Knowledge, attitude, practices, and perceived barriers towards research among undergraduate medical students in a teaching hospital: A cross-sectional study

Rajan B, Joseph A, Prakash AK, Puzhikunnathu VK

Pdf Page Numbers :- 76-82

Boney Rajan¹, Ajin Joseph², Arun Karanayil Prakash³ and Vinod Kumar Puzhikunnathu^1,*

¹Department of Pharmacology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala 680555, India

²Department of Forensic Medicine, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala 680555, India

³Department of Physiology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala 680555, India

*Corresponding author: Vinod Kumar Puzhikunnathu, Department of Pharmacology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala 680555, India. Email: dr.vinodkumar@amalaims.org.

Received 10 October 2024; Revised 29 November 2024; Accepted 6 December 2024; Published 17 December 2024

Citation: Rajan B, Joseph A, Prakash AK, Puzhikunnathu VK. Knowledge, attitude, practices, and perceived barriers towards research among undergraduate medical students in a teaching hospital: A cross-sectional study. J Med Sci Res. 2025; 13(1):76-82. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17727/JMSR.2024/13-13

Copyright: © 2025 Rajan B et al. Published by KIMS Foundation and Research Center. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Abstract

Background: In Indian medical colleges, the extensive curriculum often limits undergraduate medical students’ participation in research, coupled with insufficient exposure to research methodologies and time constraints. This study aims to understand the knowledge, attitude, practices, and perceived barriers towards research among the undergraduate medical students.

Methodology: This cross-sectional study was done on MBBS students from phase 1 to phase 3. The study questionnaire was organized into 3 parts aligned with the research objectives. Part 1 section A on demographic data, part 1 section B assessed students' knowledge about research. The part 2 included two subsections: section A collected students’ approach and attitude towards research, section B on practice towards research while the final part 3 identified perceived barrier towards medical research.

Results: The study included 303 medical students. With regards to knowledge on research, only 4.6% (n=14) had good knowledge, 38.6% (n=117) had an average knowledge, while 56.8% (n=172) had poor knowledge. With regards to attitude 98% (n=297) students displayed positive attitude towards research. With regards to practice towards medical research it was seen that only 18.8% (n=57) students had participated in any kind of research. Some of the major perceived barrier towards research was lack of time due to educational tasks, lack of knowledge on statistics and research paper writing skills.

Conclusion: Most students have a positive attitude towards research, while they lacked knowledge and practice towards research. Many barriers were identified. These findings could guide policy makers in modifying the present MBBS curriculum and include research methodology as part of the under graduate medical education.

Keywords: undergraduate research; research in curriculum; medical education; teaching hospital