Form 4 Mentors Survey

PART D

CTSA National Evaluation

Education and Training Study

Mentors Survey

September 2010

Dear CTSA Mentor:

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) initiative in October 2005. CTSA-awarded institutions are sometimes referred to as institutes or centers, such as the [INSERT RELEVANT CTSA PROJECT NAME]. Throughout the remainder of this survey, we refer to these awardees as “CTSA institutions” or “CTSAs.” CTSAs are expected to encourage development of new methods and approaches, improve training and mentoring, design new and improved clinical research informatics tools, assemble interdisciplinary teams, and forge new partnerships with private and public health care organizations. As part of these resources, CTSAs offer a range of resources to advance translational science and research.

The first round of awards is nearing the end of their first funding cycle and the NIH leadership is interested in learning more about the use of CTSA resources. Specifically, NIH is interested in understanding what education and training resources are being used, perceptions of the value of these resources, and how the resources may have affected the careers of individuals receiving funding and mentoring support. The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) at NIH has contracted with Westat, a research firm in the Washington, DC area, to conduct a survey to answer these questions. All data collected by Westat will be reported in aggregate form. No reports will contain findings linked to individual respondents or institutions.

As one component of the overall national evaluation, you have received this survey because one of the CTSAs reported that you served as a mentor to a scholar or a trainee. We are interested in finding out more about the support that you provided.

If you served as a mentor to someone who received education or training support associated with a CTSA (KL2/TL1 program) please go to question 1 on this survey.

If you did not serve as a mentor to someone who received education or training support associated with a CTSA, please select the box below and go to Section IV.

I did not serve as a mentor.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: NIH, Project Clearance Branch, 6705 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7974, Bethesda, MD 20892-7974, ATTN: PRA (0925-xxxx*). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Section I. Training and Preparation for Mentoring Associated with CTSA-Funded Education and Training Program (KL2/TL1 program)

1. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements about your preparation to become a mentor for the CTSA-funded education/training program.
   [1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = agree; 4 = strongly agree]

I received useful training from my CTSA on how to be a mentor.	1 2 3 4
I received useful training from sources other than the CTSA on how to be a mentor.	1 2 3 4
If I have a question about mentoring, I know who to go to in the CTSA organization for answers.	1 2 3 4
The time I spend as a CTSA mentor is rewarded by my institution.	1 2 3 4
Being a CTSA mentor adds more demands to my workload than I expected	1 2 3 4
My responsibilities as a CTSA mentor sometimes conflict with my other job duties.	1 2 3 4
I know exactly what is expected of me as a CTSA mentor.	1 2 3 4
The planned goals and objectives of the CTSA mentoring program sometimes seem unclear to me.	1 2 3 4

2. Does the CTSA expect you to meet with your mentee trainee(s)/scholar(s) a certain number of times per year? (Select one response)

• Yes If yes, how many times per year? [Number = ___ ]

• Don’t know

If yes, is this an explicit requirement?

• Yes

• No

• No

• Don’t know

3. Does the CTSA expect you to provide your mentee(s) with feedback on academic progress?
   (Select one response)

• Yes

• No

4. Does the CTSA expect you to provide your mentee(s) with feedback on professional development? (Select one response)

• Yes

• No

Section II. CTSA Mentoring Experiences

1. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements about your experience as a CTSA mentor. [1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree]

I have developed strong relationships with the people I mentor.	1 2 3 4
The people I mentor seem well-prepared.	1 2 3 4
There is a lack of trust between me and the people I mentor.	1 2 3 4
The people I mentor are not motivated enough.	1 2 3 4
Mentoring others can be frustrating.	1 2 3 4
My mentees and I have similar expectations about the mentoring relationship.	1 2 3 4
Overall, my mentoring experiences have been positive.	1 2 3 4

2. Please indicate whether working with the people you mentor in the CTSA has exposed you to or helped you to better understand the following items: [Y= yes, N = no]

Scholarship in my primary areas of research	Y N
Scholarship outside my primary areas of research	Y N
Statistical/analytical tools and techniques	Y N
Clinical techniques and interventions	Y N
Sources of information helpful to my research (e.g., electronic sources, experts from other fields, etc.)	Y N

3. Please indicate whether your exposure to the CTSA education/training program has increased your knowledge of the following items: [Y= yes, N = no]

Issues affecting the translation of basic science into clinical treatments or interventions	Y N
Problems and issues related to successful career development in research environments	Y N
Managing a research team	Y N
Institutional rules and regulations (including ethical and safety requirements)	Y N
Expectations of relevant stakeholder groups (e.g., funding agencies, other faculty, the medical community, potential employers)	Y N

4. Overall, how useful is the CTSA in mentoring trainees and scholars? (Select one response)
   
   
   

