Assessing Clinical Investigators Perceptions of Relevance and Competency of Clinical Trials Skills: An international AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) Study

A paper appearing in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Research reported on a study by the International AIDS Malignancy Consortium which assessed the competency level and role relevance of the JTF Core Competencies in Clinical Investigators from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.  The results indicated that the highest relevance to role was in the Scientific Concepts and Research Design and the Ethical and Participant Safety domains and the lowest in the Data Management and Informatics domain.  A high level of self-assessed competency was seen in the Ethical and Participant Safety domain, but lower levels of self-assessed competency were seen in the Data Management and Informatics and the Scientific Concepts and Research Design domains.   An additional domain, Community Engagement, was added to the framework by the investigators due to the perception of increased relevance in the assessed geographic regions, though interestingly, this domain showed a high level of competence, but a low level of role relevance.  The AMC is working to incorporate professional development offerings to investigators based upon the results of this assessment.