Abstract
Background
Incorporating research in evidence-based medicine is important for the medical fraternity to understand new diseases, apply new treatment modalities and reform health policies. Including research training in the medical curriculum can help undergraduates to build reasoning skills and critical thinking. Prior studies have shown that despite a positive attitude towards research among undergraduate students, there is a shortcoming in implementing research training. This study was planned to assess the attitude of undergraduate medical students toward research in a publicly funded medical college in South India.
Methods
A cross-sectional observational study was carried out among 63 students by using the Attitude Towards Research (ATR) scale, which is a pretested, validated, Likert-type, 32-item questionnaire.
Results
In the present study, 75% of the participants were from the urban population. 85.7% of students were interested in understanding research methodology and 87.3% were interested in attending advanced sessions. Mean ATR scores revealed that the majority of students have an understanding of the usefulness of research (6.03±0.75), showed a positive attitude towards research (5.51±0.95), and understood the relevance of research (4.57±0.63). At the same time, some found difficulty in carrying out research (4.24±1.23) and reported being anxious of the research procedure (4.24±1.01).
Conclusion
Most students are interested in research and want to attend training sessions. Students who attended these sessions earlier displayed a positive attitude towards research, showed interest in advanced research methodology sessions, and found research less challenging compared to their peers. If research methodology is incorporated into the medical undergraduate curriculum, it will have a positive impact on the improvement of the research orientation of the students. Thus, targeted modules should be formulated for medical students during the undergraduate phase.
Keywords:
medical student attitudes, research interest, research training, research barriers, educational interventions, cross-sectional study, Hyderabad, IndiaReferences
Shukla S, Acharya S, Acharya N, Singh S, Dolas P. Inculcating research methodology related skills and aptitude amongst medical undergraduates- An interventional study. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2022;11:3648. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1812_21
Chellaiyan V, Manoharan A, Jasmine M, Liaquathali F. Medical research: Perception and barriers to its practice among medical school students of Chennai. J Educ Health Promot. 2019;8:134. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_464_18
Pallamparthy S, Basavareddy A. Knowledge, attitude, practice, and barriers toward research among medical students: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey. Perspect Clin Res. 2019;10:73. https://doi.org/10.4103/picr.PICR_1_18
Sanabria-de La Torre R, Quiñones-Vico MI, Ubago-Rodríguez A, Buendía-Eisman A, Montero-Vílchez T, Arias-Santiago S. Medical students’ interest in research: changing trends during university training. Front Med. 2023;10:1257574. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1257574
AlGhamdi KM, Moussa NA, AlEssa DS, AlOthimeen N, Al-Saud AS. Perceptions, attitudes and practices toward research among senior medical students. Saudi Pharm J. 2014;22:113–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2013.02.006
Bin-Ghouth A, Batarfi SA, Abonemi AH, Maknoon AS, Alkhanbshi AS, Khred A, et al. Perception, attitude, and practice toward research among medical students in Hadhramout University, Yemen. BMC Med Educ. 2023;23:853. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04287-0.
chaudhary L, Gul N, Zubaidazain, Akhter I, Iram F, Khan A. Perceptions and attitudes towards research amongst medical students at Shifa College of Medicine. JPMA J Pak Med Assoc. 2016;66:165–9.
Alhabib RK, Alhusseini N, Aboalsamh AG, Adi G, Ismail A, Hajja A, et al. Motivators and barriers to research participation among medical students in Saudi Arabia. Plos One. 2023;18:e0284990. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284990.
Kharraz R, Hamadah R, AlFawaz D, Attasi J, Obeidat AS, Alkattan W, Abu-Zaid A. Perceived barriers towards participation in undergraduate research activities among medical students at Alfaisal University—College of Medicine: A Saudi Arabian perspective. Med Teah. 2016 Mar 25;38(sup1):S12-8.
Fida T, Ul Abiddin Z, Yasin F, Mehmood Q. The inclination of undergraduate students at King Edward Medical University towards research and its perceived barriers and facilitators; a cross-sectional study. Ann Med Surg. 2022;81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104502.
Patel T, Tripathi R, Bagle T, Rege N. Implementation of an educational program to promote research ethics in undergraduate medical students. Perspect Clin Res. 2021;12:216. https://doi.org/10.4103/picr.PICR_148_19.
Papanastasiou EC. Factor structure of the “Attitudes Toward Research” scale. Stat Educ Res J. 2005;4:16–26.
Alsaleem SA, Alkhairi MAY, Alzahrani MAA, Alwadai MI, Alqahtani SSA, Alaseri YFY, et al. Challenges and Barriers Toward Medical Research Among Medical and Dental Students at King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Front Public Health. 2021;9:706778. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.706778.
Alhaidary A. Attitudes about research among Allied Medical Students enrolled in speech and hearing undergraduate program. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35:709–14. https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.3.571.
Bell L, Clancy C. Postgraduate students learning about research. Soc Work Soc Sci Rev. 2013;16:37–50. https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v16i2.533.
Meraj L, Gul N, Zubaidazain, Akhter I, Iram F, Khan AS. Perceptions and attitudes towards research amongst medical students at Shifa College of Medicine. JPMA J Pak Med Assoc. 2016;66:165–89.
Morgenshtern M, Freymond N, Agyapong S, Greeson C. Graduate Social Work Students’ Attitudes Toward Research: Problems and Prospects. J Teach Soc Work. 2011;31:552–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2011.615287.
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2024 S Devipriya
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright© by the author(s). Published by the Evidence Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
