Barriers and Challenges to Effective Medical Research Among Nigerian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Objectives: Research is an essential part of improving health care which plays an integral role in medicine and clinical practice. The study aimed to assess the barriers to research by medical students of the different universities in Nigeria and find adequate strategies for managing them. Methods: This was­­­ ­­­­a cross-sectional study using a cultured online questionnaire adopted from a previous study containing 29 items on institutional barriers, environmental barriers, academic barriers, individual barriers, practical barriers, and barriers due to research standards and outcomes. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the independent-samples t-test. Where the p value was set at 0.05. Results: our study included 421 medical students from 37 different private and public medical schools in Nigeria. Medical students hold a neutral stance towards institutional and personal barriers to clinical research with scores of 2.98±0.41 and 2.69±0.93 respectively. However, they recognize environmental, academic, and practical barriers as significant hindrances to research with mean scores of 3.57±0.31, 3.08±0.48, and 3.51 +_ 0.37 respectively. The majority of barriers towards research among medical students appeared to be time, the bulkiness of academic tasks, inadequate equipment for carrying out research, inadequate payments for research-related activities, expensive nature of research-related services, and lack of proper scientific and research atmosphere in the University. Conclusion: The most significant barriers to medical student research are environmental, followed by practical, academic, and institutional. Improving the situation requires a joint effort from medical students, medical institution management, and government support in promoting education and research.