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Psychometric properties of the Medical Student Well-Being Index among medical students in a Malaysian medical school

Yusoff MS, Yaacob MJ, Naing NN, Esa AR

Asian J Psychiatr, 2013 Feb;6(1):60-5.
PMID: 23380320 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2012.09.001

This study evaluated the convergent, discriminant, construct, concurrent and discriminative validity of the Medical Student Wellbeing Index (MSWBI) as well as to evaluate its internal consistency and optimal cut-off total scores to detect at least moderate levels of general psychological distress, stress, anxiety and depression symptoms. A cross sectional study was done on 171 medical students. The MSWBI and DASS-21 were administered and returned immediately upon completion. Confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, ROC analysis and Pearson correlation test were applied to assess psychometric properties of the MSWBI. A total of 168 (98.2%) medical students responded. The goodness of fit indices showed the MSWBI had a good construct (χ(2)=6.14, p=0.803, RMSEA<0.001, RMR=0.004, GFI=0.99, AGFI=0.97, CFI=1.00, IFI=1.02, TLI=1.04). The Cronbach's alpha value was 0.69 indicating an acceptable level of internal consistency. Pearson correlation coefficients and ROC analysis suggested each MSWBI's item showed adequate convergent and discriminant validity. Its optimal cut-off scores to detect at least moderate levels of general psychological distress, stress, anxiety, and depression were 1.5, 2.5, 1.5 and 2.5 respectively with sensitivity and specificity ranged from 62 to 80% and the areas under ROC curve ranged from 0.71 to 0.83. This study showed that the MSWBI had good level of psychometric properties. The MSWBI score more than 2 can be considered as having significant psychological distress. The MSWBI is a valid and reliable screening instrument to assess psychological distress of medical students.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Knowledge and attitude on sex among medical students of a Malaysian university: a comparison study

Sidi H, Loh SF, Mahadevan R, Puteh SE, Musa R, Wong CY, et al.

Asia Pac Psychiatry, 2013 Apr;5 Suppl 1:103-9.
PMID: 23857845 DOI: 10.1111/appy.12053

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between clinical/socio-demographic factors with knowledge and attitude on sex among medical students of the National University of Malaysia (UKM).
METHODS: A cross-sectional study assessing 452 students using a self-administered questionnaire of knowledge and attitude was performed and had a response rate of 80%.
RESULTS: The majority of respondents were Malays (56%), females (57.5%), lived in urban areas (66.4%), had a median family income of RM3000 and perceived themselves as moderately religious (60%). The overall score on knowledge about sex was 21.7 of 35 (a higher score indicates better knowledge about sex). It was noted that 73.2% of students felt that they did not receive adequate training in medical school to deal with patients' sexuality and sexual problems, while 51.5% felt uncomfortable talking to patients about these issues. Students in the clinical year were more knowledgeable than those in pre-clinical years (22.67 versus 20.71, P 22 marks [median score]).
DISCUSSION: The students' attitude on sex was considered conservative as the majority of them disagreed on premarital sex, masturbation, abortion, homosexuality and oral sex. Gender and religiosity have a large influence on attitudes on controversial sexual issues, whereas clinical status plays a small role. Knowledge on sex among UKM medical students is inadequate and their attitudes on sex are considered conservative. Integration of sexual medicine and health modules in the medical curriculum is crucial for students to more effectively address patients' sexual problems and promote non-judgmental attitudes towards patients.
KEYWORDS: attitude; knowledge; medical student; sex

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical/statistics & numerical data
Reliability and validity of the Malay version of Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men (MVATL/MVATG): a study on a group of medical students in Malaysia

Ng CG, Tan LK, Gill JS, Koh OH, Jambunathan S, Pillai SK, et al.

Asia Pac Psychiatry, 2013 Apr;5 Suppl 1:118-22.
PMID: 23857847 DOI: 10.1111/appy.12056

