Background
Overseas fellowships are competitive and there is an expectation that completing one enhances a career path in stroke. There are many practical challenges that impact the successful completion of an overseas fellowship, especially if the fellow is a parent.
Aim
Describe the challenges experienced by international fellows with children, and how they overcame these.
Method
Thematic analysis of conversations with international research and clinical fellows in Canada.
Results
Extreme and unpredictable financial difficulty was a major barrier especially early in the fellowship. Despite group activities, fellows and their spouses with young children often felt isolated and lonely when starting their jobs in a new country.
For childcare, international fellows either had to rely on family members or be physically separated from their children who remained in their home country, or pay a substantial proportion of their fellow salary for childcare. Having children impacted on the type of fellowship a woman could undertake and the experiences she had.
Local staff and fellows at times had difficulty relating to their experiences, including having to pay university fees of higher magnitudes for the same learning experience and service provision, and the difficulties of setting up life in a new country.
Completing an overseas fellowship did not predictably lead to employment opportunities in a fellow's home country.
Conclusions
Financial support and strong support networks would ease the transition for international fellows pursuing specialist training. Home departments need to consider workforce planning and retention before their trainees move overseas for fellowship.