Knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceived barriers towards research in undergraduate medical students of six Arab countries

Challenges and Barriers to Medical Research Among Medical Students in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

 The pivotal role of research in medicine is undeniable, as it is vital for the progress of healthcare methods and patients' well-being. This notwithstanding, medical and dental students in Saudi Arabia face many barriers that prevent them from participating in research activities. This research aims to reveal the impediments that are particularly relevant, with select challenges and barriers being mentioned, such as time issues, the inadequate supply of resources, and insufficient training and guidance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

 By using a cross-sectional study, the researchers have provided a questionnaire for medical students across multiple Saudi Arabian medical colleges via the online platform. The IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23 (Released 2015; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States) was used for data analysis, which leaned clearly on the descriptive statistical part, using a chi-square test to investigate the association between two categorical variables.

RESULTS

 There were 469 total participants, and data analysis clearly showed that lack of statistical skills (74.2%), time constraints (73.3%), and research topic selection (71.4%) were the most major obstacles to research participation. Even though the same barriers existed, a significant percentage of students (75.5%) definitely showed interest in the research, with 89.6% of the students recognizing the importance of research in the medical field. Furthermore, it should be highlighted that the female students showed a stronger positive attitude toward research than the male students (70% vs. 58.3%).

CONCLUSION

 The results highlight the necessity for the improvement of the medical education curriculum within Saudi Arabia, including the creation of a research participation system for the students. Through learning strategies emphasizing the importance of research, mentorship programs, and providing resources to the students, there will be an increase in their participation and success in the research. This will lead to an enriching medical research environment.

Perception, practice, and barriers toward research among pediatric undergraduates: a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey

BACKGROUND

Scientific research activities are crucial for the development of clinician-scientists. However, few people pay attention to the current situation of medical research in pediatric medical students in China. This study aims to assess the perceptions, practices and barriers toward medical research of pediatric undergraduates.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted among third-year, fourth-year and fifth-year pediatric students from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China via an anonymous online questionnaire. The questionnaires were also received from fifth-year students majoring in other medicine programs [clinical medicine ("5 + 3") and clinical medicine (5-year)].

RESULTS

The response rate of pediatric undergraduates was 88.3% (68/77). The total sample of students enrolled in the study was 124, including 36 students majoring in clinical medicine ("5 + 3") and 20 students majoring in clinical medicine (5-year). Most students from pediatrics ("5 + 3") recognized that research was important. Practices in scientific research activities are not satisfactory. A total of 51.5%, 35.3% and 36.8% of the pediatric students participated in research training, research projects and scientific article writing, respectively. Only 4.4% of the pediatric students contributed to publishing a scientific article, and 14.7% had attended medical congresses. None of them had given a presentation at a congress. When compared with fifth-year students in the other medicine program, the frequency of practices toward research projects and training was lower in the pediatric fifth-year students. Lack of time, lack of guidance and lack of training were perceived as the main barriers to scientific work. Limited English was another obvious barrier for pediatric undergraduates. Pediatric undergraduates preferred to participate in clinical research (80.9%) rather than basic research.

CONCLUSIONS

Although pediatric undergraduates recognized the importance of medical research, interest and practices in research still require improvement. Lack of time, lack of guidance, lack of training and limited English were the common barriers to scientific work. Therefore, research training and English improvement were recommended for pediatric undergraduates.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Barriers Toward Research Among Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study in Turkey

Background

Scientific research is essential in medicine to practice evidence-based medicine and improve healthcare quality. Research experience enables students to hone their skills in thinking critically, understanding data, and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of scientific articles.

Objective

This study aims to determine knowledge, attitudes, and barriers toward research and assess research participation experience among medical students in Turkey.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study among medical students in Turkey. Data was collected using an online self-administered questionnaire.

Results

A total of 487 students, 65.1% female, completed the questionnaire. The majority of students (78.9%) showed a poor level of knowledge regarding research, although 23.2% had previously participated in a research project. Females reported significantly higher positive attitude scores (32.2 versus 31.3, p = 0.034) than males. Graduates of high schools based abroad had substantially lower knowledge scores than Anatolian, Science, and Private High School graduates (1.4 versus 2.7, 2.6, 2.4; p < 0.001). Students with experience in a research project had significantly higher knowledge scores (2.7 versus 2.3, p = 0.045). Students who wish to participate in a scientific research project in their future career had both substantially higher positive attitude scores (32.4 versus 29.6, p < 0.001) and knowledge scores (2.5 versus 1.8, p < 0.001) than those with no interest.

