Browsing by Author "Mary Hawk"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A 'Grantathon' model to mentor new investigators in mental health research
    (Health Res. Policy Syst., 2017) Mary Hawk; Vishwajit Nimgaonkar; Triptish Bhatia; Jaspreet S. Brar; Wafaa Abdelhakim Elbahaey; James E. Egan; Prasad Konasale; Supriya Kumar; Margaret C. McDonald; Ravinder Singh; Soumya Swaminathan
    Background: There is a critical gap between needs and available resources for mental health treatment across the world, particularly in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). In countries committed to increasing resources to address these needs it is important to conduct research, not only to assess the depth of mental health needs and the current provision of public and private mental health services, but also to examine implementation methods and evaluate mental health approaches to determine which methods are most effective in local contexts. However, research resources in many LMICs are inadequate, largely because conventional research training is time-consuming and expensive. Adapting a hackathon model may be a feasible method of increasing capacity for mental health services research in resource-poor countries. Methods: To explore the feasibility of this approach, we developed a 'grantathon', i.e. a research training workshop, to build capacity among new investigators on implementation research of Indian government-funded mental health programmes, which was based on a need expressed by government agencies. The workshop was conducted in Delhi, India, and brought together junior faculty members working in mental health services settings throughout the country, experienced international behavioural health researchers and representatives of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), the prime Indian medical research funding agency. Pre- and post-assessments were used to capture changes in participants' perceived abilities to develop proposals, design research studies, evaluate outcomes and develop collaborations with ICMR and other researchers. Process measures were used to track the number of single-or multi-site proposals that were generated and funded. Results: Participants (n = 24) generated 12 single-or multi-site research grant applications that will be funded by ICMR. Conclusion: The grantathon model described herein can be modified to build mental health services research capacity in other contexts. Given that this workshop not only was conceptualised and delivered but also returned results in less than 1 year, this model has the potential to quickly build research capacity and ultimately reduce the mental health treatment gap in resource-limited settings.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A mentored hands-on training model for scaling up implementation and intervention research in India: connecting the dots
    (Health Res. Policy Syst., 2023) Ramdas Ransing; Mary Hawk; Margaret McDonald; Jacquelyn Jones; Triptish Bhatia; Vijay Verma; Gyan D. Shah; Jaspreet Brar; James Erin Egan; Prasad Konsale; Jasmine Kaur
    Despite the high burden of mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), less than 25% of those in need have access to appropriate services, in part due to a scarcity of locally relevant, evidence-based interventions and models of care. To address this gap, researchers from India and the United States and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) collaboratively developed a Grantathon model to provide mentored research training to 24 new principal investigators (PIs). This included a week-long didactic training, a customized web-based data entry/analysis system and a National Coordination Unit (NCU) to support PIs and track process objectives. Outcome objectives were assessed via scholarly output including publications, awards received and subsequent grants that were leveraged. Multiple mentorship strategies including collaborative problem-solving approaches were used to foster single-centre and multicentre research. Flexible, approachable and engaged support from mentors helped PIs overcome research barriers, and the NCU addressed local policy and day-to-day challenges through informal monthly review meetings. Bi-annual formal review presentations by all PIs continued through the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling interim results reporting and scientific review, also serving to reinforce accountability. To date, more than 33 publications, 47 scientific presentations, 12 awards, two measurement tools, five intervention manuals and eight research grants have been generated in an open-access environment. The Grantathon is a successful model for building research capacity and improving mental health research in India that could be adopted for use in other LMICs.