Medical students carry a large academic load which could potentially contribute to poor sleep quality above and beyond that already experienced by modern society. In this global literature review of the medical students' sleep experience, we find that poor sleep is not only common among medical students, but its prevalence is also higher than in non-medical students and the general population. Several factors including medical students' attitudes, knowledge of sleep, and academic demands have been identified as causative factors, but other potential mechanisms are incompletely understood. A better understanding about the etiology of sleep problems in medical trainees is essential if we hope to improve the overall quality of medical students' lives, including their academic performance. Sleep self-awareness and general knowledge appear insufficient in many studied cohorts, so increasing education for students might be one beneficial intervention. We conclude that there is ample evidence for a high prevalence of the problem, and research in this area should now expand towards initiatives to improve general sleep education for medical students, identify students at risk, and target them with programs to improve sleep.
Positive social interaction with peers was said to facilitate cognitive and intellectual development leading to good academic performance. There was paucity of published data on the effect of social management (SM) emotional intelligence (EI) on academic performance. We conducted this study to examine their relationship in the undergraduate medical students in a public medical school in Malaysia. This was a cross-sectional study using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) to measure the SM. The first and final year medical students were invited to participate. Students answered a paper-based demography questionnaire and completed the online MSCEIT in privacy. Independent predictors were identified using multivariate analyses. A total of 163 (84 first year and 79 final year) medical students completed the study (at a response rate of 66.0%). SM score (B = -.10 95% CI -.175 to -.015, p = .021) was significantly related to the continuous assessment (CA) marks (adjusted R(2) = .45, F13,137 = 10.26, p
The objective of the study was to investigate the associated factors of sleep quality and behavior among Malaysian tertiary students. The response rate to the questionnaire study was 41.0%. 1,118 students (M = 486, F = 632; mean age = 20.06 ± 1.53 years) were recruited from Universiti and Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman (Perak campuses) who completed a sleep quality and behavior questionnaire based on Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Horne-Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Scale (MES) and craving of high-calorie foods. Results showed that students had the following sleeping habits - bed time = 2.41 a.m. ± 3.35 hr, rise time = 9.00 a.m. ± 1.76 hr, sleep latency = 16.65 ± 14.30 min and sleep duration = 7.31 ± 1.45 hr. 32.9% of the students were defined as poor quality sleepers, 30.6% suffering excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and 81.6% were categorized as individuals with 'definitely eveningness', defined as people who are definitely most alert in the late evening hours and prefer to go to bed late. There were no significant gender differences in sleep quality, 'chronotype' and EDS. Although there was no association of sleep quality and EDS with cumulative Grade Point Average (cGPA) and class skipping, EDS was associated with the tendency to fall asleep in class. Body Mass Index (BMI) was not associated with total sleep, PSQI, ESS and MES scores. Meanwhile, high-calorie food craving was associated with sleep duration, PSQI and ESS, but not MES. In conclusion, poor sleep behavior among Malaysian tertiary students in this study was not associated with gender, academic performance and BMI, but was associated with craving of high-calorie foods instead.
BACKGROUND: International students make up an increasing proportion of university students in Australia. Research suggests that they have poor sexual health knowledge compared with local students.
METHODS: Thematic analysis was undertaken on focus groups carried out at the University of Adelaide (South Australia), with 21 female international students from Malaysia and China.
RESULTS: Four themes were identified: poor sexual health knowledge; complex attitudes about premarital sex; difficulty accessing sexual health information, and poor understanding the role of general practitioners in this area; and ideas about future education.
DISCUSSION: Participants believed that international students have insufficient sexual health education when they arrive in Australia. They were concerned that some students may become more sexually active in Australia, and may not have adequate access to health services and information. All participants felt it was necessary for international students to receive better sexual health education. International students are important to Australian universities, and it should be mandatory to ensure that culturally appropriate sex education is made available to this group.
Students' evaluations of teaching staff can be considered high-stakes, as they are often used to determine promotion, reappointment, and merit pay to academics. Using Facets, the reliability and validity of one student rating questionnaire is analyzed. A total of 13,940 respondents of the Human Science Division of International Islamic University Malaysia were involved in the study. The analysis shows that the student rating questionnaire used was valid and reliable, and it allows identification of staff for the institution's prestigious teaching excellence awards, and those needing in-service training. It was found that there was no significant difference in terms of rank, age and gender of the staff. The study also shows that the majority of staff have problems keeping the class interested and getting students to participate in class activities. Faculty also hardly discussed common errors in assignments and tests.
Alcohol addiction is a social problem faced by every country worldwide. Young people are more at risk of this menace. In spite of a clear knowledge and message about the effects of alcohol on individual health and social fabric, it is hard to curb the overuse of this beverage. In the present study, we compared the outcome of a survey using Comprehensive effects of Alcohol (CEOA) in two private Medical institutions in two Asian countries, viz. KMC, Mangalore, India (n=180) and AIMST, Kedah, Malaysia (n=170). The study included both males and female students. The result suggested that the negative reinforcement responses were rated higher in both the study groups. But those who have tasted alcohol before had a higher rating that alcohol may cause positive reinforcement. Both groups of respondents showed similar trend suggesting that the alcohol expectancies are similar in Indian students and Malaysian students. From the results we could conclude that the responses of the two sample groups were comparable to each other. While the male respondents were inclined show higher affinity towards acceptance of alcohol females are very much less so. However, the respondents of both groups appeared to be well aware of the negative aspects of alcohol. Importantly previous exposure to alcohol intake dramatically changed the perception and showed increased inclination towards alcoholism. This study thus provides an important clue to the clinician, counselors and parents regarding the importance of guiding the young people about the alcoholism.