Conclusion

Most participants had a positive attitude but lacked research knowledge. Some perceived barriers were lack of funding, time, proper mentoring, laboratories, and facilities. Developing better training systems may help to convert students' positive attitudes toward research into improved knowledge, practices, and overcoming research barriers.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-024-01987-0.

Knowledge, attitudes, practices and barriers of medical research among undergraduate medical students in Jordan: a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND

Integrating medical students in research at an early stage of their program is a crucial step to enhance the ability of future physicians to employ critical thinking and problem-solving processes, which in turn improves patients' health outcomes.

METHODS

A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was administered to medical school students at Al-Balqa Applied University. This study aims to analyze the attitudes, practices, and barriers faced by medical students in regard to engaging in medical research.

RESULTS

A total of 333 students participated in the study with a mean age of 21.2 ± 1.5 years. A total of 60.1% were females. Female students had significantly higher knowledge scores (µ = 3.97, SD ± 1.81, P = 0.009) than males (µ = 3.44, SD ± 1.69). As students progress to higher academic years of their clinical program, their knowledge in research significantly increases in comparison to their knowledge in basic medical years (P < 0.001). Student age and academic year significantly correlated with the knowledge scores; each additional year of study increased the knowledge score by 0.25 (β = 0.25, P < 0.001, R2 = 0.63). The percentage of students who correctly answered each question on the knowledge scale was 37.5% (SD ± 12.5%). The most reported barriers to research participation were insufficient training in medical research, lack of sufficient research opportunities, and lack of stimulation and support from faculty.

CONCLUSIONS

Medical students demonstrated a positive attitude toward research starting from their second year of study, despite having limited knowledge on the topic. They identified barriers that could be utilized to promote greater involvement of students in research. The implications for clinical practice suggest that policymakers and educators should consider the outcomes of this study and implement improvements in medical education, specifically by encouraging the early participation of students in the research process.

Perceptions and Experiences of Pursuing Research Among Medical Students in Problem-Based Learning Curriculum: A Cross-Sectional Study from Qatar

OBJECTIVES

Early introduction to research prepares medical students for the practice of evidence-based medicine. Few studies have examined the experiences of research among medical students in the Arab region. This study assesses medical students' experiences in pursuing research at the national College of Medicine (CMED) in the state of Qatar.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed through Google Forms. The inclusion criteria called for students over 18 years old enrolled in the college in Years 2 to 6 (pre-clinical and clinical phases) during the spring semester of 2022. The questionnaire included 5 sections with multiple-choice questions and 5-point Likert-scale questions. The questionnaire was validated using esperts review and by piloting it on 10% of the eligible students. STATA 17.0 was used to perform the statistical analysis, which involved a logistic regression and Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

The study had 179 student participants (over half of the eligible group). Half were in the preclinical phase, and half were in the clinical phase. Approximately half had published at least 1 paper. For voluntary research, the main motivators were passion and positive past experiences, while the main demoralizer was inadequate time. For mandatory medical-student research, supervisor help was the main facilitator, and an academic load leaving insufficient time for research was the main barrier. The factors positively influencing voluntary research participation were being older, being male, studying in a more advanced program phase, and having a lower score for negative attitudes toward research. The main limitation of the study was the inclusion of only 1 medical school with 1 type of curriculum.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that better research experience can be ensured by providing space, time, and proper academic and moral support to students. The authors believe that doing so will indirectly positively affect the future translation of skills in evidence-based medicine into clinical practice.

Cross-sectional Survey of Medical student perceptions of And desires for Research and Training pathways (SMART): an analysis of prospective cohort study of UK medical students

OBJECTIVE

Clinician-scientists are critical to medical innovation and research. However, the number of clinician scientists in the UK has been declining steadily over the last decade. One of the cited reasons is poor student recruitment to academic training pathways. The SMART study aims to assess current student perceptions on research and identify key factors influencing whether a student is interested in research.

DESIGN

We conducted a cross-sectional survey study between January and May 2022.

SETTING

This was a multi-centre national study with data collected across 40 universities offering medical courses in the UK.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were UK medical students enrolled in medicine for 21/22 academic year.

MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE

The main outcomes were related to participant perceptions on research and whether they were interested in engaging with research in their future career. These measures were correlated with demographic and non-demographic details using regression analyses.

