately aimed at strengthening health systems by training researchers on integrating scientific research knowledge into their daily practice.
Methods Research training needs were identified considering national and regional priorities and policies. Specific webinar topics were chosen according to: • The PAHO (Regional) Policy on Research for Health1 • Surveying PAHO research focal points in Latin America and the Caribbean • Surveying past and potential webinar participants Sessions: The Iberoamerican Cochrane experts invited speakers and a facilitator. We used the Blackboard Collaborate platform and guidelines produced by the Canadian Cochrane Centre to train participants to these sessions (2). We promoted the webinars through PAHO focal points, the Canadian Cochrane (CCInfo), the Iberoamerican Cochrane Network newsletter, on Cochrane and PAHO’s websites, and individuals’ networks. The sessions were structured as 45-minute lectures with 15 minutes of Q&A. Sessions were recorded and posted online with the presentation materials. Participants were surveyed on the quality and delivery of the webinar, and demographics noted.
Results
Map
Twelve webinars were delivered in two series of six each. 2010: six webinars on formulating good research proposals. 2012-2013: six webinars addressing research methodologies. TABLE 1: 2012-2013 PARTICIPANTS Webinar
Number registered
Number participating
Number who responded to the survey
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
563 416 229 148 261 357 1974
120 128 70 36 65 84 503
193 144 103 156 73 94 763
Registrants doubled from close to 1000 to nearly 2000 applicants; each series eventually had about 500 participants joining. All registered individuals were surveyed, shortly after ending the complete series in 2010 and after ending each webinar for the second series. Responses doubled to 763 responses in the second series, up from 321. Participants are increasingly familiar and comfortable, with 57% reporting no technical problems in the second series, compared to 45 % in the first.
TABLE 2: 2012-2013 PARTICIPANTS’ CHARACTERISTICS Characteristics of the participants in the first series are similar to those shown in Table 2 as per survey responses • More than 50% were women, and about 45% were men • Most participants were in the 41–60 years of age range, followed by the 26–40 years of age range. • Participants’ profiles ranged from students to seasoned researchers (more than 5 published papers). • The majority of the participants had prepared at least 1 or 2 proposals followed by another important group having prepared 3-5; 81 had prepared none. • The majority had no published papers (31.8%) while the rest reported having published 1-2 (29%), 3-5 (20.4%) and >5 (18.6%). Webinar
Survey Respondents
Researchers
Health Professional
Health Policymaker
1 2 3 4 5 6
193 144 103 156 73 94
28.70% 28% 30.60% 23.30% 24.70% 21.40%
17.10% 15.30% 17.10% 23.30% 18.50% 29.50%
2.80% 4% 3.60% 2.80% 3.70% 1.80%
Total
763
26.40%
19.90%
3.10%
Not shown in the table students (%) and administrators (%)
Highest Education Level (rounded up when >10%)
Webinar 1 2 3 4 5 6 Overall
# Participating Countries 22 19 17 17 12 14 23
Masters
Specialization
Post-doctorate
49% 56% 49% 55% 56% 40% 51%
30% 26% 29% 30% 22% 34% 29%
1.1% 0.7% 3.0% 0.7% 2.8% 3.3% 1.6%
* Characteristics match those of the Canadian Cochrane Centre participants2
MAP (COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS) • The countries of residence of survey respondents were identical in the two series, differences are that UK was represented in the first series only while Canada and Switzerland were represented in the second series only. • The number of respondents by country varied: Spain, Peru and Colombia being most represented in the second series (accounting for more than 50% of respondents) while Peru was by far the most represented in the first series (24.5%). .
Conclusions Online webinars have proven to be excellent for capacity building owing to their quality, standardized processes, and convenience for the users who have rated the webinars as very useful for different reasons. Given the fact that the majority of respondents fall under the category of health researchers it can be extrapolated that the target audience was reached—moreover, 80% agree or completely agree that the webinar met their expectations. Responding to first series’ feedback by providing guidelines for participants on using Blackboard Collaborate resulted in participants feeling more comfortable with the technology—with only 15% reporting technical difficulties, including problems with the audio. Scheduling of the webinars continue to be an issue with many participants indicating that the live webinar overlaps with work time making it hard to participate (20% that registered couldn’t participate due to conflicts with work schedule). In the future, a more encompassing strategy would be possible with said strategy opening the scope of the webinars to health care (not just medicine), expand the target audience to include users of research evidence and journalists as Cochrane Canada already does (3,4) and make sure that the target audience are aware that the recorded webinars are posted online. . Moreover the strategy would explore options for certification and testing webinars on different schedules.
References 1. Pan American Health Organization. Policy on research for health. Washington DC: Pan American Health Organization; 2009. (Document CD49/10/Eng). 2. Cochrane Canada: A growing Body of Health Evidence: Annual Report 2011-2012, Cochrane Canada, Canada, 2012. 3. Ueffing E, Vilis E, Stevens A, Cuervo LG. 17.2. Cochrane Canada webinars: building capacity around systematic reviews. Abstracts of the 20th Cochrane Colloquium, 30 September – 3 October 2012, Auckland, New Zealand. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Supplement 2012: Art. No. CD201200. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD201200. 4. Ueffing E, Vilis E, Stevens A, Cuervo LG. Cochrane Canada webinars: opportunities to engage with the evidence. Canadian Cochrane Symposium (Winnipeg, Manitoba: 9 – 10 May, 2012). Oral presentation.
Funding Cochrane Canada and Iberoamerican Cochrane Centres, and the Pan American Health Organization. None of the funders influenced in any way the content of this poster.