IJCM_394A: Participation of Undergraduate Medical Students in Health Research and Factors Influencing It in a Medical College of Puducherry- A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Developing, maintaining, and sustaining undergraduate medical students’ research involvement will enable future healthcare practitioners to practice more appropriate evidence-based clinical medicine. Objective: To assess the participation in health research and factors promoting it among undergraduate medical students in Puducherry. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students in Puducherry over a period of three months (August-October 2023). Systematic random sampling was applied to recruit 360 study participants based on Chellaiyan et al. A pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data, including socio-demographic characteristics, academic performance, participants’ attitudes, perceived motivational and barrier factors towards health research, and current involvement in health research. Data were entered in MS Excel 2019 and analyzed using SPSS v16.0. Results: A total of 360 participants were interviewed, of whom 51.6% were female and the majority (86.7%) were hostelers. Among the 360 study participants, only around one-tenth of the participants”41 (11.39%)” have participated in the health research. The factors of gender, competency-based medical education approach, and grade of the participants in the recent university exam were associated with participation in health research. The majority (90.4%) of the participants were highly motivated to participate in health research. The main barriers identified are lack of funds, collaboration, mentorship, time to conduct, and systematic training in the research methodology. Conclusion: Participation in health research has doubled since the introduction of competency-based medical education. Still, participation could be improved by addressing the identified barriers. Studentship programs, young researcher awards, systematic training programs integrated into the curriculum, etc. could also compute the participation in health research among undergraduate medical students.