Analysis of Family Practice Academic Dissertations

Ha, Ki Hoon; Jang, Chul Won; Jeong, Jae Wook; Lee, Dong Uk; Park, Ki Heum; Sung, Nak Jin

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Family practice academic dissertations are the product of family practice research in the school of medicine. This paper was intended to evaluate the status of family practice academic dissertations, analyze the basic data and suggest directions for family practice research in the school of medicine.
METHODS
The total number of masters' and doctoral dissertations from 1992 to February, 2005 was 124. of those, 120 were collected. They were analyzed in terms of research area, subjects, collected data, methodology, and statistical methods.
RESULTS
In terms of research area, health promotion/ disease prevention was the most common (42.5%). For study subjects, out-patients and in-hospital patients were the most prevalent (38.0%), followed by health promotion center visitors and community residents (28.7%). When it came to research methodology, analytic study was the most common by a wide margin (70.8%). Among analytic studies, cross-sectional studies were the most frequent, followed by case-control studies and cohort studies. The most commonly-used data were medical records and questionnaires.
CONCLUSION
Many advances have been made in research methodology and academic dissertation numbers since 1992. Many research topics, however, were not relevant to primary care. Much research was done in general hospital instead of primary-care facilities. These results must improve in the future.