Barriers and challenges in researches by Iranian students of medical universities

Abstract

Background:Health sciences research (HSR) is an essential part of improving health care which plays a critical role in the field of medicine and clinical practice. The aim of the current study was to assess barriers to the research by students of medical sciences as well as to find out effective strategies for management of student researches in Iranian universities.Materials and Methods:This study utilized a hybrid design with quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches conducted on 627 students in six schools of medical sciences in two universities in Central Province in Iran from April to December, 2012. Questionnaires were distributed among researcher and non-researcher students to find barriers to the research. These barriers were approved and validated by similar studies and strategies using the Delphi technique on 36 students.Results:The most important barriers among researcher students were institutional barriers (3.3 ± 1.3), but in non-researcher students they were individual barriers (3.6 ± 1.7). The majority of barriers to involvement in the research among researcher students appeared to be time, lack of access to electronic resources and prolongation of the process of buying equipment. In addition, the greatest barriers among non-researcher students included the lack of time, scientific writing skills, and access to trained assistants.Conclusion:The results showed the issue of attitudes towards compulsory research as a component of critical scholarship in the curriculum of medical courses. Moreover, employment of the research experts can be helpful for research training in schools of medical sciences.

Contemporary global perspectives of medical students on research during undergraduate medical education: a systematic literature review

“…Examples include lack of funds [57]), insufficient access to electronic resources [58], constrained availability of the internet [57,59] and sometimes, even war/conflicts [57]. …”

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

“…Only 20% of undergraduate student say there is no adequate time to do research during medical school, medical student suffering from lack of training and guidance with research supervisors ( 4 ). And many studies said that the early participation in the research will promotes a tendency to keep going research in their later life ( 5 ). Even if medical students do not participate to practice clinical research, research knowledge will improve their ability to make evidence based decisions in their clinical life ( 6 ) studies have showing that students in developing countries face more barriers in conducting research than students in developed countries ( 7 ) some studies show that 43.9% of student had positive attitude toward research ( 8 ) and 34.4% was conducting research and only 17.4% of them had published in journals ( 9 ) and some studies said that there is no difference in the extent of research participation among students from different high school backgrounds ( 10 ).…”

“…Previous reports have demonstrated awareness of the importance of research in dentistry among dental students (11)(12)(13). The majority of Medical students in their undergraduate period are interested in conduct research, but unfortunately, there are some barriers and challenges that prevent them from doing it (5). Limited level of knowledge to conduct research and very low practice are considered barriers.…”

Barriers and Challenges to Effective Medical Research Among Nigerian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Our result ndings showed that institutional barriers were the fourth most crucial barrier to effective medical student research. Previous studies cited institutional barriers as the most important and main barrier to research [38,39,40]. Inadequate payment for research-related activities was the signi cant institutional barrier that reduces medical students' motivation to engage in research activities.…”