A 2-day intensive research training program improves research self-efficacy but not research anxiety in North...

To gather baseline self-reported research anxiety and clinical research self-efficacy information in veterinary residents and interns and to assess changes after an in-person clinical research training program.

A previously modified version of the Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory-12 was distributed electronically to 78 North American private practice veterinary house officers before and after a 2-day in-person clinical research training program in August 2024 or August 2025. Research anxiety and self-efficacy scores were compared between aggregate pre- and postsession survey responses using a Mann-Whitney test. A Spearman correlation assessed the relationship between research anxiety and previous experience and training.

Respondents indicated at least moderate agreement with all statements related to research anxiety (median agreement, 4 to 5 of 7 for all questions). Previous research participation, but not previous didactic training, was associated with lower agreement with the statement "Research makes me anxious" (r = -0.417). Respondents reported higher baseline self-efficacy in tasks related to idea generation and working collaboratively and lower self-efficacy in data analysis, statistics, and identifying research funding.

A 2-day research education program enhanced specific research competencies; it did not alleviate research anxiety.

Given the shifting landscape toward house officer training and research activities in private practice, these results suggest that it might be useful to explore interventions tailored to reduce anxiety and promote sustained research involvement in this subset of veterinary postgraduate trainees.