RESULTS

One thousand seven hundred seventy-four individuals participated in the SMART survey from 40 medical schools. Nearly half the participants felt there were barriers preventing them from doing research (46.67%) and almost three-quarters felt it was at least somewhat difficult to combine research with medical school (73.49%). Of the options available, most commonly students did not want to pursue an academic career (43.11%) or training pathway (42.49%). However, most participants felt it was useful to do research at medical school (59.54%) and were also interested in doing more research in the future (69.16%). Regression analysis identified many factors influencing student's perceptions of research including year of study, gender, socioeconomic status, family background, research exposure at medical school, ethnicity, and country of pre-university education.

CONCLUSIONS

The SMART study is the first of its kind in the UK, shedding light on medical student perceptions. While some express strong interest in academic careers, a larger proportion show a broader interest in research. Demographic factors like gender, parental occupation, and socioeconomic status play a role. Further exploration is needed for specific groups to address barriers, promote research, and boost academic pathway recruitment.

Understanding challenges to medical and dental student research practices. An insight from a cross-sectional study of the public sector in Pakistan

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study is to identify and comprehend the challenges experienced by the undergraduate medical and dental students in enrolled in public sector in Pakistan while conducting research.

METHODOLOGY

A cross-sectional study was carried out from April to June of 2023 among undergraduate students at public sector medical and dental schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A customized questionnaire was developed to gather information on the challenges faced by students when undertaking research. The survey was circulated online using Google Forms, and participation was entirely optional. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the responses.

RESULTS

Participants in the study were 58 male and 139 female students who were enrolled in the Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programs. The analysis found that 47% of students cited a lack of knowledge and research skills as a major barrier, while 40% cited time restrictions as a major issue. Mentorship and training issues were cited as major barriers by 51% of students, while a lack of institutional support was cited as a significant issue by 53% of students. Language issues made it difficult to produce research papers for 14% of students, while finding research opportunities was challenging for 38% of students.

CONCLUSION

According to the research, undergraduate medical and dentistry students in the public sector encountered a number of challenges when conducting research. It was suggested that these issues be resolved by include research projects in the curriculum, providing specific interventions for enhancing research skills, establishing mentorship programs, and allocating funds for research activities.

Awareness and knowledge of familial Mediterranean fever among medical scope students in Syrian universities: A cross-sectional study

Introduction

Familial Mediterranean fever is an autoinflammatory autosomal recessive disorder common among individuals of Mediterranean descent. It is characterized by recurrent episodes of fever accompanied by peritonitis, pleurisy, pericarditis, and/or arthritis, sometimes accompanied by an erysipelas-like rash. Mimicking manifestation of other inflammatory conditions and the diversity of symptoms leads to insufficient knowledge and understanding. General knowledge about this disease is considered low in most populations, but this bears greater consequences in people with high incidence rates. This study investigates the knowledge of familial Mediterranean fever among a group of medical students in public and private Syrian universities.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2022, and an international standard-based electronic questionnaire was adopted. The study included 758 current undergraduate medical scope students from public and private universities in Syria. The survey used for this study included inquiries made to assess awareness using global standards. It was divided into 2 sections, with 7 questions focusing on sociodemographic characteristics and 17 questions assessing the students' understanding of Familial Mediterranean fever.

Results

Our analysis showed strong correlations between the knowledge of Familial Mediterranean fever and certain specialization, college, academic year, and marital status. The mean score of answers was 9.39 out of 17 for all participants. The mean score of answers for medical students was 10.01 out of 17, while it was 8.81 for pharmaceutical students and 6.51 for dental students. These differences were statistically significant, p-value <0.001. This means medical students know better than pharmaceutical students, who already have better knowledge than dental students.

Conclusion

We conclude that medical scope students' knowledge about the disease of Familial Mediterranean fever and its management is ineffective, especially among dental students, even in a country with high prevalence rates for Familial Mediterranean fever like Syria.

Investigating the evolution of undergraduate medical students' perception and performance in relation to an innovative curriculum-based research module: A convergent mixed methods study launching the 8A-Model

BACKGROUND

Embedding into undergraduate medical programs experiential research curricula, based on holistic theories of education which emphasize participation in the social world, remains uncommon. The purpose of this study was to investigate the journey of undergraduate medical students in relation to an innovative compulsory curriculum-based research module, which has a prominent experiential learning component.

