The Role of Scientific Communication Skills in Trainees' Intention to Pursue Biomedical Research Careers: A Social Cognitive Analysis.

Scientific communication skills are indispensable for success in academic biomedical research careers, but the effort to acquire them can be formidable for trainees and their mentors. The authors investigated whether and how development of these skills affects the academic career intentions of trainees. Scientific communication (SciComm) skills are indispensable for success in biomedical research, but many trainees may not have fully considered the necessity of regular writing and speaking for research career progression. Our purpose was to investigate the relationship between SciComm skill acquisition and research trainees’ intentions to remain in research careers. We used social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to test a model of the relationship of SciComm skills to SciComm-related cognitive variables in explaining career intentions. A sample of 510 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at major academic health science centers in the Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas, were surveyed online. Results suggested that interest in performing SciComm tasks, SciComm outcome expectations (SCOEs), and SciComm productivity predicted intention to remain in a research career, while SciComm self-efficacy did not directly predict career intention. SCOEs also predicted interest in performing SciComm tasks. As in other SCCT studies, SciComm self-efficacy predicted SCOEs. We conclude that social cognitive factors of SciComm skill acquisition and SciComm productivity significantly predict biomedical trainees’ intentions to pursue research careers whether within or outside academia. While further studies are needed, these findings may lead to evidence-based interventions to help trainees remain in their chosen career paths.

科学交流技能对于生物医学学术研究职业的成功不可或缺，但对于学员及其导师来说，获取这些技能的努力可能是艰巨的。作者研究了这些技能的发展是否以及如何影响学员的学术职业意向。 科学交流（SciComm）技能对于生物医学研究的成功必不可少，但许多学员可能没有充分考虑到定期写作和演讲对研究职业发展的必要性。我们的目的是研究科学交流技能的获取与研究学员留在研究职业的意向之间的关系。我们运用社会认知职业理论（SCCT）来测试一个关于科学交流技能与科学交流相关认知变量在解释职业意向方面的关系模型。对德克萨斯州休斯敦德克萨斯医学中心主要学术健康科学中心的510名研究生和博士后进行了在线调查。结果表明，对执行科学交流任务的兴趣、科学交流结果预期（SCOEs）以及科学交流的产出预测了留在研究职业的意向，而科学交流自我效能感并没有直接预测职业意向。科学交流结果预期也预测了对执行科学交流任务的兴趣。与其他社会认知职业理论研究一样，科学交流自我效能感预测了科学交流结果预期。我们得出结论，科学交流技能获取和科学交流产出的社会认知因素显著预测了生物医学学员在学术界内外追求研究职业的意向。虽然还需要进一步研究，但这些发现可能会导致基于证据的干预措施，以帮助学员留在他们所选择的职业道路上。