Research Engagement and Activity in an Allied Health Workforce Insights into Departmental and Organisational Strategies.

Objective: Clinical environments that support and encourage research assist the development of research capacity and engagement amongst staff. Unfortunately, little information exists regarding departmental- and organisational-level strategies being used to encourage research capacity building within the allied health (AH) workforce. The current study used a qualitative approach to examine the nature of research engagement and activity occurring across AH departments within a large Australian public hospital and health service.

Methods: Twenty-two AH departments from five sites/services provided details on research capacity building activities within their departments. Responses were aggregated and then examined thematically using an inductive approach. The number of departments reporting content against each theme category or subcategory was analysed descriptively.

Results: A culture of research engagement was identified in over 90% of departments, with over 80% producing research outputs. Content analysis identified key strategies being used to (a) stimulate active staff engagement with with/in research, (b) support research activity, and (c) conduct research within networks and partnerships.

Conclusions: AH departments in the current study engaged in multiple strategies to help build the research capacity of their staff. The findings highlight structures, processes, and systems that can be employed by departments at an organisational level to help support AH research capacity building.