Factors associated with participation in Research by Very Early Career Doctors in a Lower Middle-Income Country in Africa: A Multi-Centre Study

Abstract

Background: Research is beneficial for the professional growth of a doctor, and forms the bedrock of evidence-based medical practice. Very Early Career Doctors (VECDs) face peculiar personal, work and time constraints which have the potential to affect their research performance. This study described the research engagement of VECDs in Nigeria and investigated its potential associations.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study from the quantitative research arm of the Challenges Among Residency Training and Early Career Doctors in Nigeria (CHARTING) Study was conducted between May and December, 2019. Data on socio-demographics, work-related practices, research engagement and training were collected and summarised using frequencies and proportions (categorical variables) and means and standard deviations (for normally distributed continuous variables). Chi-square analysis was used in determining associations between variables and research engagement outcomes; and potential predictors investigated using logistic regression. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: A total of 476 VECDs from nine tertiary hospitals in Nigeria were recruited. They comprised of 305 (65.1%) males and 163 (34.9%) females with a mean age of 31.2 +/- 5.0 years. Three hundred and seventy-four (81.5%) and 187 (40.7%) respondents had participated in research and presented their research work, respectively. The proportion of respondents who received research grants, were first authors, and were involved in local & international publications were 8 (1.7%), 32 (6.9%), 42 (9.2%) and 37 (8.0%) respectively.
Age ≤ 40 years (P=0.038), graduating within the last 5 years (P=0.016), ≤ 4 years on current job (P=0.001), working in a university affiliated centre (P=0.011), previous undergraduate research methodology training (P<0.0001), and agreeing with the statement that research will enhance their career (P=0.038); were significantly associated with ever having done any research work on bivariate chi-square analysis. Only having had a research methodology training significantly predicted ever participating in any research work (OR=4.49 (95% C.I 2.39-8.45); p<0.0001).
Conclusion: VECDs had a high research participation, but low research presentation in scholastic gathering, funding, authorship and publication rates. Research methodology training significantly predicted research participation.