Research awareness and engagement among medical students in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria.

Abstract

Introduction: In recent times, Africa has been afflicted by unique disease burdens with high mortality rates. Despite the significance of medical research towards exploring problems and implementing strategies, research engagement is low. Medical students’ participation in research is underrated, as future physicians, research skills are crucial for evidence-based medical practice. Understanding their knowledge, attitudes, and barriers toward research is vital for promoting effective research engagement. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students at the University of Maiduguri. Data was collected with a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire on Google Forms. Data analysis was done using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS) version 27. Results were presented in frequency tables. The chi-square test was used to test the association between variables, with the level of significance set at 5% (p < 0.05). Results: The study participants had a mean age of 24.02 ± 2.85. Overall, 23.9% demonstrated good knowledge of research, 54.9% had an average level of knowledge, and 21.2% showed poor knowledge. Further more, 37.9% of respondents had previously participated in curricular or extracurricular research. The Chi-Square analysis identified significant correlations between higher class levels, direct entry students, and prior research experience with good research knowledge. Barriers to research engagement included lack of mentoring (82.2%), time constraints (77.3%), insufficient motivation or reward (71.6%), and lack of funding (67.8%). Conclusion: This study showed that despite medical students' average knowledge of research, they had a positive attitude towards participating in research.