Self-esteem is an important determinant of psychological well-being that is particularly problematic during adolescent life stage. There is a correlation between low self-esteem and other social problems among today's adolescents. This study was conducted to determine the mean self-esteem score, and to determine the association between self-esteem and age, sex, race, religion, number of siblings, ranking among siblings, family function, parental marital status and smoking among adolescents aged 12 to 20-years-old. A cross sectional study design using random cluster sampling method was done. Four out of a total of 35 secondary schools in Klang District, Selangor were selected. Respondents consisted of individual students in selected classes from the four selected schools. Data was collected using a self-administered, structured, pre-tested questionnaire and was analyzed using the SPSS version 12.0. Out of 1089 respondents, 793 completed the questionnaire (response rate 73.82%). The overall mean self-esteem score was 27.65. The mean self-esteem score for males (27.99) was slightly higher than females (27.31). The differences in the mean scores by race were statistically significant. There was a statistically significant relationship between mean self-esteem scores and sex, age, race, religion, number of siblings, smoking and family function. There was no statistically significant difference between mean self-esteem score with parental marital status and with ranking among siblings. The overall mean self-esteem score was 27.65. Self-esteem was associated with sex, age, race, religion, number of siblings, smoking and family function.
Portfolios have been used in the medical curriculum to evaluate difficult-to-assess areas such as students' attitudes, professionalism and teamwork. However, their use early in a problem-based learning (PBL) course to foster deep learning and enhance students' self-directed learning has not been adequately studied. The aims of this paper are to: (1) understand the uses of portfolios and the rationale for using reflection in the early years of a PBL curriculum; (2) discuss how to introduce portfolios and encourage students' critical thinking skills, not just reflection; and (3) provide students with tips that could enhance their skills in constructing good portfolios.
This study was conducted to asses the future physicians' habits, knowledge and attitude towards smoking. These factors influence the credibility of future Malaysian physicians as advocators and treatment providers. A cross sectional study was carried out among medical students at the Medical Faculty, University Malaya. Knowledge on smoking was evaluated on the total scores for knowledge questions, with one point and zero for each correct and incorrect answer respectively, to a maximum of six potential points. Attitude towards smoking was measured by summation of scores on attitude items; each item was scored from five points for "against smoking" and one point for "favourable to smoking". The possible score ranged from 10 to 50. The response rate was 79.4%. Prevalence of overall smokers was 4.4%. The mean knowledge score among smokers (4.30 +/- 2.17) was significantly lower than nonsmokers (5.19 +/- 1.28). The mean attitude score was higher among non-smokers (44.30 +/- 6.54) than smokers (39.86 +/- 10.93). The result from this study showed that smoking prevalence was lower compared to previous studies done in Malaysia.
The global statistics reveal that at least one in every five women experiences rape or attempted rape during her lifetime. Rape myths encompass a set of (false) beliefs. Adolescents have high rates of rape victimization than other age groups. Rape myths among health care providers may have a negative influence on proper care of the victims. A total of 422 medical undergraduates of both sexes, studying at two Malaysian Institutes took part in the study. A validated questionnaire used in an earlier study was used for the present study, with a slight modification of scoring system. The age range of medical students was 17 to 34 years: mean +/- SD of men and women, were 20.6 +/- 2.1 and 20.3 +/- 2 respectively. Only about 19% of women and 11% of men had a very good positive attitude. Nearly 1/3 of women and 1/2 of men had a more negative attitude. On the whole the average total score of women was significantly higher (p=0.0004) than men. Nearly 50% of candidates with a village background carried more negative attitude. Violence against women is a significant public health problem. The major revelation of the present study is that only less than 20% of the medical undergraduates had a more positive attitude towards rape. Introduction of courses on 'sexual violence' in medical curriculum is likely to increase a) awareness, b) skills in management, c) in providing support and care for the victims and d) in implementing preventive actions.
OBJECTIVE: Medical students are future doctors who are trained to treat all kind of diseases including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) without prejudice. This study was to determine the factors associated with knowledge on HIV/AIDS and stigma towards PLWHA among medical students.
METHODS: This was a cross sectional study with stratified random sampling conducted in a public university, Malaysia. The participants were preclinical-year (year 1 and year 2) and clinical-year (year 3 and year 4) medical students. Simple randomisation was carried out after stratification of medical students into preclinical and clinical-year. The self-administered questionnaires were consisted of socio-demographic data, items assessing HIV/AIDS knowledge and items assessing stigmatisation attitudes towards PLWHA.
RESULTS: We had 100% response rate of 340 participants. Pre-clinical and clinical year medical students each contributed 170 (50%). Majority was female (64.1%). About two-thirds (60.6%) was Malay, followed by Chinese (31.2%) and Indian (7.1%). Pre-clinical students were significantly more stigmatizing in subscale of "attitudes towards imposed measures" (t=3.917, p<0.001), even with adjustment for previous encounter and ethnicity (B= 1.2, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.83, p=0.001). On the other hand, clinical students were found to be significantly less comfortable in handling HIV/AIDS cases (t=0.039, p=0.039), even after controlled for previous encounter and ethnicity (B=0.6, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.98, p< 0.001).
CONCLUSION: Clinical encounter with PLWHA was associated with higher knowledge in HIV/AIDS. Medical students in preclinical years were having stigmatizing attitude towards imposed measures compared to the clinical years who had more stigmatizing attitude in being less comfortable with PLWHA.