From hesitation to participation: a narrative review of facilitators and barriers for healthcare professionals’ engagement in medical education research | BMC Medical Education

This study aimed to explore the factors that motivate and hinder healthcare professionals’ involvement in medical education research, with the objective of identifying effective pathways to enhance research engagement. The results comprehensively highlight key influences at the individual, interpersonal, and environmental levels, illustrating their complex interactions. These findings confirm certain perspectives in the existing literature while also offering new insights and implications, showing that the decision to engage in research is influenced by a multifaceted interplay of internal and external factors. By categorizing these factors into three levels using the ecological model, the study covers 25 subthemes, including 15 facilitators and 10 barriers.

Professional achievement, academic reputation, and career development are recognized as key intrinsic motivators for engaging in medical education research [11]. The understanding that advancements in this field ultimately contribute to improved healthcare quality serves as a powerful incentive for participation. A significant factor influencing healthcare professionals’ involvement in medical education research is their research capabilities and familiarity with the field. Clinical staff with a background in social science or qualitative research often possess foundational knowledge applicable to medical education research, thereby reducing the learning curve and facilitating their engagement in research activities.

Time allocation remains a persistent challenge, as healthcare professionals struggle to balance demanding clinical duties with research responsibilities [12]. Demonstrating the link between research activities and tangible improvements in teaching practices and patient care enables healthcare professionals to more intuitively recognize the value of research. This connection not only underscores the practical benefits of participating in research but also strengthens their commitment to advancing the field of medical education.

The findings underscore the critical role of leadership, mentorship, and peer support in fostering research engagement, while also highlighting the significance of establishing research communities and facilitating cross-disciplinary collaborations. The attitudes and support provided by supervisors and institutions toward medical education research have been shown to have a profound impact on the likelihood that healthcare professionals engage in research activities [24]. Support from mentors and peers offers not only guidance in developing research skills and managing workloads, but also strengthens a sense of group identity and belonging [26, 28]. Collaborative relationships built among individuals with shared research goals can result in stable, long-term partnerships. Additionally, leaders and institutions must actively foster a culture that values and encourages research to address these challenges and enable healthcare professionals to contribute meaningfully to medical education research.

The interconnected interpersonal factors create a challenging environment where the absence of one form of support often amplifies the impact of others, collectively diminishing the capacity of healthcare professionals to engage effectively in medical education research. The synergistic nature of these factors suggests that addressing them requires a comprehensive approach that strengthens multiple facets of interpersonal support simultaneously.

Supportive environmental factors have a more significant influence on research productivity than individual motivators. Adequate funding and protected research time are essential for enabling clinical staff to conduct research without the added burden of financial pressures [17]. Institutional policies that offer technical support and structured training programs in medical education research play a crucial role in improving access to research resources. These policies also equip healthcare professionals with the necessary skills, thus fostering greater motivation to engage in research activities [7].

The studies highlight the critical importance of technical support, protected research time, and financial resources in promoting research engagement. Furthermore, it underscores the value of diverse training opportunities, regular workshops, and incentive measures in attracting and motivating healthcare professionals to participate in research [32]. These findings suggest that the further exploration and implementation of such initiatives could significantly enhance research productivity and engagement in medical education.

The integrated approach to environmental support – combining protected time, financial resources, technical infrastructure, recognition systems, professional development opportunities, and community engagement platforms – creates a robust ecosystem that enables and sustains meaningful research participation among healthcare professionals. The synergy between these various elements helps overcome common barriers to research engagement while fostering a culture of scholarly inquiry and continuous improvement in medical education.

Implications for practice – training opportunities

Healthcare professionals in medical education research often experience uncertainty about their theoretical knowledge and research skills [40], leading them to actively seek expert guidance, peer reviews, evaluation feedback, and skill development resources to enhance their professional competence [6]. Establishing broad partnerships with colleagues from diverse disciplines and international backgrounds can provide valuable learning opportunities. To make significant progress and innovation in medical education, it is essential to foster collaboration among curriculum planners, educators, learners, technical experts, instructional designers, and psychologists. Interdisciplinary exchanges foster progress by helping individuals integrate their identities as educators, researchers, and professionals [1].

Clear and practical career guidance, along with protected research time and funding, significantly influence clinical professionals’ decisions to engage in research training. Early planning and continuous guidance are critical to maintaining engagement, providing greater certainty for future quality of life, income stability, and family planning [15]. Institutions should commit to providing early identification, guidance, and encouragement for individuals who are genuinely interested in pursuing a career in education research. Both novice and senior medical educators recognize mentorship as crucial for developing skills related to medical education, and mentor systems can effectively facilitate the matching between mentors and trainees [36]. Mentors provide continuous and reliable career advice, support, and specific research guidance, enhancing academic productivity and administrative familiarity [29].

