Advanced Research Institute Scholars' Perspectives on Program Success: A Self-determination Theory Evaluation

The Advanced Research Institute (ARI) is a National Institute of Mental Health-funded career development program designed to progress early-career investigators with specializations in geriatric mental health to scientific independence. Scholars who participate in ARI demonstrate a threefold greater likelihood of securing independent funding (e.g., an R01) relative to nonparticipants, yet scholar perspectives are not represented in the literature.

To explain scholars' views on ARI's effectiveness, this paper adopts Self-Determination Theory as a guiding framework, which posits that three fundamental psychological needs-competence, autonomy, and relatedness-underlie motivation and growth.

In February 2023, all ARI graduates with current email addresses (n = 164) received a link to a Qualtrics Survey on scientific leadership. Of the 141(86%) responses, scholars also provided narrative open-ended responses regarding their experience with ARI.

First, we draw on published descriptions and a grant proposal (R25MH119050) wherein ARI program elements are described to explore alignment with the self determination theory framework. Then, we use participant narratives to offer experience-near ways of understanding the effective elements from the scholar perspective.

ARI fosters competence through structured feedback, research, and professional skill development, autonomy through scholar-driven research planning, and relatedness by creating a connected, collaborative community.

The self determination theory framework provides a useful lens to contextualize the experiences of scholars in this successful program and underscores that further research and development is warranted.