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Project design and implementation, applied to real life situations, is emerging as an educational strategy for application of health professions faculty development learning within a supportive environment.We conducted a retrospective analysis of project evolution to identify common experiences, challenges, and successful strategies of 54 mid-career faculty members from 18 developing countries who attended the Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research Institute between 2001 and 2006 and designed, conducted, and evaluated education innovations at their home institutions.Chronological analysis of the evolution of 54 projects over the initial 16-18 months of the 2-year Fellowship was based on an iterative qualitative analysis of 324 reports and individual interview transcripts collected over 6 years.Useful skill areas for project implementation included educational methods, leadership and management, and relationships/collaboration. Common challenges included competing responsibilities, lack of protected time, and limited resources. Themes identified with the evolution and success of education innovation projects included leadership and organization, collaboration, personal professional growth, and awareness of the relevant societal context.Common challenges and success factors in project-based faculty development were identified. Twelve practical strategies to promote successful project-based faculty development emerged that can be generalized for faculty development.

Projects are an important tool in faculty development, and project emphasis may offer insights into perceived education priorities. Impact of projects has been focused on individuals, not institutions or health.Education innovation projects of Fellows in an international faculty development program were examined to better understand perceived needs in health professions education and institutional impact of projects.Four hundred and thirty-five projects were analyzed to identify focus areas. Fellows were asked to identify changes in their schools and communities resulting from their projects.New education methods and curriculum change were common project focus areas. Regional differences were evident with a higher percentage of education methods projects by Fellows residing in India (52%), compared with South Africa (25%) and Brazil (24%). Fifty-six percent of projects were incorporated into the curriculum and/or incorporated as institutional policy. One-third to two-thirds of respondents noted improved teaching quality, collaboration, education research interest, assessment, student performance, and curriculum alignment with community health needs.National differences in project focus may offer insight into local conditions and needs. High rates of diffusion of projects and impact on faculty, students, and curriculum suggest that faculty development projects may be a strategy for institutional change in resource limited environments.

While there are many examples of evaluations of faculty development programs in resource rich countries, evaluation of transnational programs for faculty from developing countries is limited. We describe evaluation of the effects of the FAIMER Institute, an international health professions education fellowship that incorporates not only education content, but also leadership and management topics and, in addition, strives to develop a sustained community of educators. Data were obtained via retrospective pre/post surveys, as well as interviews. Results indicate that participating health professions faculty from developing countries are augmenting their knowledge and skills in education leadership, management, and methodology, and applying that knowledge at their home institutions. Fellows' perceptions of importance of, and their own competence in, all curriculum theme areas increased. Interviews confirmed a nearly universal gain of at least one leadership skill. Findings suggest that the high-engagement experience of the FAIMER model offering integration of education and leadership/management tools necessary to implement change, provides knowledge and skills which are useful across cultural and national contexts and results in the development of a supportive, global, professional network.

International faculty development partnerships are motivated by a desire to achieve mutual goals. They are also a response to the globalization of health professions education, research, and practice. For participating institutions, partnerships may build global awareness, improve recruitment, and provide resources for students, faculty members, and alumni. Well-functioning partnerships allow faculty exposure to methods of teaching and learning, opportunities for research, and clinical contexts, materials, and methods that they may not encounter locally. Partnerships allow faculty to expand their networks of collaborators and the communities of scholarship in which they work. This chapter will describe various examples of international faculty development programs. We will also discuss facilitators of success for international partnerships, including the need for cultural competence, shared values, and mutual support.

Introduction: Health professions education uses innovative projects to promote faculty development and institution change. Faculty perceptions of the factors that promote project sustainability affect how faculty conceptualize and implement their innovations, which influences whether and how they plan for sustainability. This paper compares educators' perceptions of factors that influence sustainability in innovative projects with factors identified in project sustainability literature, to identify areas of convergence and divergence. Methods: Using questionnaires, faculty development fellowship participants from Brazil and India shared their perceptions on factors influencing their project's sustainability. An analysis framework was developed from existing project sustainability literature; faculty responses were then coded through an iterative process. Results: Key sustainability themes identified by faculty included project-level factors related to project design, stakeholder support, monitoring and evaluation, and project outcomes. Identified context level factors were related to institutional and governmental support as well as self-motivation and peer support. Availability of resources and funding were identified as relevant at both the project and context levels. Project-level factors were more often cited than context-level factors as key to ensuring sustainability. Conclusions: Faculty development efforts in health professions education should employ strategies to target these themes in promoting innovation sustainability. These include preengagement with institutional leaders, alignment with public sector goals, strategic diffusion of information, project expansion and transferability, capacity building in monitoring and evaluation, and creation of a community of educators for information exchange and support.

