Conference Proceeding Open Access

Perception, Attitude and Barriers among Pharmacists toward Research in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Previous reports showed a deficiency of research contribution in Arab countries compared to developed countries. The aim of this study was to assess the perception, attitude and barriers among pharmacists in Saudi Arabia to take part in research. Methods: A cross sectional web-based survey was conducted from 19 June to 18 August 2017. The survey instrument was composed of five different sections that investigated the impact of pharmacists' previous research experience (PRE), pharmacists' practicing years and qualification variables on the perception, attitude and barriers toward research. Results: A total of 226 pharmacists participated in this survey. The majority (91.62%) agreed that teaching research methodology should be part of training programs. Pharmacists with PRE-had better perception and attitude scores than pharmacists with no previous research experience (NPRE), (p < 0.005). The number of practicing years was significantly correlated with the complexity of research performing in an inverse direction (p = 0.036). Only 37.5% of the participants were confident to conduct research without supervision and about 77.98 % were willing to perform research if given research time during training or working hours. Pharmacists who had longer duration of experience had more ability to evaluate research finding in term of their application to pharmacy practice (p=0.008) and were more able to plan and conduct research without supervision (p= 0.0002). The most common barrier reported was lack of research training (73.88%) followed by lack of mentorship (62.42%), workload (61.54%), article publishing (61.14%) and data collecting and analyzing (57.96%). Pharmacists with PRE and those who had 1 to 3 years of practicing were more likely to report workload as a barrier to participating in research compared to NPRE (p=0.042) and pharmacists with more years of practicing (p=0.001). Conclusion: It is recommended to have research methodology training programs along with sufficient time for research conduction and good research mentorship.

Maha Abushal and Eman Alobary

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