METHODS

A convergent mixed methods study design was adapted to develop a systemic understanding of the experience of the undergraduate medical students throughout the respective research module. As such, the students' perception of the experience was qualitatively explored using thematic analysis (n = 15). In parallel, the students' performance data were quantitatively analyzed using multi-repeated ANOVA (n = 158). The findings from both types of analyses (i.e., qualitative and quantitative study components) were then mapped onto each using joint display analysis.

FINDINGS

The exploration generated four themes that correspond to sequential steps that the students go through to effectively integrate the scientific research method. These themes include: 1- Attend-Acquire, 2- Accumulate-Assimilate, 3- Apply-Appreciate, and 4-Articulate-Affect. Quantitatively, two distinct clusters of mean Grade Point Average were revealed (p<0.01). Joint display analysis enabled integrating the qualitative and quantitative findings, generating the 8A-Model.

CONCLUSION

The evidence-driven 8A-Model, generated by this study, highlights that medical students' understanding of the true value of research seems to increase as they progress in the module. They begin expressing appreciation of the significance of the experience when they start implementing what they are learning as part of their own research studies. It is recommended for such a research module, with a firm experiential learning component, to be integral to undergraduate medical programs. This is expected to improve the future physicians' research competences, and in turn add value in terms of quality of care and patient outcomes.

Are medical students interested in research? - students' attitudes towards research

BACKGROUND

Throughout the years significant progress has been observed in all medical fields. It was possible to achieve thanks to a wide range of scientists, including physician-scientists. However, in recent years their number is significantly declining. Thus we have aimed to explore the attitudes of medical students towards research.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students of Medical University of Warsaw between the 1st and 23rd of December 2019. Survey examining scientific interests and activities, opinions on selected research issues, and perception of potential barriers to research activities has been distributed to 838 students and collected from 695 (391 students of the 2nd year and 304 of the 5th year) with a response rate of 82.9%. Descriptive statistics, the Chi-squared test, U-Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for between-group comparisons. The differences were considered statistically significant if the p values were <.05.

RESULTS

55.2% of responders rated their scientific interests in high school as high, with no significant differences between 2nd and 5th-year students. 33.8% (n = 233) of all students plan to pursue research activity after graduation, and 52.8% (n = 360) plan to obtain PhD title. Students who presented higher scientific interests in high school more often were involved in research projects at the university (24.7% vs 17.5%, p = .044), and showed higher interest in pursuing a research career (37.9% vs 28.9%, p = .02). Lack of time and knowledge on starting a research project were perceived as the main barriers to scientific work.

CONCLUSIONS

Many medical students express research interests, are involved in scientific projects, and plan to pursue their careers in this direction. There is a majority of students with lower attitudes towards research. Medical universities should consider adapting their curricula accordingly to accommodate the needs of both groups and respond to the shortage of physicians working in clinics and research.KEY MESSAGESOne-third of medical students plan to pursue career in medical research after graduation.Students who presented higher scientific interests in the high school are more often involved in research projects at the university and show higher interest in pursuing a research career.According to medical students, lack of time, resources and funding and insufficient knowledge how to start a research project are the most important barriers to research activity.

Undergraduate students' involvement in research: Values, benefits, barriers and recommendations

Developing, maintaining, and sustaining undergraduate research initiatives can benefit academic institutions, faculty mentors, and students. As the world evolves, more research is required to advance knowledge and innovation in all fields. This implies that students must be prepared for today's knowledge-driven world. Research in the medical and health sciences has stalled in many developing countries, where a dual burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases is prevalent. In this article, I discuss the values and benefits of undergraduate healthcare students participating in research and scientific publishing, as well as the challenges they face. I also make recommendations to encourage undergraduates to get involved in research. The potential of undergraduate research has not yet been fully realized. Undergraduate research's main objectives are to teach students how to do research and to help them acquire skills that they can use beyond the academic environment. Undergraduate research will complement rather than conflict with university education and should go beyond the mandatory terminal year thesis and must cover the entire course of their studies. The key to successful undergraduate research participation is for students to see and understand the importance of rigor, academic integrity, and responsible research conduct. This means academic institutions should carefully plan research programs, activities, and courses for students. Building capacity in research has a long-term impact on valuable learning outcomes as undergraduate students prepare for professional service. Stakeholders and educational authorities must invest in strengthening undergraduate involvement in research.