Revista de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Educação em Saúde

Research Activity Practices and Affecting Factors among Medical Science Educators in their Early Academic Career

Abstract

Abebaye Aragaw* and Amha Mekasha

Background: Research activities provide educators with valuable knowledge and skills. Publishing research articles and presenting the findings at conferences are important for medical educators in early academic careers to increase their Contentious Professional Development (CPD). However, the level of their research activity practice and affecting factors has not been investigated at Addis Ababa university.

Objectives: Assessing the level of research activity practices and affecting factors among medical educators in their early academic career at Addis Ababa university, college of health sciences, and school of medicine.

Methods: One hundred ninety-five medical educators in their early academic careers from all departments in the school of medicine participated in this study. Proportional allocation and random sampling techniques were used to select each participant. Socio-demographic and other data were collected using a self-administered pretested questionnaire. Data were entered and processed using SPSS version 25.0. Independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA were used.

Results: The average number of articles published and presented at conferences per year in the last five years was 0.47± 0.35 and 0.45 ± 0.29, respectively. These publications were significantly higher among participants with a monthly salary of >10,470 than a monthly salary of ≤ 10, 470 (0.45 ± 0.37 vs. 0.39 ± 0.28, p=0.03) Ethiopian Birr. Participants with moderate attitudes had published more articles than participants with less attitude towards research activities (0.65 ± 0.43 vs. 0.20 ± 0.00, p=0.10). Medical educators with a higher academic experience of greater than fifteen years published more research articles than educators with an academic experience of fewer than five years (0.80 ± 0.45 vs. 0.39 ± 0.31, p=0.000). Participants from basic science departments presented more articles at conferences than participants from clinical science departments (0.56 ± 0.29 vs. 0.39 ± 0.28, p=0.000).

Conclusion: Research activities were low and affected by monthly salary and field of the study. Effective research activity programs and improve attitudes toward research activities are crucial to improve research productivity.