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Table 2 Attitudes of family practice residents towards primary care research and research activities during residency training

From: The Beginning of the Research Stream in Family Medicine Residency Program at McMaster University

STATEMENT (all items measured on 10 point Likert scale: 1 'Strongly disagree'; 10 'Strongly agree)

Overall Mean (SD) (n = 52)

Research stream Mean (SD) (n = 11)

Regular stream Mean (SD) (n = 41)

p * value

With the increased emphasis on primary care, there is a need for strengthening the scientific foundations of clinical practice.

7.9 (1.7)

9.1 (1.5)

7.6 (1.6)

.008

Family medicine residents should be required to carry out research projects as part of their residency.

4.6 (2.8)

6.2 (3.1)

4.2 (2.6)

.037

Research is adequately emphasized in family medicine training at McMaster.

5.6 (2.0)

4.0 (2.0)

6.0 (1.8)

.002

The lack of a critical mass of investigators is a major impediment to the development of primary care research.

6.1 (1.9)

7.5 (2.4)

5.7 (1.6)

.007

Developing a culture of primary care research must occur early in professional medical education.

6.6 (2.4)

8.5 (2.3)

6.1 (2.2)

.003

It is imperative that the "evidence" in the Evidence-Based Medicine paradigm is developed by primary care researchers.

5.8 (2.3)

5.9 (1.9)

5.8 (2.4)

.845

Every family medicine resident should be assigned to a research mentor at the beginning of their training.

5.2 (2.9)

6.0 (2.9)

5.0 (2.9)

.301

Family medicine faculty at McMaster are knowledgeable about research.

6.3 (1.8)

5.4 (2.0)

6.5 (1.6)

.052

I am not interested in research activities.

5.5 (3.3)

2.2 (2.1)

6.5 (2.9)

.000

There is a lack of dedicated time to pursue research activities during the residency training.

7.4 (2.0)

8.3 (1.7)

7.2 (2.1)

.121

I have good research skills.

5.4 (1.9)

5.7 (2.6)

5.3 (1.7)

.549

I would like to get more research training as part of the family medicine residency training.

5.9 (3.1)

8.8 (2.0)

5.1 (2.8)

.000

There are no opportunities for family medicine residents to participate in primary care research.

3.6 (1.9)

3.5 (1.6)

3.6 (1.9)

.838

There are no family medicine research role models in our department.

3.9 (2.3)

3.8 (2.1)

3.9 (2.4)

.892

There is sufficient statistical/epidemiological support available to residents who are interested in research.

5.8 (2.1)

4.5 (2.0)

6.2 (2.1)

.017

  1. * Based on Student's t-tests