Exploring the Cultivation of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) Strategies Among Pre-Clinical Medical Students in Two Medical Schools

Purpose: Research has shown that many undergraduate students struggle with self-regulated learning (SRL) in clinical year as they are insufficiently supported by the staff in the early year to prepare them for the transition. Hence, this study aims to find out the SRL strategies and the approaches that could promote SRL among pre-clinical students in two medical schools.

Method: This is a mixed-method study. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was used to collect student SRL strategies while semi-structured interviews with faculty members and focus group discussions with students were used to gather data on the approaches that promote SRL. Student MSLQ was analysed using descriptive statistics while interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

Results: A pilot using MSLQ with 413 students recorded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.928 for the questionnaire. The actual study involved 457 Years 1 & 2 students. Students from both institutions are motivated by the Task Value, and they use Elaboration and Organisation strategies the most in their pre-clinical year. Three themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of this study: characteristics of strategies that promote SRL, hindrance in promoting SRL, and opportunities in promoting SRL.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that students' intrinsic motivation is generally high in pre-clinical year. However, metacognition and critical thinking strategies will need to be enhanced among students. Despite knowing teaching and learning approaches could promote these strategies, many teachers are still not confident in doing so and hence training dang sharing best practices might be helpful in promoting SRL.