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to examine the validity and reliability of the Malay version of Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men (MVATL/MVATG) among a group of medical students in Malaysia.
METHODS: It is a cross-sectional study of 173 medical students in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The participants were given the MVATL/MVATG, Index of Attitudes toward Homosexuals (IATH), Homosexuality Attitude Scale (HAS) and the English version of Attitude toward Lesbians and Gay Men. Two weeks later, these students were given the MVATLG again.
RESULTS: Significant correlation was found between the individual scores of MVATL and MVATG with IATH and HAS in the results. The scale was able to differentiate Muslim and Non-Muslim subjects. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of both the MVATL and MVATG were good, at 0.76 and 0.82, respectively. The parallel form reliability (Pearson's correlation) of MVATL was 0.0.73 and 0.74 for MVATG. The test-retest reliability of MVATL/MVATG was good (Intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC = 0.67 for MVATL and 0.60 for MVATG).
DISCUSSION: The MVATLG demonstrated good psychometric properties in measuring attitudes toward homosexuality among a group of medical students in Malaysia and it could be used as a simple instrument on young educated Malaysian adults.
KEYWORDS: Malaysia; attitude; gay men; homosexuality; lesbians; validation

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical/statistics & numerical data
Career choices of today's medical students: where does surgery rank?

Boyle E, Healy D, Hill AD, O'Connell PR, Kerin M, McHugh S, et al.

Ir J Med Sci, 2013 Sep;182(3):337-43.
PMID: 23242574 DOI: 10.1007/s11845-012-0882-x

INTRODUCTION: The national junior doctor recruitment crisis prompts an appraisal of medical student attitudes to different career pathways. The purpose of this study was to perform a national review of surgical career intentions of Irish final year medical students.
METHODS: Ethical and institutional approval was obtained at each study location. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to final year students. Domains assessed included demographics, career plans and reasons associated. Anonymised responses were collated and evaluated. Categorical data were compared with Fisher's exact test.
RESULTS: Responses were obtained from 342 students in four medical schools of whom 78.6% were undergraduates. Over half (53%) were Irish, with Malaysia, Canada and the USA the next most common countries of origin. Only 18% of students intended to pursue surgery, with 60% stating they did not plan to, and 22% undecided. Of those who plan not to pursue surgery, 28% were unsure about a speciality but the most common choices were medicine (39%), general practice (16%) and paediatrics (8%). Reasons for not picking a career in surgery included long hours and the unstructured career path. Suggestions to improve uptake included earlier and more practical exposure to surgery, improved teaching/training and reduction in working hours.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study 18% of final year medical students identified surgery as their chosen career pathway. Although lifestyle factors are significant in many students' decision, perceived quality and duration of surgical training were also relevant and are modifiable factors which, if improved could increase interest in surgery as a career.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Teaching evidence-based medicine: a clinician’s perspective

Lai NM

Malays Fam Physician, 2013;8(2):7-12.
PMID: 25606275 MyJurnal

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) was introduced to provide an organised approach to clinicians and other health care providers in using research to care for their patients[1]. By highlighting the importance of research in patient care, EBM has also provided many researchers a strong sense of purpose, with increased awareness that their everyday activities are being recognised as relevant to patient care. Most medical schools have some form of the EBM training programme at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and many researchers, clinical epidemiologists, and biostatisticians together with clinicians are actively engaged in teaching EBM to students of medicine and other health sciences. However, the flourishing activities of EBM education bring along
challenges.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Attitudes towards persons with mental illness among university students

Redhwan Ahmed, Al-Naggar

ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, 2013;14(1):0-0.
MyJurnal

Objective: Globally, there is growing evidence of stigmatization of people with mental illnesses and mental illness is more stigmatizing than physical illnesses. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the attitudes of university students towards persons with mental illness. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Management and Science University students during the academic year 2012. Prior ethical approval was taken for conducting the study. A total of 300 medical and health science students was recruited in this study and the response rate was 93%. The survey questionnaire was adopted from a previous study with 15 statements about attitude towards mental health illness and sociodemographic characteristics. Classes were chosen randomly and students also randomly selected. The inclusion criterion for this research was medical and health science students while the exclusion criterion was students from other faculties, staff and lecturers. Data was analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 13.0. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis of the basic demographics and survey items of the questionnaire. T-test and multiple linear regression were used to explore the relationship between the socio-demographic and the attitude. Results: A total number of 279 students participated in this study. The majority of them were female, age 20 years and above, single, Malay, from International Medical School (IMS) and from urban areas (68.5%, 88.2%, 96.4%, 58.1%, 60.2%, 77.8% respectively). In this study, the majority of the participants showed a moderate to good attitude towards people with mental illness. Univariate analysis showed that marital status influenced the attitudes of university students towards people with mental illness (p=0.015). In multivariate analysis, multiple linear regression showed that gender, marital status, smoking and drinking alcohol significantly influenced the attitude of university students towards people with mental illness (p=0.014, p=0.012; p=0.009, p=0.013; respectively). Conclusion: This study showed that the undergraduate university students had a moderate to good attitude towards people with mental illness. Gender, marital status, smoking and drinking alcohol significantly influenced the attitude of undergraduate university students towards people with mental illness. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 14 (1): January - June 2013: XX XX.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Psychometric properties of the Medical Student Wellbeing Index at different interval of measurements in a cohort of medical students

Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff, Mohd Jamil Yaacob, Naing, Nyi Nyi, Ab Rahman Esa

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(4):21-28.
MyJurnal

Background: One of important educational climate roles is to provide an environment that promotes positive development of medical students' psychological wellbeing during training. Unfortunately, many studies have reported that educational climate in medical education are not favourable to them. Therefore, it is a real need for a simple, valid, reliable and stable tool that will help medical schools to screen psychological wellbeing of their students so that early intervention could be done.
Objective: This study aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Medical Student Wellbeing Index (MSWBI) to measure psychological wellbeing at different interval of measurements in a cohort of medical students.

Method: A prospective study was done on a cohort of medical students. MSWBI was administered to the medical students at five different intervals. The confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha and intra-class correlation analysis were applied to measure construct validity, internal consistency and agreement level at different interval of measurements.

Result: A total of 153 (89.5%) medical students responded completely to the MSWBI. The MSWBI showed that the one-factor model had acceptable values for most of the goodness of fit indices signified its construct was stable across multiple measurements. The overall Cronbach's alpha values for the MSWBI at the five measurements ranged between 0.69 and 0.78. The ICC coefficient values for the MSWBI total score was 0.58 to 0.59.

Conclusion: This study found that the MSWBI had stable psychometric properties as a screening tool for measuring psychological wellbeing among medical students at different time and occasions. Continued research is required to refine and verify its psychometric credentials at different educational settings.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Prevalence and sources of stress among medical students in Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiteit Maastricht

Liew, Yen Yee, Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(4):34-41.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Various studies had been done on medical students stress, but there is yet no comparative study done between universities in Asia and Europe. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiteit Maastricht (UM) share a lot in common in terms of medical education as both actively apply PBL-oriented education into their curriculum. It will be interesting to find out the effect of differing culture, one Eastern and another Western, on the prevalence of stress and stressors among medical students of both universities.

Method: A comparative study was conducted on medical students from USM and UM. Psychological distress was measured by the 12 item General Health Questionnaire and stressors were measured by the 40 item Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire. The calculated sample size was 215 per university. The collected data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.

Result: Results showed that the overall prevalence of psychological distress among medical students of USM and UM was 25.9% and no significant difference was found between the two universities. Binary logistic regression test showed that medical students in pre-clinical phase were 1.84 times more likely to develop psychological distress than medical students in clinical phases (B = 0.612, odd ratio (CI95%) = 1.84 (1.16, 2.93), p = 0.010). The major stressors were related to academic requirements, UM medical students perceived the stressors as causing less stress than USM medical students (t-stat (df) = 5.33 (380), p-value < 0.001).

Conclusion: Psychological health among medical students in the two universities was comparable. Academic requirements were the most stressful events as perceived by the students, but UM medical students had more positive perception toward the stressors than USM medical students. Pre-clinical students experienced higher psychological pressures than the clinical students. The medical schools should provide more attention to pre-clinical students because they might need psychological support from them.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Commitment of medical graduates educated with and without community-based medical education towards community health care-A study from Malaysia

Shahid Hassan

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(4):42-50.
MyJurnal

Context: Community-based medical education (CBME) has become widely accepted as an important innovation in undergraduate medical education. In curriculum featuring CBME, students are acquainted with the community early in their studies however; the impact of this training can be judged best to see them practice the required aspects of CBME. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a very strong community dependant life style. Main national health problems have called for a change in health profession education from traditional hospital based health care to community-based delivery system. Three major university's medical schools that either practice community oriented or community based medical education in undergraduate medical curriculum are evaluated. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has a community based medical education (CBME) curriculum as Community and Family Case Study (CFCS) compared to a community oriented education curriculum (COE) adopted by Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). However, UM at the time of undertaking this study back in 2005 was though practicing COE has also later opted CBME as CFCS.

Objective: To determine whether medical graduates from USM with a community-based medical education in its curriculum for more than 25 years are inspired to have stronger commitment towards community health as shown in their on-job practice of medicine compared to other graduates from UM and UKM, who have adopted community-oriented medical education program.

