An online global survey and follow-up expert groups on the scope and needs related to training, research, and mentorship among early-career addiction medicine professionals

Roshan Bhad; Sophia Achab; Parnian Rafei; Preethy Kathiresan; Hossein Mohaddes Ardabili; Jenna Butner; Laura Orsolini; Katrine Melby; Mehdi Farokhnia; Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha; Kelly Ridley; Serenella Tolomeo; Mitika Kanabar; Beatrice Matanje; Paolo Grandinetti; ISAM NExT Consortium; Marc Potenza; Hamed Ekhtiari; Alexander Baldacchino

doi:10.1017/gmh.2023.35

An online global survey and follow-up expert groups on the scope and needs related to training, research, and mentorship among early-career addiction medicine professionals

Glob Ment Health (Camb). 2023 Jul 17:10:e44. doi: 10.1017/gmh.2023.35. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Roshan Bhad^{1

2}, Sophia Achab^{2

3}, Parnian Rafei^{2

4}, Preethy Kathiresan⁵, Hossein Mohaddes Ardabili^{2

6}, Jenna Butner^{2

7}, Laura Orsolini^{2

8}, Katrine Melby^{2

9}, Mehdi Farokhnia^{2

10

11}, Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha^{2

12}, Kelly Ridley^{2

13}, Serenella Tolomeo^{2

14

15}, Mitika Kanabar^{2

16}, Beatrice Matanje^{2

17}, Paolo Grandinetti¹⁸; ISAM NExT Consortium; Marc Potenza⁷, Hamed Ekhtiari^{19

20}, Alexander Baldacchino²¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry & National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India.
² Member of ISAM NExT (New Professionals Exploration, Training & Education Committee), International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM), Calgary, AB, Canada.
³ Psychological and Sociological Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur, India.
⁶ Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁷ Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁸ Unit of Clinical Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences/DIMSC, School of Medicine and Surgery, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy.
⁹ Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St. Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
¹⁰ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹¹ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹² Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Deoghar, India.
¹³ The Rural Clinical School of Western Australia, University of Western Australia, Albany, WA, Australia.
¹⁴ Institute of High Performance Computing, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A-STAR), Singapore, Singapore.
¹⁵ Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
¹⁶ Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Pasadena, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Lighthouse Trust, Lilongwe, Malawi.
¹⁸ Network of Early Career Professionals working in the area of Addiction Medicine (NECPAM) Seligenstadt, Germany.
¹⁹ Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK, USA.
²⁰ Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
²¹ Division of Population and Behavioural Science, Medical School, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.

Abstract

Addiction medicine is a rapidly growing field with many young professionals seeking careers in this field. However, early-career professionals (ECPs) face challenges such as a lack of competency-based training due to a shortage of trainers, limited resources, limited mentorship opportunities, and establishment of suitable research areas. The International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) New Professionals Exploration, Training & Education (NExT) committee, a global platform for early-career addiction medicine professionals (ECAMPs), conducted a two-phase online survey using a modified Delphi-based approach among ECAMPs across 56 countries to assess the need for standardized training, research opportunities, and mentorship. A total of 110 respondents participated in Phase I (online key informant survey), and 28 respondents participated in Phase II (online expert group discussions on three themes identified in Phase I). The survey found that there is a lack of standardized training, structured mentorship programs, research funding, and research opportunities in addiction medicine for ECAMPs. There is a need for standardized training programs, improving research opportunities, and effective mentorship programs to promote the next generation of addiction medicine professionals and further development in the entire field. The efforts of ISAM NExT are well-received and give a template of how this gap can be addressed.

Keywords: addiction psychiatry; early career addiction medicine professionals; mentorship; substance use disorders; training assessment.