Challenges and Barriers Toward Medical Research Among Medical and Dental Students at King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

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Abstract

Background: Medical research is a systematic method to obtain new knowledge, reduce diagnosis problems, discover the latest or best treatment for a disease, and also used for disease prevention.

Objective: The study aims to assess the challenges and barriers to conduct medical research among medical and dentistry students and determine the reasons that hinder the conduct of the study.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the research population consisted of medical and dental students affiliated with King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia in 2020. The study followed a descriptive approach based on quantitative analysis. The Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) program (V. 16.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used for data analysis.

Results: A total of 327 students participated in this study, and the response rate was 100%. Among them, 61.5% were females. In this study majority (63.3%) had a moderate attitude toward conducting medical research and the average was 56.17. The majority (53.8%) had a reasonable behavior toward conducting medical research, and the average was 29.06. Lack of time, skills, funding, facilities, and limited access to medical journals and related databases were the significant barriers found. Most of the students had positive attitudes, except that they are not awarded on their research, do not attend the sessions, and do not speak their thoughts. A significant relationship between demographic characteristics (age, level, and Grade Percentage Average), attitudes & perceived barriers toward research was found (<0.05).

Conclusion: The majority of the students demonstrated a positive attitude toward and moderate behavior of research. However, most are not awarded on their research, do not attend the sessions, and do not speak their thoughts. Intensive training and adequate support in research activities of medical and dental students at the undergraduate level may help reduce these challenges and barriers toward research.

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Medical students' perceptions of an undergraduate research elective.

Robyn L Houlden, Jamila B Raja, Christine Collier … (2004)

Recent years have seen a steady decline in the number of new physician-investigators (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2000). To encourage medical students to select research careers, the Queen's University Faculty of Health Sciences curriculum includes a mandatory Critical Enquiry elective in the 2nd year. An anonymous written survey was administered to medical students before and after the elective to determine their perceptions of the value of the elective and its impact on their decision to pursue a career in medical research. There was a significant increase in the number of students expressing an interest in pursuing a research career following the elective (35-42%, p = 0.029). Students recognized other benefits including the development of critical appraisal, information literacy, and critical thinking skills; and the opportunity to select an area of and form contacts for postgraduate training. Even students who choose not to pursue careers in medical research perceive benefits to a mandatory undergraduate research elective.

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A survey on the attitudes towards research in medical school

D Siemens, Sanoj Punnen, James Wong … (2010)

Background An observed decrease of physician scientists in medical practice has generated much recent interest in increasing the exposure of research programs in medical school. The aim of this study was to review the experience and attitudes regarding research by medical students in Canada. Methods An anonymous, cross-sectional, self-report questionnaire was administered to second and fourth year students in three medical schools in Ontario between February and May of 2005. Questions were primarily closed-ended and consisted of Likert scales. Descriptive and correlative statistics were used to analyze the responses between students of different years and previous research experience. Results There was a 47% (327/699) overall response rate to the questionnaire. Despite 87% of respondents reporting that they had been involved in some degree of research prior to medical school, 43% report that they have not been significantly involved in research activity during medical school and 24% had no interest in any participation. There were significant differences in the attitudes towards research endeavors during medical school between students in their fourth year compared to second year. The greatest barriers to involvement in research in medical school appear to be time, availability of research mentors, formal teaching of research methodology and the perception that the student would not receive appropriate acknowledgement for work put towards a research project. Conclusion The results of this self-report survey outline the significant differences in attitudes towards mandatory research as a component of critical inquiry and scholarship in the undergraduate curriculum in Ontario medical schools.

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Perceptions, attitudes and practices toward research among senior medical students.

Khalid M. Alghamdi, Noura A Moussa, Dana S Alessa … (2014)

We aimed to explore perceptions, attitudes and practices toward research among medical students. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among senior medical students at the King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hundred and seventy two students participated in the study, with 97 males (65.5%). The majority of the students agreed that research is important in the medical field (97.1%, 167/172). A total of 67.4% (116/172) believed that conducting research should be mandatory for all medical students. During medical school, 55.3% (88/159) participated in research. The obstacles that prevented the students from conducting research included lack of professional supervisors (84.7%, 143/169), lack of training courses (88.8%, 151/170), lack of time (72.3%, 123/172) and lack of funding (54.1%, 92/170). Although the majority of students believe that research is important in the medical field, only around half of the students participated in research during medical school.

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Contributors

Safar Abadi Alsaleem: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1374104/overview

Muhammed Alhussain Y. Alkhairi: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1343515/overview

Mohammed Atiah A. Alzahrani: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1333942/overview

Saad Saleh A. Alqahtani: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1418930/overview

Mohammed Awadh M. Alqarni: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1350701/overview

Safiah Ahmad Assiri: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1332783/overview

Mohammed Abadi Alsaleem: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1334538/overview

Syed Esam Mahmood: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1311836/overview

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Front Public Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Front Public Health

Journal ID (publisher-id): Front. Public Health

Title: Frontiers in Public Health

Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.

ISSN (Electronic): 2296-2565

Publication date (Electronic): 20 August 2021

Publication date Collection: 2021

Volume: 9

Electronic Location Identifier: 706778

Affiliations

[1] ¹Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University , Abha, Saudi Arabia

[2] ²College of Medicine, King Khalid University , Abha, Saudi Arabia

Author notes

Edited by: Michal Grivna, United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates

Reviewed by: Ahmed Abu-Zaid, Alfaisal University, Saudi Arabia; Ahmed Mahfouz, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia; Nadeem Ahmad, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia

*Correspondence: Syed Esam Mahmood smahmood@ 123456kku.edu.sa

This article was submitted to Public Health Education and Promotion, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public Health

Article

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.706778

PMC ID: 8417604

PubMed ID: 34490190

SO-VID: 31179c89-24a3-4c91-baa2-60a7a4a5dc3c

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

History

Date received : 10 May 2021

Date accepted : 27 July 2021

Page count

Figures: 0, Tables: 6, Equations: 0, References: 39, Pages: 7, Words: 5389

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International Journal of Applied Technology in Medical Sciences

Most cited references 39

Medical students' perceptions of an undergraduate research elective.

A survey on the attitudes towards research in medical school

Perceptions, attitudes and practices toward research among senior medical students.

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