Undergraduate medical research in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: a descriptive study of the students’ perspective

Abstract

ObjectiveThere is a lack of research-oriented physicians in several Arab countries and especially in Gulf region countries. In this context, it is important to explore medical students’ perceptions and motivations towards research. The aim of the present study was to investigate research attitude, practices, and motivations among medical students from GCC countries.ResultsThere were 228 students who participated in this study (male 88, females 140). Thirty-eight percent of the students were participating from Saudi Arabia, 20.6% from the UAE, 17.1% from Oman, 12.7% from Kuwait and 11.4% from Bahrain. Among participants, 43.0% had experience of funded research, and 53.1% had a contribution to research. The confidence of participants in their ability to interpret and to write a research paper was quite high (70.2%). The majority of the students (87.3%) believed that undergraduate students could conduct research and can present at conferences. Improving research skills, attaining research publication, and improvement in patient care were claimed as the top three motives for conducting research. The majority (75.0%) were compelled to research to facilitate their acceptance to a residency program and 63.6% due to compulsion for a research methodology course.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3381-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…[22] Involving students in a funded research study, improving training in research methodology, training on how to present a paper at a scientific gathering, writing up and submitting a paper for publication providing the students with adequate time and student-centered teaching and learning strategies would encourage them to get involved in research activities. [15,35]…”

“…A search of the medical literature revealed that several studies undertaken in Saudi Arabia for such purpose. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] However, their results were limited only to a local university, region, or specific medical sciences college and its not possible to generalize their findings to other regions, such as Mecca region. There is a lack of research about medical sciences students' perception, barriers, and attitude toward scientific research in Mecca.…”

Capacity building in health care professions within the Gulf cooperation council countries: paving the way forward

“…The GCC countries are contributing to medical research, which is evident by publications in peer-reviewed medical journals [ 30 ]. In the GCC countries, undergraduate medical students can partake in funded research, contribute to research activities, and attend local scientific conferences [ 31 ]. In Saudi Arabia, undergraduate medical students demonstrate positive research trends resulting from a research-oriented environment in the medical schools [ 32 ].…”

Research Involvement Among Undergraduate Health Profession Students in a Resource-Limited Setting: Awareness, Attitude, Motivators and Barriers

“…The questionnaire used had 33 questions and was adopted from previously validated questionnaires by Sayedalamin et al (19) and Lloh et al (20).It consisted of 5 sections as below: Section l. Had 7 Questions about participants' demographics.…”