scholarly journals The Root Causes of Absenteeism in Medical Students: Challenges and Strategies Ahead

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammd Hadi Bahadori ◽  
Arsalan Salari ◽  
Iman Alizadeh ◽  
Fatemeh Moaddab ◽  
Leila Rouhi Balasi ◽  
...  

Background: Learning by students is the cornerstone of the educational system, as well as the issues associated with this basic axis. One of the foundations of learning is the attendance of students in classes and attention to the instructions. Objectives: The present study aimed to discover the root causes of absenteeism among medical students at Guilan University of Medical Sciences (GUMS). Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 127 basic science students at GUMS. Data were collected using a valid questionnaire consisting of 24 items to investigate the four components of the influential factors in absenteeism (S-CVI/Ave = 0.93; CVR ≥ 0.62; α = 91%). Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 21 using descriptive and analytical statistics at the significance level of P ≤ 0.05. Results: Among the four influential factors, professors’ performance (mean score: 18.26 ± 7.12) had the most significant effect and students' personal and family issues (mean score: 14.89 ± 6.76) had the least significant effect on absenteeism. In addition, significant correlations were observed between the status of medical sciences in the community with the variables of age, marital status, and housing occupancy status, as well as students' personal and family issues with marital status, professors' performance with the students' grade point average, and housing occupancy status and personal and family issues with professors' performance. Conclusions: Based on the results, it is recommended that educational planners and policymakers pay more attention to the factors mentioned by students as the most important causes of absenteeism, so that students would become more willing to attend educational environments and the teaching-learning process could be promoted.

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Talaei

Aims:Hypochondrias is a psychiatric disorder that is recognized with a strong belief and concerns about having a serious illness. Objectives of this study were determination of the frequency of these symptoms in medical sciences fields’ students in their relation with age, gender & educational major and degree.Method:This study was performed on 500 randomly selected students in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Those with a known previous medical or mental disorder or defectiveness were excluded. Assessment was done with the hypochondrias questionnaire that includes 36 items. Data was analyzed with appropriate statistical descriptive and analytic tests such as chi-square, independent t and ANOVA.Results:In the present study the prevalence of hypochondrias in medical students were %36.8 at the borderline level and 16% as the disorder level. Out of 70 cases with hypochondriac disorder 57 had mild and 13 had moderate symptoms. This disorder was significantly more prevalent in girls than boys (P=0.000) and it was not related to marital status (P=0.318), However, all the students with moderate disorder were single.Conclusion:The present study showed the higher prevalence of hypochondrias in Iranian medical sciences fields’ students compared to those in other countries. In contrast to other studies, the disorder was more prevalent in women in this research. Hypochondriac symptoms in medical sciences fields’ students especially in ones with inaccurate medical information are frequent, in this study also there was a higher prevalence of symptoms in people with bachelor degree than those with other educational levels.


Author(s):  
Nasim Namiranian ◽  
Seied Saman Mansouri ◽  
Mohammad Shafiee

Introduction: Considering the increase in Internet addiction rate, we tried to investigate the rate of internet addiction among medical students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd in 2016. Methods: This analytic-cross-sectional study was performed on 350 students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd. The data collection tool was a demographic questionnaire, and Yang's Internet addiction inventory. The questionnaire contains 20 questions, according to which the person is placed in one of four classes: normal, mild, moderate, and severe. After collecting the data, the data were entered into SPSS 16 software and analyzed using Chi-square and independent t-tests. The significance level was considered less than 0.05. Results: According to Internet addiction, students were 65% normal, 33.3% border lip and 1.7% were addicted to the Internet. The results also showed that there was a significant statistical relationship between the prevalence of internet addiction among students and sex, smoking, and registration in cyberspace (p<0.05), and there was no significant statistical relationship between the prevalence of internet addiction and marital status, place of residence and birthplace (p>0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that by increasing the awareness of medical students, the rate of Internet addiction in them can be minimized  


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ladan Fata ◽  
Shoaleh Bigdeli ◽  
Seyedeh Zahra Nahardani ◽  
, Mohammad Hasan Keshavarzi ◽  
, Mohammad Hasan Keshavarzi

