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Analysis of the study skills of undergraduate pharmacy students of the University of Zambia School of Medicine.

ABSTRACT: It aimed to compare the study skills of two groups of undergraduate pharmacy students in the School of Medicine, University of Zambia using the Study Skills Assessment Questionnaire (SSAQ), with the goal of analysing students' study skills and identifying factors that affect study skills. A questionnaire was distributed to 67 participants from both programs using stratified random sampling. Completed questionnaires were rated according to participants study skill. The total scores and scores within subscales were analysed and compared quantitatively. Questionnaires were distributed to 37 students in the regular program, and to 30 students in the parallel program. The response rate was 100%. Students had moderate to good study skills: 22 respondents (32.8%) showed good study skills, while 45 respondents (67.2%) were found to have moderate study skills. Students in the parallel program demonstrated significantly better study skills (mean SSAQ score, 185.4±14.5), particularly in time management and writing, than the students in the regular program (mean SSAQ score 175±25.4; P<0.05). No significant differences were found according to age, gender, residential or marital status, or level of study. The students in the parallel program had better time management and writing skills, probably due to their prior work experience. The more intensive training to students in regular program is needed in improving time management and writing skills.

SUBMITTER: Ezeala CC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4607883 | biostudies-other | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Analysis of the study skills of undergraduate pharmacy students of the University of Zambia School of Medicine.

Ezeala Christian Chinyere CC Siyanga Nalucha N

Journal of educational evaluation for health professions 20150925

It aimed to compare the study skills of two groups of undergraduate pharmacy students in the School of Medicine, University of Zambia using the Study Skills Assessment Questionnaire (SSAQ), with the goal of analysing students' study skills and identifying factors that affect study skills. A questionnaire was distributed to 67 participants from both programs using stratified random sampling. Completed questionnaires were rated according to participants study skill. The total scores and scores wit ...[more]

PMID: 26442716

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Project description:BACKGROUND:In the last three decades there is a growing recognition in the dental profession that dental education must go beyond teaching the technicalities of dentistry and include professionalism and communication skills that the future dentist may need. Such skills are best taught in a student-centered way. Literature suggests that student-centered elements are difficult to introduce in traditional, teacher-centered curricula. This is especially true in post-communist countries where higher education was under strict state control for decades. The aim of the piece of research presented here was to investigate how difficult it is to introduce a student-centered career skills course in a traditionally teacher-centered dental curriculum. METHODS:Considering the needs of our final-year dental students and Super's model of career development, we created an undergraduate curricular career skills course running for two semesters in two languages (Hungarian and English). The primary aim of the course is to help students with their career expectations and develop their identity as a professional workforce. The secondary aim is to teach skills that students can use when applying for a job. At the end of the semesters, we assessed our students' satisfaction with various aspects of the course by using a questionnaire. Results were analyzed item-wise and according to the main aspects of the course (i.e., groups of items organized around a particular aspect). RESULTS:General satisfaction with the course was high, and practical skills training (such as CV and motivation letter writing) got the highest scores. From the answers it appears that the students were the least comfortable with having to deal with their personal values and preferences. CONCLUSIONS:While it is common for universities to offer various forms of career intervention, to our knowledge, no other university offers a curricular career skills course specifically for dental students. Our student-centered course designed in a problem-based learning framework worked even in a traditionally teacher-centered educational environment, where university students are rarely encouraged to be active participants in courses. By sharing our experience, we would like to encourage our fellow dental educators working in similar environments to devise and offer such courses.

Project description:BackgroundGlobally, the rate of unplanned pregnancies among students at institutions of higher education, continue to increase annually despite the universal awareness and availability of contraceptives to the general population. This study examined family planning among undergraduate university students focusing on their knowledge, use and attitudes towards contraception in the University of Education Winneba.MethodsThe study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey using a structured self-administered questionnaire. One hundred undergraduate students from the University of Education Winneba were selected using a multistage simple random sampling technique. A Likert scale was used to assess the attitude of the respondents towards family planning methods.ResultsFindings show that the respondents had a positive attitude towards family planning with an average mean score of about 4.0 using a contraceptive attitude Likert scale. Knowledge of contraception, awareness and benefits however do not commensurate contraceptive use among undergraduate students since availability, accessibility and preference influence usage. Emergency Contraception (Lydia) was reported as easy to get contraceptive, hence the most frequently used contraceptive (31%) among young female students aged 21-24 years who appeared as the most vulnerable in accessing and using contraceptives due to perceived social stigma.ConclusionThe observation that levels of Family Planning awareness levels do not commensurate knowledge and usage levels calls for more innovative strategies for contraceptive promotion, and Education on the various university campus. The study recommends that public Universities in Ghana should consider a possible curriculum restructuring to incorporate family planning updates. In this regard, a nationwide mixed method study targeting other tertiary institutions including colleges of education in Ghana is required to explore the topic further to inform policy and programme decisions.

Project description:BackgroundTraditional medicine has always been Pakistan's cultural heritage, providing health care to a large part of its population. Thus, we aimed to assess and compare the knowledge, attitude, and perception about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) between pharmacy and non-pharmacy students, the results of which may be helpful in devising national health-education policy.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted by enrolling 937 students, pharmacy (437) and non-pharmacy (500), of Punjab University, Lahore. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS. (IBM v22).ResultsData suggested that majority of students knew about the use of traditional herbs and considered massage (P: 84.4%, NP: 82%, p = 0.099), homeopathy, herbs (P: 86.5%, NP: 81%, p = 0.064], yoga [P: 357 (81.7%), NP: 84%), p = 0.42] and spiritual healing (P: 85.6%, NP: 86.2%, p = 0.55) as effective and least harmful CAM modalities. The pharmacy students had better knowledge about CAM modalities compared to non-pharmacy students. Despite utilizing non-reliable sources of CAM information and their belief that CAM is practiced by quacks, the majority of students had positive attitudes and perceptions about CAM usage. Students also believed that CAM had a positive impact on health outcomes [P: 3.19 ± 1.04, NP: 3.02 ± 1.09, p = 0.008] and acceded to include CAM in the pharmacy curriculum. However, non-pharmacy students scored higher in their beliefs that CAM usage should be discouraged due to the non-scientific basis of CAM (P: 3.04 ± 0.97, NP: 3.17 ± 1.02, p = 0.028) and a possible threat to public health (P: 3.81 ± 1.74, NP: 4.06 ± 1.56, p = 0.02). On the other hand, pharmacy students believed that patients might get benefits from CAM modalities (P: 4.31 ± 1.48, NP: 4.12 ± 1.45, p = 0.02). Majority of students perceived that spiritual healing is the most useful and safer CAM modality, while acupuncture (P: 25.4%, NP: 21.8%, p = 0.0005), hypnosis (P: 26.8%, NP: 19.6%, p = 0.001) and chiropractic (P: 18.8%, NP: 11.6%, p = 0.0005) were among the harmful ones.ConclusionIn conclusion, despite poor knowledge about CAM, students demonstrated positive attitudes and beliefs regarding CAM. They exhibited better awareness about yoga, spiritual healing/prayer, herbs, and massage. Students also showed willingness to advance their knowledge about CAM and favored its inclusion in the curriculum.

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Analysis of the study skills of undergraduate pharmacy students of the University of Zambia School of Medicine.

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Analysis of the study skills of undergraduate pharmacy students of the University of Zambia School of Medicine.

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