• Very useful

• Moderately useful

• Somewhat useful

• Not at all useful

5. Given a choice, would you serve as a CTSA mentor in the future? (Select one response)

• Yes

• No

• Don’t know

6. Please provide the following information about your work as a mentor with graduate/professional students and faculty members:

	As part of the CTSA program	Not part of CTSA program
How many trainees/scholars are you currently mentoring?	(Select one response) None 1 2 to 3 4 to 5 6 or more	(Select one response) None 1 2 to 3 4 to 5 6 or more
Excluding your current mentees, how many have you mentored in the past 10 years?	(Select one response) 1 2 to 3 4 to 5 6 to 8 9 or more	(Select one response) 1 2 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 or more

7. Are there any factors that you believe facilitate effective mentoring in your CTSA?

Facilitators: _______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

8. Are there any barriers that you believe hinder effective mentoring in your CTSA?

Barriers: __________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

III. Your CTSA mentees

Please answer the following questions for the people you currently mentor as part of the CTSA program. If you are not currently mentoring anyone through the CTSA, you will skip to the next section. If you are currently mentoring more

1. How many people do you currently mentor as part of the CTSA program?

• None SKIP TO SECTION IV

• One [INSTRUCTIONS ON THE NEXT PAGE: PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS FOR THE PERSON YOU CURRENTLY MENTOR THROUGH THE CTSA] REPEAT III.2 THROUGH III ONCE

• Two [INSTRUCTIONS ON THE NEXT PAGE: THIS SECTION WILL BE REPEATED FOR BOTH OF YOUR CURRENT MENTEES. PLEASE ANSWER FOR EACH PERSON YOUR MENTOR SEPARATELY] REPEAT iii.2 THROUGH III TWICE

• Three or more [INSTRUCTIONS ON THE NEXT PAGE: PLEASE CHOOSE TWO OF THE PEOPLE YOU CURRENTLY MENTOR THROUGH THE CTSA. THIS SECTION WILL BE REPEATED TWICE.] REPEAT III.2 THROUGH III TWICE

2. Did you mentor this person before he/she received funding through the CTSA?

• Yes CONTINUE WITH III.3

• No SKIP TO III.4

3. Approximately how did you mentor this person before he/she received funding through the CTSA? (Select one response)

• Six months or less

• Between six months and one year

• Between one and two years

• Between two and three years

• Three years or more

4. What is his/her primary type of funding? (Select one response)

• K-award

• T-award

• Don’t know

5. About how often do you meet (e.g., in person, by phone) with this person? (Select one response)

• Weekly or more often

• Twice a month

• Monthly

• About six times a year

• About three times a year

• Fewer than three times a year

6. Is the frequency of these meetings sufficient for your mentoring goals? (Select one response)

• Yes

• No

7. As a mentor, what area(s) do you assist this person with? (Select all that apply)

• Research and laboratory skills

• Research proposals and design

• Research publications

• Career counseling

• Support in a specialty area

• Social support (e.g., motivation and encouragement, advice on work-life balance)

• General support as needs arise

• Other (specify)_____________

8. Please indicate whether this person has undertaken the following research activities during the last year:

Co-authored a publication with you	Y N
Served as lead author on a co-authored publication with you	Y N
Co-authored a conference paper with you	Y N
Presented research findings at a conference based on a paper co-authored with you	Y N
Worked with you to prepare and submit a grant or other funding application	Y N
Had significant independent responsibilities on a research project, paper, or presentation	Y N
Other (please describe)

9. Please indicate whether this person has discussed strategies related to the following topics during the last year:

Teaching	Y N
Submitting grants	Y N
Planning/completing research papers	Y N
Getting research published	Y N
Developing a long-term research program	Y N
Balancing work and personal life	Y N
Other (please describe)

10. Please describe how well-prepared you feel this person is to engage in the following activities:
    [1=not at all prepared, 2 = somewhat prepared, 3 = moderately prepared, 4= fully prepared]

Design translational research (e.g., develop new research questions based on existing research, design scientific studies)	1 2 3 4
Conduct translational research (e.g., build a research team; collect, store, and analyze data; evaluate and interpret results; manage administrative activities and researchers)	1 2 3 4
Communicate research findings to others (e.g., research peers, policymakers, the public)	1 2 3 4
Develop professional academic skills (e.g., time management, knowledge of potential issues in the career path, capacity to mentor others, collaborate with others and publish in peer-reviewed journals)	1 2 3 4
Mentor other individuals who are affiliated with the CTSA	1 2 3 4

Section IV. Your Demographics and Primary Research

1. What is your gender?(Select one response)

   • Male

   • Female

2. Are you of Hispanic or Latino origin?

   • Yes

   • No

3. What is your race?

   • American Indian or Alaska Native

   • Asian

   • Black or African American

   • Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander

   • White

4. What degree(s) do you have and when did you receive them? (Select all that apply)

Degree Year Received (e.g., 2003)

• BA/BS (Bachelors)

• DAUD (Doctor of Audiology)

• DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery)

• DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine)

• DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice)

• DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine)

• DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy)

• DrPH (Doctor of Public Health)

• DVM or VMD (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine)

• JD (Juris Doctor)

• MA/MS (Masters)

• MD (Doctor of Medicine)

• MPH (Master of Public Health)

• MSW (Master of Social Work)

• ND (Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine)

• PHAR (PharmD)

• PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)

• RN (Registered Nurse)

• Other (please specify)_____

5. What is your position? (Select all that apply)

• Full professor

• Associate professor

• Assistant professor

• Adjunct professor

• Instructor

• Visiting professor

• Provost/Vice Provost

• Dean

• Research Director

• Research Associate

• Other(please specify)______

6. What is your tenure status? (Select one response)

• Tenured

• On tenure track

• Not on tenure track

7. Approximately how many years of experience do you have conducting scientific research since receiving the highest degree in your field?
   [Number = ___ ]

8. Do you have experience as a practicing clinician?

   • Yes CONTINUE WITH IV.9

   • No SKIP TO IV.10

9. Please indicate approximately how many years you have practiced as a clinician. [Number = ___ ]

10. Please describe up to three of your primary research interests using a few sentences or phrases.

Research interest 1	Text box delimited to 150 characters
Research interest 2	Text box delimited to 150 characters
Research interest 3	Text box delimited to 150 characters

The last question asks you to classify your research.

The NIH has described Translational Research in the following way:
1) The process of applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory, and in preclinical studies, to the development of trials and studies in humans, and
2) Research aimed at enhancing the adoption of best practices in the community.

In more everyday terms you might think of translational research as moving the research process through phases from bench to animal to human to guidelines development to public health and ultimately to population outcomes.

11. How would you classify your primary along the clinical and translational continuum below? (Select one response)  

• Basic Biomedical Research: also sometimes called basic research, pre-clinical or non-clinical study. This research does not include human subjects (for Institutional Review Board purposes) and is focused primarily on medical devices, drugs, gene therapy solutions, animal testing, in vitro and in vivo tests etc.

• Clinical Research: typically involves the translation of basic science and new understandings of disease mechanisms gained in the laboratory into the development of new methods for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention and their testing in humans. It includes pilot testing prior to clinical trials and clinical trials phases 1–3. In translational research, this part of the process is commonly referred to as "from bench to bedside”.

• Post-Clinical Research: typically involves the translation of new knowledge gained in formal clinical research into post-clinical or practice-based research. It may include phase 4 clinical trials, guideline development, meta-analyses and systematic reviews, community research, public or population health research, implementation or dissemination research, and health systems or policy research.

• None of the above

Finally, we would like to give you the opportunity to make any additional comments about your experience as a mentor with the CTSA-Funded Education and Training Program (KL2/TL1 program), including what improvements might make these experiences more useful.

______________________________________________________________________________

Thank you very much for your participation.

Dear CTSA Mentor:

We recently sent you an email inviting you to participate in a survey conducted on behalf of the NIH. This is a follow up to that invitation.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) initiative in October 2005. CTSA-awarded institutions are sometimes referred to as institutes or centers, such as the [INSERT RELEVANT CTSA PROJECT NAME]. Throughout the remainder of this survey, we refer to these awardees as “CTSA institutions” or “CTSAs.” CTSAs are expected to encourage development of new methods and approaches, improve training and mentoring, design new and improved clinical research informatics tools, assemble interdisciplinary teams, and forge new partnerships with private and public health care organizations. As part of these resources, CTSAs offer a range of resources to advance translational science and research.

The first round of awards is nearing the end of their first funding cycle and the NIH leadership is interested in learning more about the use of CTSA resources. Specifically, NIH is interested in understanding what education and training resources are being used, perceptions of the value of these resources, and how the resources may have affected the careers of individuals receiving funding and mentoring support. The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) at NIH has contracted with Westat, a research firm in the Washington, DC area, to conduct a survey to answer these questions. All data collected by Westat will be reported in aggregate form. No reports will contain findings linked to individual respondents or institutions.

As one component of the overall national evaluation, you have received this survey because one of the CTSAs reported that you served as a mentor to a scholar or a trainee. We are interested in finding out more about the support that you provided.

If you served as a mentor to someone who received education or training support associated with a CTSA (KL2/TL1 program) please go to question 1 on this survey.

If you did not serve as a mentor to someone who received education or training support associated with a CTSA, please select the box below and go to Section IV.

I did not serve as a mentor.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: NIH, Project Clearance Branch, 6705 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7974, Bethesda, MD 20892-7974, ATTN: PRA (0925-xxxx*). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Dear CTSA Mentor:

Thank you for sharing your views about Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) resources. The perspectives of mentors are essential to understanding what education and training resources are being used, perceptions of the value of these resources, and how the resources may have affected the careers of individuals receiving funding and mentoring support.