Registrars’ experience with research in family medicine training programmes in South Africa

South African Family Practice

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Registrars’ experience with research in family medicine training programmes in South Africa
 
Creator Louw, Emcy Mash, Robert J.
 
Subject family medicine research; research activities; medical residency; postgraduate training; graduate education
Description Background: Completion of a research assignment is a requirement for specialist training in South Africa. Difficulty with completion delays graduation and the supply of family physicians. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of registrars with their research in postgraduate family medicine training programmes.Methods: An explorative descriptive qualitative study. Extreme case purposive sampling selected registrars who had and had not completed their research on time, from all nine training programmes. Saturation was achieved after 12 semi-structured interviews. The framework method was used for data analysis, assisted by ATLAS.ti software.Results: The assumption of prior learning by teachers and supervisors contributed to a sense of being overwhelmed and stressed. Teaching modules should be more standardised and focussed on the practical tasks and skills, rather than didactic theory. Lengthy provincial and ethics processes, and lack of institutional support, such as scholarly services and financial support, caused delays. The expertise of the supervisor was important, and the registrar–supervisor relationship should be constructive, collaborative and responsive. The individual research experience was dependent on choosing a feasible project and having dedicated time. The balancing of personal, professional and academic responsibilities was challenging.Conclusion: Training programmes should revise the teaching of research and improve institutional processes. Supervisors need to become more responsive, with adequate expertise. Provincial support is needed for streamlined approval and dedicated research time.Contribution: The study highlights ways in which teaching, and completion of research can be improved, to increase the supply of family physicians to the country.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor NA
Date 2024-04-10
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative research
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/safp.v66i1.5907
 
Source South African Family Practice; Vol 66, No 1 (2024): Part 2; 12 pages 2078-6204 2078-6190
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5907/8636 https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5907/8637 https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5907/8638 https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5907/8639
 
Coverage South Africa 2022 Registrars
Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Emcy Louw, Robert J. Mash https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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