PERCEPTION, ATTITUDES AND BARRIERS IN UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS TOWARD MEDICAL RESEARCH AT REHMAN MEDICAL COLLEGE, PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To identify the perception, attitude and barriers of undergraduate medical students toward medical research at Rehman Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan
METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in undergraduate medical students of Rehman Medical College Peshawar, Pakistan from 15 May to 15th June 2016. A pretested questionnaire was completed by 150 medical students. The questionnaire consisted of 16 questions. The students’ response was recorded on a Likert scale from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5). The collected data was analyzed by SPSS version 17.
RESULTS: Of the 400 students enrolled 150 of the student’s responded. The response rate was 37.5%. Seventy percent of the students had previous experience in research and 92% had agreed upon that research is an important component of medical education. 88.6% considered research as a mandatory component of medical school curriculum. The motives of the student’s behind conducting research during medical school made research mandatory in curriculum (88.6%), facilitating acceptance to residency program (40.7%), appreciation and acknowledgement by teachers (47.3%) and research by peer (46.7%). The barriers were lack of interest (16.7%), lack of time due to extensive medical curriculum (58%), exam phobia (49.3%) and lack of training in scientific literature search (31.4%) and research methodology (25.3%).
CONCLUSION: The majority of students in the study showed diverse attitudes and perceptions toward medical research. Addressing perceived students’ barriers can help in an improvement in research activities among medical Students.
KEY WORDS: Undergraduate Medical Students (Non-MeSH), Research (MeSH), Attitudes (MeSH), Perception (MeSH), Barrier (Non-MeSH)
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