BACKGROUND Perfectionism is a personality dimension of everyone. A perfectionist strives for excellence and sets high standards for his performance. Perfectionism can be classified into adaptive or maladaptive patterns, which affects academic performance. OBJECTIVE In this study perfectionism is compared between medical students of basic sciences and internship period and its association with their academic performance is investigated METHODS The Persian translated version of Hill perfectionism questionnaire was used. The validity and reliability of this version were confirmed in Jamshidi et al study, which was frequently used in various Iranian studies. In this study the questionnaire has been administered to two groups of medical students (basic sciences students and interns) of Iran University of Medical Sciences (n=49). In addition, the correlation of total Grade Point Average (GPA) of students with perfectionism dimensions was evaluated. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to analyze the normality of data distribution, Mann-Whiney U test was used for between-group comparison of non-parametric data and student t-test was applied to analyze parametric data. Further, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient tests were used to analyze the correlation between variables. P value was considered significant (P<0.05). RESULTS The basic sciences students had a higher total mean score of perfectionism than the interns (193.4±26.5 vs. 178.1±24.2, p=0.000). The adaptive perfectionism rate was higher in the basic sciences group (p=0.000), but it showed no significant difference with that of the interns. Regarding perfectionism domains, the scores of striving for excellence, purposefulness and need for approval were higher in basic sciences group (p=0.00), and there was no significant difference between the groups in other domains. Maladaptive perfectionism had an inverse correlation with GPA (p=0.01, r=-0.3) and there was no correlation with adaptive perfectionism and gender. CONCLUSIONS The study findings showed that positive perfectionism was higher in basic sciences students, and maladaptive perfectionism was correlated with a drop in GPA in both groups.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atiye Faghihi

Background: Clinical assessment in medicine is a pillar of education, which should measure the competence and practical abilities of medical students. The viewpoint of students as one of the most important stakeholders in clinical assessment could guide planners in problem-solving and proper corrective actions. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the influential factors in the performance of medical students in the clinical competency exam. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using the directed content analysis approach during 2018 - 2019. The sample population included 10 medical students of internship at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan, Iran. The participants were selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed in the MAXQDA 10 software. Results: The students mentioned several influential factors in their performance on the competency exam. Their viewpoints were divided into seven categories, including content and resources, pre-exam requirements, time, cases (scenarios), stations, examiners, and the role of the clinical training course. Conclusions: Similar to other clinical exams, the clinical competency exam has some drawbacks despite its positive aspects, which may affect the performance of students. Several factors could influence the performance of students in this exam, and the contribution of these factors and their impact on the performance of students vary. Therefore, special attention should be paid to these factors to help officials and policymakers in future planning and improving the quality of these exams.


Author(s):  
M Akbarilakeh ◽  
T Sharifi¬Fard

Introduction: Students' academic success is one of the important indicators of evaluating the performance of the higher education system. One of the factors influencing academic success is metacognitive awareness and knowledge and control of thinking and cognition. Therefore, assessment of its status helps in planning its promotion. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness and academic success of medical students at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Methods: Pearson parametric correlation was performed after stratified sampling method concerning 255 medical students with Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) of Schraw & Dennison (1994) with eight subscales and scoring of zero (incorrect) and one (correct). For  academic success, the total grade point average was measured. The reliability and validity of the inventory were also determined. Result: Out of 255 participants, 95 (37.3%) were male and 160 (62.7%) were female. The minimum and maximum ages were 19 and 26 years, respectively. Totally, 85 first-year students, 85 after-the-basic-sciences exam students, and 85 senior learners were present. The lowest and highest grade point averages were 10.9 and 19.6, respectively. The relationship between academic success and metacognitive awareness in general in all students using Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.791 at a significant level of 0.0001. There was the highest correlation between GPA and subscales of real knowledge as for metacognition and metacognition control, and information management. In all students, the highest mean rank of metacognitive skills was related to the dimension of performance effectiveness and strategy analysis. Conclusion: There exists a relationship between students' metacognitive awareness and academic success at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences which can be used in educational planning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babak Mohammadi ◽  
Leila jamshidi ◽  
Khadijeh Jamshidi ◽  
Seyed Mojtaba Amiri ◽  
Roghayeh Poursaberi

