The Community Follow-up Project involves a scheme by which clinical students follow the progress of patients after discharge from hospital. The Community Follow-up Project begins with the student choosing a hospital in-ward patient during their first clinical ward based attachment and follows this patient's progress after discharge from the hospital. The students do a series of home visits and also accompany their patients for some of their follow-ups to the hospital or government clinics; to their general practitioners and even to the palliative care or social welfare centres. The students assess the physical, psychological and social impact of the illness on the patient, family and community. This project supplements students' knowledge of the natural history of disease and emphasizes the importance of communication and the use of community resources. By commitment to the patient for a duration of time, the students are able to take an active role in patients' care, understand in depth the problems faced by patients and in assessing a patient's progress, students find themselves in the role of a teacher and advisor to their patient as well. We outline the main components of this project, describe its outcome and consider areas that invite further developments.
This paper involves the obtained results of an "Elective Program" project which was carried out by Phase I Medical Students of the 1998-1999 academic year at the Faculty of Medicine (FOM), University of Malaya (UM). A questionnaire was designed to survey the attitudes of teachers at FOM-UM, the subject of choice of a 4-student group who were supervised by a faculty member. Students obtained a list of faculty members (teachers) of all academic departments from the Dean's Office and rehearsed their interviewing skills prior to collecting the data of the questionnaire, within a 1-week period. Respondents were 146 out of 275 in total (53%), which included all academic ranks and clinical and non-clinical teachers. Results showed that respondents were well qualified, have enough teaching experience and teach in a variety of forms. All teachers liked to teach and were motivated; however, 15% felt unhappy about their teaching and 6% did not think that their teaching was effective. The nlajority (96%) of teachers liked their teaching to be evaluated and many revealed several means to assist and 111otivate students. Teachers felt that there was room for improvenlent in the aspect of student-teacher interactions. Results of this project revealed that FOM-UM is well endowed by qualified, motivated and caring teachers who wish for better interactions with their students. I
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to compare empathy levels between first year and second year medical students at a Malaysian University.
SETTING: A Malaysian University offering undergraduate medicine.
PARTICIPANTS: 204 undergraduate medical students were included in the data analysis (122 first years, and 102 second years).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Self-reported empathy scores using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (Student Version) JSPE-S.
RESULTS: The mean empathy score for first year students was 112.1(SD=10.7). This was significantly higher (p<0.038; d=0.31) than second year students (mean=108.8, SD=10.4). No significant difference relating to gender was identified.
CONCLUSION: Cross-sectional results from this study found that that there were differences in self-reported empathy scores between year one and year two students. Further research is required to ascertain if these differences are maintained as students' progress thought their medical degree, and whether other factors such as internships, medical rotations or clinical supervision have any impact of medical students' empathy levels.
Study site: Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy - student version (JSPE-S).
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study recruited 193 Malaysian medical students enrolled in year one and year two studies. A principal-component analysis with Varimax rotation was conducted. Procrustes rotation was used to confirm the item to model fit, which allows for a comparison of actual structure against an ideal hypothesized structure. Items were systematically removed based on low communalities of < 0.3 and poor loading of items onto components.
RESULTS: A two-component solution was found, comprised of "perspective taking" and "compassionate care". Following item removal, eleven items remained. A Procrustes analysis revealed that this eleven-item measure demonstrated an excellent model fit. A possible third component was identified, though is not recommended for use, due to construct underrepresentation.
CONCLUSION: This study found the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy fitted best to a two-component model using eleven items. Item, component, and overall congruence were very high, and scale reliabilities were adequate. The results of this study suggest that the eleven-item, two-component solution demonstrates excellent psychometric properties and structural validity in a Malaysian medical student population. Future research could consider using the short eleven-item measure in both student and health care profession samples to investigate the role of empathy in health care.
Study site:; Jeffry Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia.
