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Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey

BACKGROUND: Despite increased investment in primary care research and development (R&D), the level of engagement of primary healthcare professionals with research remains poor. The aim of this study is to assess the level of research activity and capacity for research among primary healthcare pr...

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Autores principales: Glynn, Liam G, O'Riordan, Ciara, MacFarlane, Anne, Newell, John, Iglesias, Alberto A, Whitford, David, Cantillon, Peter, Murphy, Andrew W
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684072/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19432990
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-10-33
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author Glynn, Liam G
O'Riordan, Ciara
MacFarlane, Anne
Newell, John
Iglesias, Alberto A
Whitford, David
Cantillon, Peter
Murphy, Andrew W
author_facet Glynn, Liam G
O'Riordan, Ciara
MacFarlane, Anne
Newell, John
Iglesias, Alberto A
Whitford, David
Cantillon, Peter
Murphy, Andrew W
author_sort Glynn, Liam G
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Despite increased investment in primary care research and development (R&D), the level of engagement of primary healthcare professionals with research remains poor. The aim of this study is to assess the level of research activity and capacity for research among primary healthcare professionals in a health authority of over one million people in a mixed urban/rural setting in the West of Ireland. METHODS: A questionnaire, incorporating the R+D Culture Index, was sent to primary healthcare professionals in the HSE Western Region. Baseline characteristics were analysed with the use of one-way ANOVA and Chi-square test and the dependence of R&D Culture Index score on all sixteen available covariates was examined using multiple regression and regression tree modelling. RESULTS: There was a 54% response rate to the questionnaire. Primary healthcare professionals appeared to have an interest in and awareness of the importance of research in primary care but just 15% were found to be research active in this study. A more positive attitude towards an R&D culture was associated with having had previous research training, being currently involved in research and with not being a general practitioner (GP) (p < 0.001), but much variability in the R&D culture index score remained unexplained. CONCLUSION: Despite awareness of the importance of R&D in primary care and investment therein, primary healthcare professionals remain largely unengaged with the R&D process. This study highlights the issues that need to be addressed in order to encourage a shift towards a culture of R&D in primary care: lack of research training particularly in basic research skills and increased opportunities for research involvement. The use of the R&D Culture Index may enable groups to be identified that may be more research interested and can therefore be targeted in any future R&D strategy.
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spelling pubmed-26840722009-05-20 Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey Glynn, Liam G O'Riordan, Ciara MacFarlane, Anne Newell, John Iglesias, Alberto A Whitford, David Cantillon, Peter Murphy, Andrew W BMC Fam Pract Research Article BACKGROUND: Despite increased investment in primary care research and development (R&D), the level of engagement of primary healthcare professionals with research remains poor. The aim of this study is to assess the level of research activity and capacity for research among primary healthcare professionals in a health authority of over one million people in a mixed urban/rural setting in the West of Ireland. METHODS: A questionnaire, incorporating the R+D Culture Index, was sent to primary healthcare professionals in the HSE Western Region. Baseline characteristics were analysed with the use of one-way ANOVA and Chi-square test and the dependence of R&D Culture Index score on all sixteen available covariates was examined using multiple regression and regression tree modelling. RESULTS: There was a 54% response rate to the questionnaire. Primary healthcare professionals appeared to have an interest in and awareness of the importance of research in primary care but just 15% were found to be research active in this study. A more positive attitude towards an R&D culture was associated with having had previous research training, being currently involved in research and with not being a general practitioner (GP) (p < 0.001), but much variability in the R&D culture index score remained unexplained. CONCLUSION: Despite awareness of the importance of R&D in primary care and investment therein, primary healthcare professionals remain largely unengaged with the R&D process. This study highlights the issues that need to be addressed in order to encourage a shift towards a culture of R&D in primary care: lack of research training particularly in basic research skills and increased opportunities for research involvement. The use of the R&D Culture Index may enable groups to be identified that may be more research interested and can therefore be targeted in any future R&D strategy. BioMed Central 2009-05-11 /pmc/articles/PMC2684072/ /pubmed/19432990 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-10-33 Text en Copyright © 2009 Glynn et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Glynn, Liam G
O'Riordan, Ciara
MacFarlane, Anne
Newell, John
Iglesias, Alberto A
Whitford, David
Cantillon, Peter
Murphy, Andrew W
Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey
title Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey
title_full Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey
title_fullStr Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey
title_full_unstemmed Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey
title_short Research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: The REACH study: A survey
title_sort research activity and capacity in primary healthcare: the reach study: a survey
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684072/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19432990
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-10-33
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