Key factors of clinical research network capacity building

 

Guowei Li^1 2 3, Qianyu Wu⁴, Yanling Jin¹, Thuva Vanniyasingam^1 2, Lehana Thabane^1 2

 

1 Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

2 Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, McMaster University, 3rd Floor Martha, Room H325, 50 Charlton Avenue E, Hamilton, ON L8N 4A6, Canada

3 Centre for Evaluation of Medicines, Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH) Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

4 Department of Clinical Medicine, the First Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

 

ABSTRACT

In general, clinical research network capacity building refers to programs aimed at enhancing networks of researchers to conduct clinical research. Although in the literature there is a large body of research on how to develop and build capacity in clinical research networks, the conceptualizations and implementations remain controversial and challenging. Moreover, the experiences learnt from the past accomplishments and failures can assist in the future capacity building efforts to be more practical, effective and efficient. In this paper, we aim to provide an overview of capacity building in clinical research network by (1) identifying the key barriers to clinical research network capacity building, (2) providing insights into how to overcome those obstacles, and (3) sharing our experiences in collaborating with national and international partners to build capacity in clinical research networks. In conclusion, we have provided some insight into how to address the key factors of clinical research network capacity building and shared some empirical experiences. A successful capacity building practice requires a joint endeavor to procure sufficient resources and support from the relevant stakeholders, to ensure its efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability.

 

Keywords Capacity building; Clinical research; Network; Collaboration

 

Received: February 01, 2018.

Accepted: May 14, 2018.

 

Correspondence: thabanl@mcmaster.ca

 

Authors’ contributions

These authors contributed equally to this work. GL and LT contributed to study conception and design. GL, QW, YJ and TV contributed to searching, screening, data collection and analyses. GL and QW were responsible for drafting the manuscript. YJ, TV and LT provided comments and made several revisions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version.

 

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.