Background: Attention to educational quality is a primary goal of the managers, professors, and policymakers of the community health system. Universities seek to meet students’ needs and expectations and increase their satisfaction since student satisfaction is essential to the growth and improvement of educational organizations. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the influential factors in students' satisfaction with Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), Iran in 2015-2016. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on 346 students of KUMS who were selected via stratified random sampling. Data were collected by a questionnaire used in similar studies. The influential factors were assessed in two dimensions of importance and satisfaction. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics at the significance level of 0.05. Results: The mean scores of the important dimension, satisfaction dimension, and the gap were 174.6 ± 25, 138.3 ± 24.3, and 36.3 ± 33.3, respectively. All the factors had a high degree of importance, and the highest level of relative satisfaction belonged to the factors of school atmosphere and educational effectiveness. Meanwhile, the lowest level of satisfaction was assigned to responsiveness to diverse populations. The most significant gap was observed in the factors of school's atmosphere and educational effectiveness, and the lowest value belonged to the factors of health and safety status of the school. In addition, the mean score of the gap in the female students (42 ± 33) was higher compared to the male students (26.9 ± 31.9; P = 0.004). Conclusions: Since the level of student satisfaction with KUMS was not desirable in this study, it is recommended that the university administrators and staff increasingly improve the quality and quantity of the educational services at this institution.


Author(s):  
Vijaya Chandra Reddy Konda ◽  
G. Bhanu Prakash ◽  
K. R. Subash ◽  
K. Umamaheswara Rao

Background: Pharmacology enables medical students with the art of rational prescriptions of drugs. It is one of the rapidly evolving subjects in medical sciences. The purpose of the study was to assess whether teaching-learning methodologies and evaluation methods are supporting the curriculum goals and what modifications can be made for the benefit of medical students.Methods: After approval by the Institutional Ethics Committee the study was carried out in January-February 2017. A total of 128 students of 2nd MBBS were administered a pre-validated questionnaire after explaining the purpose of the study. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis of data. Frequency was expressed as percentage.Results: A total response rate of 93.75% was observed. Most of the students mentioned cardiovascular system (20.8%) as the most interesting topic. 78.3% preferred teaching by use of combination of both audio-visual aids and chalk and board. Majority of the students rated practical classes as similar to theory (34.2%). 91.7% students mentioned that seminars are useful to them. 95% of students are interested in continuation of the integrated classes conducted at the end of each chapter. 98.3% of students for written tests and 90% for viva voce responded positively for the need of such periodic evaluation in addition to university prescribed evaluations. 95% students mentioned that field visits helps them in better understanding of pharmacology.Conclusions: The present study helped us to elicit student preferences regarding teaching and evaluation methods in pharmacology. Implementation of the same would be helpful for better outcome of students.


Author(s):  
Mohadese Saffari ◽  
Milad Salaj Mahmoudi ◽  
Ehsan Razyani ◽  
Mina Shayestefar

Background: Internet addiction, which is a result of increasing inevitable use of the Internet and smart phones, causes discomfort and serious social and occupational problems, consequently that can lead to some mental disorders such as depression. On the other hand, depression and Internet addiction are factors affecting students' academic performance. Objective: This study aimed to investigate Internet addiction, depression and their relation with academic failure in students of Semnan Allied Medical Sciences. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all students who were in the 3rd and higher semesters were examined. Three questionnaires (demographic, Beck Depression Inventory, and the Internet Addiction Test by Young) were used. The academic failure was assessed using the student's grade point average in the previous 3 semesters. Collected data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics methods at significance level of 0.05. Results: 170 students participated in this study. The correlation between depression and grade point average changes was negative (r=-0.19) and significant (p=0.01). Moreover, a positive (r=0.39) and significant (p=0.01) correlation was observed between depression and Internet addiction scores. Binary logistic regression analysis also indicated that students' depression score (P=0.04, OR1.04, CI 95%=1-1.08) and sex (P=0.008, OR=0.37, CI 95% = 0.17-0.77) can predict academic failure. Conclusion: Due to the observation of Internet addiction and depression in the students and effects of these disorders on their academic performance, it is necessary to educate students and families, identify risk factors and provide solutions to deal with it.


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