Education innovations by health professions faculty are shaped by faculty conceptualizations of the pathway between their innovations and changes in health of communities.We aimed to explore how existing theories about the relationship between education and health are attended to, interpreted, and applied by faculty in different national contexts.We compared existing theoretical frameworks to perceptions of "front line" faculty. Fellows in Brazil- and India-based FAIMER faculty development programs were asked via questionnaires about the contribution of their education innovation projects to health improvements.Faculty identified pathways to improved societal health via increased quality, and to a lesser extent relevance, of education. Relationships between increased quantity of education and improved health were focused on faculty development. Faculty from both countries noted the value for health outcomes of innovations that affect networks and partnerships with other institutions. Faculty from India identified pathways to improved societal health via changes to instructional more than institutional processes.Results indicate where there are gaps in existing theories, a need to raise awareness about potential pathways to improving health via education changes, and opportunities for more detailed understanding of mechanisms of change via in-depth research.

This paper describes the evaluation of interagency collaboration in a network of child-serving providers as part of the evaluation of the Bridgeport Safe Start Initiative (BSSI). In line with the system of care approach, the objectives of BSSI included reducing fragmentation of efforts and delivering integrated services to families of young children exposed to or at risk of exposure to family violence. Interagency collaboration was examined via social network and focus group data collected at three time points starting at baseline. Network analysis findings suggest that over time the network structure became consistent with BSSI's vision of an ideal collaborative network structure. Focus group findings, however, present a more complex picture of the status of collaboration. This paper sheds light on approaches and challenges to measuring interagency collaboration in a service delivery system and communicating social network analysis findings to stakeholders in a way that is accessible and useful.

Submitted by Vitor Silverio Rodrigues (vitorsrodrigues@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2014-05-27T11:27:10Z No. of bitstreams: 0 Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-27T11:27:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-11-27 The Brazilian public health system requires competent professionals sensitive to the needs of the population. The Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) provides a two-year faculty development programme for health professions educators, aiming to build leadership in education to improve health. A partnership with governmental initiatives and FAIMER was established for meeting these needs. This paper describes the initial process evaluation results of the Brazilian FAIMER Institute Fellowship (FAIMER BR). Methods: Data were analysed for the classes 2007-2010 regarding: application processes; innovation project themes; retrospective post-pre self-ratings of knowledge acquisition; and professional development portfolios. Results: Seventeen of 26 Brazilian states were represented among 98 Fellows, predominantly from public medical schools (75.5%) and schools awarded Ministry of Health grants to align education with public health services (89.8%). One-third (n = 32) of Fellows' innovation projects were related to these grants. Significant increases occurred in all topic subscales on self-report of knowledge acquisition (eff ect sizes, 1.21-2.77). In the follow up questionnaire, 63% of Fellows reported that their projects were incorporated into the curriculum or institutional policies. The majority reported that the programme deepened their knowledge (98%), provided new ideas about medical education (90%) and provided skills for conflict management (63%). One-half of the Fellows reported sustained benefits from the programme listserv and other communications, including breadth of expertise, establishment of research collaboration and receiving emotional support. Conclusion: Contributors to initial programme success included alignment of curriculum with governmental initiatives, curriculum design merging educational technology, leadership and management skills and central role of an innovation educational project responding to local needs. State University of Campinas, Rua Alexander Fleming, 101, Campinas, Sao Paulo, 13083-887 Federal University of Ceara, Ceara Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER), Philadelphia, PA Marilia Medical School, Sao Paulo Ribeirao Preto Medical School State University of Sao Paulo University of New Mexico School of Medicine Mennin Consultoria Em Saude Ltd, NM State University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais

This paper describes the authors' work in a community that received Federal funding for an integrated system of care to reduce the impact and incidence of exposure to violence for children less than six years of age. The paper includes a review of the conceptual framework that guided the work of the authors and provides a brief overview of the issue of family violence, the impact of this violence on young children, and the Federal response to this issue. In addition, a description of the Initiative and the community in which it was based is provided along with some aspects of the evaluation plan. Finally, the authors discuss how their work with this Initiative depicts an approach to facilitating change within communities.