Research involvement among undergraduate health sciences students: a cross-sectional study

BMC Medical Education

Table 2 Demographic characteristics

Characteristic	n	% (out of 1815)
Sex
Male	463	25.6
Female	1339	73.8
Not given	13	0.6
Discipline
MB,ChB	1357	74.8
Dietetics	86	4.7
Occupational Therapy	136	7.5
Physiotherapy	190	10.5
Speech, language, hearing therapy	46	2.5
Average academic performance
<60%	339	18.7
60-74%	1039	57.2
≥75%	387	21.3
Not given	50	2.8
EDP student (current or previous)^a
Yes	314	17.3
No	1414	77.9
Not given	87	4.8
Home language
Afrikaans	625	34.4
English	829	45.7
Afrikaans and English	18	1.0
Other Southern-African language^b	193	10.6
Other^c	40	2.2
Not given	110	6.1
Previous years completed in other science degree
No previous science degree	1446	79.7
≥1 year(s)	323	17.8
Not given	46	2.5
School-going environment^d
Urban	1472	81.1
Rural	336	18.5
Not given	7	0.4
Parents working in research-settings^e
None	1553	85.6
One	202	11.1
Both	43	2.4
Not given	17	0.9

^aEDP (Extended Degree Programme): A faculty intervention which lengthens the six-year MB,ChB programme to 7 years and the 4 year programmes to 5 years. This extends the first year over 2 years, with additional courses to prepare the student for the remainder of the mainstream-programme
^bIncludes Xhosa, Zulu, Tswana, Northern Sotho/Sepedi, Venda, Tsonga, SiSwati, Ndebele, Zemba (Namibia), Shona (Zimbabwe)
^cIncludes German, French, Mandarin, Dutch, Burmese, Portugese, Igbo (Nigeria)
^dRespondents were asked if they had attended primary or secondary school in a rural or urban environment (as two separate questions). If a respondent indicated at least one as rural (e.g. either primary or secondary or both), they would be categorised as “rural” for the purposes of analysis
^eRespondents were asked if their parents worked in medical or non-medical research settings: tertiary hospitals, laboratory positions, university staff, etc. (either none, one, or both parents as options)

ISSN: 1472-6920