Method: A questionnaire-based pilot study with 12 items (variables) was designed to obtain supervisor's opinion on commitment of interns towards the health of community they serve. The questionnaire was administered to a randomized group of 85 specialists supervising the internship training program in five major disciplines including internal medicine, surgery, orthopaedic, gynaecology and obstetrics and paediatric medicine. The data received from 62 respondents from five major disciplines was analyzed utilizing SPSS version 12.0.1.

Result: The responses received from 62 supervisors on an inventory in which 9 out of 12 variables were directly related to community commitments of interns. It was shown that the USM graduates who were taught through a CBME curriculum have performed better than the graduates from UM and UKM who followed a COE curriculum. P-value (< 0.001) was highly significant and consistent with higher mean score in those variables.

Conclusion: The graduates taught through a CBME curriculum performed better in community commitments towards patients care compared to graduates from COE curriculum.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Some observations on a hybrid PBL curriculum in medical education at Universiti Sains Malaysia

Servant, Virginie

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(4):67-71.
MyJurnal

This paper presents observation made during a brief observation of the PBL programme at School of Medical Sciences (SMS), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). It provides a classification for the type of PBL offered at USM highlights the main aspects of the tutorial process there and reviews the experience of students and tutors engaged in PBL at this SMS. The paper proposes a series of recommendations with regards to the planned 2014 curricular reform.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Alcohol use, its predictors and academic performance among Malaysian students of a medical college in India

Devi V, Tan AWP, Tan TY, Subhash S, Amir SMH

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(4):72-76.
MyJurnal

Several studies reveal high rates of alcohol use among college students affecting their health and performances. This cross-sectional survey was done to study medical students' drinking pattern, its predictors and to develop any possible link between their academic performance and alcohol consumption. Data was collected using newly designed, validated questionnaire from students (n= 348) who consumed and not consumed alcohol. The response rate was 60% (209/348). 94% of drinkers started consuming alcohol before entering into the medical school. Most of them (85%) drank with parents' awareness. Among drinkers, 63% were of Chinese race and 35% of Indian race. None of the Malay respondents reported of drinking. 63% of drinkers and 23% of non-drinkers reported that most of their friends consumed alcohol. Drinking was not associated with smoking or drug abuse. There were no statistically significant differences in exam scores between drinkers and nondrinkers. Non-drinkers considered religious and moral obligations for not consuming alcohol. In conclusion, at our Institute, students did not allow their alcohol use to interfere with their academic performance. The drinking habit developed during school time is more likely to continue during college years. Those who have non-drinking friends are more likely not to consume alcohol themselves. Moral and religious obligations have positive impact on alcohol intake.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Faking good in personality and emotional intelligent tests: Self-enhancement among a cohort of medical school applicants

Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(2):60-71.
MyJurnal

Introduction: There is lacking of evidence available in literatures on faking good in personality and emotional intelligent (EI) tests among medical school applicants. Thus more research is required to address the faking good issues in medical context specifically related to student admission. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of faking good in personality and EI tests during a high stake situation which was during student selection process. Method: A one-year prospective study was carried out on a cohort of medical school applicants. Data collection was carried out at five different intervals; one measurement at pre-selection (Time 1) and four measurements at post-selection (Time 2 to Time 5). The USMaP-i and USMEQ-i were used to measure personality and EI. Faking good was positive if the scores at Time 1 beyond the 95% CI of average scores of Time 2 to Time 5.Result: The highest prevalence of faking good among personality traits was in conscientiousness (83.1%) and the lowest was in openness (74.1%). The highest prevalence of faking good among EI constructs was in emotional conscientiousness (77%) and the lowest was in emotional awareness (51.7%). About 1.7% of applicants were not faking good at any of the personality dimensions while 11.5% of them were not faking good at any of the EI constructs. About 47.4% faked good at all the personality dimensions and 33.9% faked good at all the EI constructs. Conclusion: The prevalence of faking good in the self-reporting personality and EI tests was high. Certain personality traits and EI constructs were more susceptible to faking good. The personality test was more susceptible to faking good than the EI test. Considering the potential positive impacts of personality and EI on individual performance, alternative ways should be designed to address the faking good issues.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Perceptions of medical students regarding educational climate at different phases of medical training in a Malaysian medical school

Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff, Rogayah Ja'afar, Hafiza Arzuman, Wan Nor Arifin, Mohamad Najib Mat Pa

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(3):30-41.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Medical and allied health educators around the globe agreed that an optimal educational climate is a vital aspect for effective learning to take place. Without a doubt, appraisal of the educational climate has been emphasized as a key to the delivery of high quality medical education. In addition, the appraisal provides useful feedback to particular institution to improve their curriculum.

