Factors associated with research productivity in family practice residencies

Background: Research productivity and the associated features of research productivity in family practice residencies have not been well described. The objectives of this study are to describe residency research productivity and identify the set of independent factors that best characterize programs at various levels of productivity. Methods: A 23-item survey was mailed to 226 randomly selected family practice residency directors. The survey included items on program demographics, mentoring, resident and faculty research activities, and program research resources. Factor and discriminant analyses were performed to identify the major independent factors associated with productivity. Results: A total of 154 completed surveys were received for a response rate of 68%. Based on a cross tabulation of grants per program and publications per faculty, 22% of programs had high productivity, 46% had medium productivity, and 32% had low productivity. The significant factors of mentor support, amount of research activity, and program size contributed independently to the classification of programs by relative level of research productivity. These associations remained significant when university programs were excluded. Conclusions: Family practice residencies with relatively higher research productivity are more likely to have three characteristics than lower productivity programs: availability of a research mentor, more faculty research activities, and larger program size.