Introduction: Detecting sources of stress of medical students is important for planning wellness
program to improve their psychological wellbeing. One of instruments to detect the sources of stress
is the Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ). A systematic review was performed to find
out evidence to support its validity in term of content, response process, internal structure, relation
to other variables, and consequences. Method: The author planned, conducted and reported this
study according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses)
standard of quality for reporting meta-analyses. Systematic search was performed on EBSCOhost,
Scopus, Proquest, PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. Result: The author
yielded 613 relevant articles based on search terms, 44 articles had used MSSQ, and after critical
appraisal, only 18 articles provided evidence to support validity MSSQ and thus were included in
the systematic review. Conclusion: This systematic review supports the validity of MSSQ in relation
to content, response process, internal structure, relations to other variables, and consequences of
its scores. MSSQ is a valid tool to detect sources of stress in medical students and its results can be
utilised as a guide to plan wellness program or intervention to improve medical students’ wellbeing.
Test anxiety is defined as the reaction to stimuli that is associated with an individual's experience of testing or evaluating situations. This study aims to examine the fluctuation pattern of anxiety symptoms during a clinical examination and its relationship with underlying anxiety traits. Fourth year medical students of Penang Medical College undertaking the Ophthalmology clinical examination participated in this study. First phase of the survey, on anxiety symptoms was conducted immediately after the Ophthalmology clinical examination while the second phase, on pre-existing anxiety traits was conducted six weeks later with the aid of STAI instrument. Responses for both stages were combined and analyzed. Sixty-three of 122 students responded to both phases of the study, giving a response rate of 52%. All symptoms except trembling peaked 10 minutes before the exam begun showing a downward progression with no resurgence thereafter. Students with pre-existing anxiety traits had high anxiety scores 10 minutes into the examination and while with the examiners. Anticipatory anxiety is a source of concern and can effect performance and appropriate steps should be taken to help the students with this. A few other studies should be done to conclude.
BACKGROUND: The Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS-10) is a validated and reliable instrument to measure global levels of perceived stress. This study aims to assess the internal consistency, reliability, and factor structure of the Malay version of the PSS-10 for use among medical students.
METHODS: The original English version of the PSS-10 was translated and back-translated into Malay language. The Malay version was distributed to 242 Bachelor of Medical Science students in a private university in Malaysia. Test-retest reliability was assessed in 70 students. An exploratory principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed. Reliability was tested using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).
RESULTS: All 242 students participated in the initial questionnaire study (validity and factor structure), and 70 students participated in the test-retest reliability of the study. Exploratory factor analysis yielded 2 factors that accounted for 57.8% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the 2 factors were 0.85 and 0.70, respectively. The reliability test showed an ICC of 0.82 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.89).
CONCLUSION: The Malay version of the PSS-10 showed adequate psychometric properties. It is a useful instrument for measuring stress among medical students in Malaysia.
KEYWORDS: Malaysia; medical; psychological; reliability and validity; stress; students
BACKGROUND: Test anxiety aggravates psychological distress and reduces the motivation among graduate students. This study aimed to identify psychological intervention for test anxiety, which reduces the level of psychological distress, amotivation and increases the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among medical students.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Westside test anxiety scale, Kessler Perceived Stress Scale and Academic Motivation Scale were used to measure test anxiety, psychological distress and motivation on 436 1(st) year medical students. Out of 436 students, 74 students who exhibited moderate to high test anxiety were randomly divided into either experimental or waiting list group. In this true randomized experimental study, 32 participants from the intervention group received five sessions of psychological intervention consist of psychoeducation, relaxation therapy and systematic desensitization. Thirty-three students from waiting list received one session of advice and suggestions.
RESULTS: After received psychological intervention participants from the intervention group experienced less anxiety, psychological distress, and amotivation (P < 0.01) and high intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (P < 0.01) in the postassessment compared with their preassessment scores.
CONCLUSION: Overall psychological intervention is effective to reduce anxiety scores and its related variables.
KEYWORDS: Anxiety; motivation; psychological distress
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
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.
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.