Objective: This study was employed as part of the School of Medical Sciences (SMS) Universiti Sains Malaysia curriculum review process. It aimed to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the current medical curriculum thus could provide useful information to guide the curriculum review committee during the review process.

Method: A cross sectional study was conducted on a total of 656 medical students from the first, third and fifth year of study. Purposive sampling method was applied. DREEM was administered to the medical students to evaluate the educational climate in the studied medical school.

Result: A total of 511 (77.9%) medical students completely responded to the 50 statements of DREEM. The mean global score across phases of medical training was 128.36/200. The global scores for year 1, year 3 and year 5 were 138.94/200, 122.27/200 and 125.49/200 respectively. Results showed that; 1) the medical school had reasonably level of educational climates across phases of medical training; 2) the medical teachers were knowledgeable and well prepared for the teaching; 3) the students were overloaded with factual knowledge; 4) the medical teachers were quite harsh to students during teaching session especially in clinical phase; 5) students experienced a significant amount of stress that led to poor memory; 6) the learning process was inclined toward teacher-centered rather than student-centered learning; 7) students had a considerable healthy social relationships with peers as well as others; and 8) academic dishonesty became more apparent in the clinical phase.

Conclusion: The medical school's educational environment across different phases of study was more positive than negative. However, there are plenty of rooms for improvement as perceived by the medical students. The medical school should address various important issues highlighted in this article during the curriculum review process.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext A conceptual framework of stress management intervention for medical students

Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff, Mohd Jamil Yaacob, Naing, Nyi Nyi, Ab Rahman Esa

Education in Medicine Journal, 2013;5(3):93-99.
MyJurnal

Teaching stress management skills for medical students has been echoed as an important educational component in medical education. Discussions about approaches to teaching stress management in medical education context are largely unexplored despite of a large number of articles have emphasized on its importance. This paper describes four elements in a framework as an approach to teaching stress management skills in medical education. As one moves through the framework, it provides a greater degree of insight on stress management ability as is acquired through one's awareness, experience and conscious effort that allow stressful situations to be handled effectively and efficiently. It may provide a useful educational framework for medical teachers to teach and assess stress management skills of medical students. It also may be used as an aid in planning, implementing and evaluating stress management programs in medical schools. The authors discuss about the implications of this framework for future research in medical education.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Stress and Its association with the academic performance of undergraduate fourth year medical students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Harlina H Siraj, Salam A, Roslan R, Hasan NA, Jin TH, Othman MN

International Medical Journal Malaysia, 2014;13(1):19-24.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Student can be stressed due to different stressors such as academic, financial, health related or loss of close family member or friend, etc. Stress is the bodies’ reaction both neurologically and physiologically to adapt to the new condition. Stress has a negative effect on the academic performance of the students. This study was aimed to explore the stress and stressors and also to determine the association between stress levels and the academic performances in terms of cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of undergraduate medical students. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among all 234 year-4 medical students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), session 2011-2012. Sample size comprised of 179 students after fulfilling all inclusion and exclusion criteria. A validated Medical Students’ Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ) was used to collect the data. Stress level and its association with CGPA of semester-1 examination were analysed. Results: Response rate was 76.49%, where 72% were female and 69% resided in the hostel. Academic Related and Social-related Stressors caused for severe and high stress in 84% and 49% respondents respectively, with insignificant differences between gender and residency. Respondents with a high and severe stress level were observed to have higher CGPA. Conclusion: UKM medical students are highly resourceful to manage their stress well and thus denying the negative effect of stress towards their academic performance. Medical schools should train students exposing various personal and professional developmental activities that able to face the everyday challenges and manage stress well and thereby achieve better academic performance.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext End-of-life attitudes in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) amongst final year medical students at International Medical University, Malaysia

Sangeetha Poovaneswaran, Anuradha Poovaneswaran, Thiruselvi Subramaniam

International e-Journal of Science, Medicine & Education, 2014;8(1):32-33.
MyJurnal

With recent medical advances and the availability of newer sophisticated technologies, critically ill patients tend to survive longer. Thus, decisions to forgo life-sustaining medical treatment generate challenging issues that all doctors must face. The aim of this pilot study was to assess attitudes towards end-of-life care in ICU which included futile therapy (withholding and withdrawing therapy) among final year medical students who had received the same degree of clinical exposure and training in medical school. The results revealed varying attitudes and views towards end-of-life care in ICU suggesting other factors such as religion, ethnicity and culture may influence decision making.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Ethnic groups difference in discriminatory attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients among medical students: a cross-sectional study

Chew, B.H., Cheong, A.T.

