Challenges and Barriers In Research Writing-Dental House Officers’ Perspective

Professional development in medical and dental sciences requires research. There was limited information about the research barriers faced by students in this region. Objective: To find out the common challenges and barriers faced by the house officers when writing research proposals. Methods: Dental house officers of 3 private dental colleges in Punjab were recruited for the cross-sectional study. Data collection was done using a self-administered, structured questionnaire. Closed-ended questions were designed to cover 4 domains of research barriers, e.g., personal, educational, environmental, and technical. 16 items of perceived research conduction barriers on three-point Likert scale (Disagree, Agree and Neutral) were included. Results: The most frequently evident barriers were personal 2.26 ± 51.8% and educational 2.00 ± 51.8%, followed by environmental 1.96 ± 51.8% and technical 1.87 ± 51.8%. House officers disagreed that they were not interested in research writing. 68.9% didn’t have any undergraduate research writing experience. 53.6% believe that research contributes to professional development. 45.0% disagree that they will not do research during a house job. 51.4% believed that there was a lack of time for conducting research. 73.4% regarding lack of financial funding was reported. 57.7% believed that inadequate equipment and facilities were the main hurdles in conducting research. 64.4% of participants were of the view that they lack knowledge. 59.9% believed that supervisors do not give adequate time. Conclusions: In order of importance, the most commonly reported barriers in writing research proposals by the dental house officers were personal and educational, followed by environmental and technical barriers.