Implications for practice – supportive organizations

The healthcare community has increasingly emphasized the importance of medical education and research, providing substantial support to healthcare professionals [7]. However, educators in clinical settings continue to face challenges such as a lack of recognition of promotion opportunities and unstructured career paths. Engaging in medical education requires relevant research, but is often undervalued as a career development component compared to clinical service and medical research [29]. Support from direct supervisors or department heads alleviates staff pressure, helps achieve work goals, and fosters personal growth and development, improving confidence, determination, and sense of identity and belonging of medical educators, thus inspiring their potential [36].

The study by Sheu et al. highlights that unpaid educational leadership positions promote educator engagement due to intrinsic motivation rather than external rewards [31]. This motivation comes from a sense of mission and responsibility to pass on education, a willingness to master teaching skills, satisfaction with the relational and collaborative aspects of the position, and satisfaction with teaching activities [25]. However, these positions require high autonomy and flexibility, with minimal administrative burden, to ensure that individuals can focus on the role and maintain enthusiasm.

Implications for practice – creating educational research cultural environments

To advance medical education research, it is crucial for clinical teachers, educational leaders, innovators, and research scholars to explore emerging teaching methods and cultivate new medical education research talent. Communities of Practice (CoP) can effectively support the formation of professional identity and career development of future educators [40, 41]. Within the CoP framework, members with similar interests work collaboratively, share experiences, and practice collectively to achieve group goals. Through direct participation in group activities, members gradually develop a sense of identity, helping shape their roles as educators and researchers.

The exemplary imagery of members from different fields (including faculty and educational administrators) aids others in understanding and identifying with the teaching identity. Collaboration and interaction allow members to observe each other’s values and concepts, fostering an early passion for teaching and research, and developing an interest in becoming educators and researchers. Once members contribute collectively to the field, their sense of identity and belonging is further enhanced. This approach provides clinical professionals with vision and guidance in educational work, helping them form and developing their identities as educators [8].

The search for individual support for educational work allows each medical educator to become the centre of his small community of practice, drawing experience from networks across roles and tasks, regaining or strengthening confidence and abilities, and leading to supportive behaviours [36]. This modelling increases newcomers’ willingness to invest in education and encourages them to devote time and energy to their teaching professional development [37]. Through communities of practice and modelling, a favourable cultural environment for educational research can be created, cultivated, and supporting the professional identity and career development of medical educators, thus promoting the flourishing development of medical education research.

Implications for practice – provision of funding

Research indicates that educators without funding experience higher burnout rates than those with financial support [31]. Medical education is fundamentally a science-driven social discipline, and its progress depends on the evidence provided through research publications, which reflect both professionalism and scholarly rigor [33]. Demonstrating scientific and academic excellence enhances the ability to secure funding from diverse sources, including commercial entities, medical associations, patient organizations, and government agencies, thereby supporting the effective implementation and advancement of educational initiatives.

However, within the environmental framework of the healthcare institution, education is often sacrificed during fiscal constraints. Seeking funding sources through research development and valuable innovative teaching activities is necessary to promote a positive cycle. Factors supporting or hindering research can be reshaped, and designed interventions, such as setting up relevant channels and plans to encourage new-generation clinical professionals to complete academic research projects, can potentially introduce personnel into research. If their professional attitudes can be changed, it will cultivate young clinical professionals’ career skills and self-efficacy [19]. A model that provides flexible pathways for the transformation of professional identity, appropriate funding, and continuous guidance can positively impact career decisions in research [15].

Limitations and future research

This study uses a narrative literature review approach, which inherently carries certain limitations. One of the primary limitations is the potential for selection bias, as inclusion of studies may not fully capture the entire spectrum of relevant factors influencing healthcare professionals’ engagement in medical education research. Additionally, narrative reviews do not employ rigorous systematic methods of meta-analysis, which may affect the comprehensiveness of the findings. Furthermore, the diverse nature of healthcare professions means that each discipline may have unique facilitators and barriers that this review has not explored in depth. This diversity highlights the need for caution when generalizing findings across all healthcare fields. The applicability of the discussions and recommendations to other educational research professionals, therefore, requires further empirical validation through additional studies.

Despite these limitations, this review offers a valuable synthesis of the current state and challenges of talent cultivation within the field of medical education research. The impact of medical education research is widely recognized [33]. However, there has been little significant progress in the development of research talent in recent years. This study aims to reaffirm that the cultivation of talent in the field of clinical education should receive more proactive attention and support. It provides insights into the complex interplay of factors at various levels that affect research engagement. As a foundational step in understanding these dynamics, this study sets the stage for future investigations.

To address identified gaps, future research should focus on conducting qualitative interviews and case studies to gain more insight into the specific facilitators and barriers faced by different professional groups within healthcare. Such studies could help tailor support measures and interventions that are more effectively aligned with the unique needs and contexts of these groups, ultimately fostering a more inclusive and robust culture of research in medical education.