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2014;10(1):61-69.
MyJurnal

Medical students are future doctors who are trained to treat all kinds of diseases including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) without prejudice. Teaching basic scientific knowledge and technical skills is no longer adequate for today’s medical students. There is also a need for them to be provided with high personal and professional values. This study examined stigmatizing attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) among the medical students in a public medical school. The participants were stratified to preclinical-year (year 1 and year 2) and clinical-year (year 3 and year 4) medical students. Simple random sampling was carried out to select 170 participants from each category of students. Self-administered questionnaires captured socio-demographic data, HIV/AIDS knowledge and stigmatisation attitudes towards PLWHA. Multiple linear regression was used to assess the relationship between ethnic groups and stigmatization attitude. Three hundred and forty participants were recruited. Malay medical students who did not have previous encounter with PLWHA were associated with stigmatizing attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients, whereas clinical-year medical students who had no clinical encounter with PLWHA were more likely to feel uncomfortable with PLWHA. Malay ethnicity and medical students in clinical years who had not encounter a PLWHA were more likely to have stigmatizing attitude towards PLWHA.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext The effect of MCQ vetting on students' examination performance

Majed Mohammed Wadi, Ahmad Fuad Abdul Rahim, Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff, Kamarul Aryffin Baharuddin

Education in Medicine Journal, 2014;6(2):16-26.
MyJurnal

Context: Question vetting is important to ensure validity, reliability, and other quality indicators of assessment tools, including the MCQ. Faculty members invest a substantial amount of time and effort into the MCQ vetting process. However, there is shortage of scientific evidence showing its effectiveness and at which level it needs to be focused on. This study aimed to provide scientific evidence regarding the effects of question vetting process on students’ examination performance by looking at their scores and pass-fail outcomes.

Method: A parallel randomized control trial was conducted on third year medical students in a medical school. They were randomly assigned into two equal groups (i.e. control and experimental). Two mock examinations were conducted (i.e. time I and time II). At time I, non-vetted MCQs were administered to both groups as a baseline measurement. At time II, vetted MCQs were administered to the experimental group, while the same non-vetted MCQs were administered to the control group.

Results: Out of 203 students, 129 (63.5%) participated in both mock examinations. 65 students were in the control group and 64 students were in the experimental group. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) in mean examination scores and pass-fail outcomes between or within the control and experimental groups.

Conclusion: This study indicated that the MCQ vetting process did not influence examination performance. Despite these findings, the MCQ vetting process should still be considered an important activity to ensure that test items are developed at the highest quality and standards. However, it can be suggested that such activity can be done at the departmental level rather than at the central level.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Association of academic performance and absenteeism among medical students

Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff

Education in Medicine Journal, 2014;6(1):40-44.
MyJurnal

Objective: To determine association between academic performance and absenteeism in classroom among first year medical students.

Methods: A one-year prospective study was conducted on 196 first year medical students. Academic performance was measured by examination scores at four examinations. Absenteeism score was measured by the cumulative number of absence in an academic session of each student recorded by academic office at the end of the first year of medical training. The academic performance was categorized into pass and fail for analysis purpose. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 20.

Results: The independent-t analysis showed that, in all examinations, students who passed the examinations had significantly lower absenteeism scores than those who failed (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study found significant associations between academic performances and absenteeism scores among first year medical students. Medical schools should pay more attention on this matter since it may result in poor academic performances.

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical
Fulltext Self-evaluation of medical students on the elective research course

Rasidah Abd Wahab, Zunika Amit

Education in Medicine Journal, 2014;6(1):62-65.
MyJurnal

The significance of learning research methodology and performing research has been accepted by various medical schools in Malaysia as well as in other countries. The aim of integrating research into medical curriculum is to inculcate the research culture and form part of the evidence-based practice among medical professionals. Hence, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak has incorporated the research component into the preclinical year of the medical curriculum. A survey was conducted to gauge the second year medical students' level of knowledge of research process at the end of the course using a set of questionnaires. Seventy nine of second year medical students participated in the study. The outcome of the study shows significant improvement in the students’ knowledge on research components after completing the one year course (p

Matched MeSH terms: Schools, Medical

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