Barriers to participation in research as perceived by undergraduate medical students: A cross-sectional study from Qassim.

Abstract

Background: Medical students` engagement in research activities continues to be below the expectation. In this study we aimed to investigate students` views about research, and to identify the barriers preventing them from participation in research projects. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Qassim University. A total of 230 students were included. The perceptions of students were assessed using a 16-item questionnaire. The mean scores were compared between students using Mann-Whitney test .Factors associated with students` perception of research barriers were analyzed using four separate logistic regression models. Results: The overall response rate was 89.4%. The results indicate that the students generally possess a moderately positive attitude towards research with a mean score of 14.8±2.7 (range: 5-25). A substantial number of participants reported their willingness to take part in any research-related task (77.0%). However, the participants highly agreed that lack of time (70.4%), lack of supervision and guidance (72.6%), lack of research training and support (73.9%), and lack of research exposure and opportunities (75.2%) were major barriers to their participation in research .We found that students having lower CGPA ranks are almost three times more likely to indicate lack of time as a challenge (AOR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.09,7.94; p.value=0.033). Overall, female students were more likely to report concerns about research training and availability of research opportunities, while male students were more likely to indicate lack of time and lack of supervision as research barriers. Conclusions: The barriers addressed in the current study —both discretely and cumulatively—are highly demotivating for students, and negatively affect their participation in research. Efforts should be invested to shift the focus from providing superficial research exposure to incorporating more in-depth and effective research training for undergraduate students