Assessment of medical students' learning and study strategies in self-regulated learning

Introduction: Research on medical students shows that adopting self-regulation of effort, time, and study strategies can positively influence academic achievement. The purpose of the current study was to assess learning and study strategies in medical students

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2014-2015 at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The sample size was determined 360 students based on the results of a pilot study on 30 members of the study population. Medical students in the first to fourth year of their studies were selected through simple sampling randomly. A valid and reliable Persian translation of Learning and Study Strategies Inventory [LASSI] questionnaire was completed by the students. It measures three latent factors of self-regulated learning: Skill, Will, and Self-Regulation. It consists of 80 questions in ten different scales [each scale including eight questions and a variable score of 8-40]. Data were analyzed using t-test, correlation analysis, and ANOVA

Results: Considering the ten LASSI scales, the highest mean score belonged to test strategies [28.67 +/- 4.44], and the lowest mean to self-testing [21.91 +/- 4.91]. The results showed significant statistical differences between male and female students in selecting the main idea, attitude, and self-testing. ANOVA and post hoc Tukey tests showed a significant difference between the mean scores of different areas of LASSI among students with different grade point average [GPA] in the university. In all areas except the study aids, the mean scores of students with GPA higher than 17.5 were significantly higher than those of students with GPA lower than 14.5

Conclusion: The results showed that students need help and consultation in most areas of learning and study strategies. Using 10 areas of LASSI can determine the strengths and weaknesses of students in various areas. Knowing their own limitations, students will be able to improve their study habits. Hence, it is suggested to evaluate the students when enrolling at universities and design educational programs based on the students' characteristics

Stressors in clinical nursing education in Iran: a systematic review

Clinical education is a critical and complex component of nursing education that is influenced by many variables. One of them is stress, which may disturb students' learning, too. Stressors may differ according to the learning situation and environment, and recognizing them, seems to be essential for corrective interventions. The present work was performed to identify stressors in clinical nursing education in Iran, according to the published research reports. In this systematic review, all published research reports available in Iranian and International web-based data bases and search engines were searched. Also, the archives of peer reviewed Iranian nursing and medical education journals [published between 1989 and 2009] were hand searched. Out of 1104 retrieved records [by a more general terms of "clinical education" AND "Nursing"], after stepwise screening, 15 original research articles were selected for content analysis. Coded data were classified and their frequency was represented in Tables. The following themes were obtained to classify main areas of importance for factors related to stress in clinical nursing education: a] clinical competence and ability to play one's roles, b] care load, or stress due to care, c] main area of education, d] interpersonal relationships and interactions, e] clinical environment [facilities and equipments, space, learning opportunities, etc,…]. Subthemes were also identified in each theme. Published studies in Iran provide appropriate background evidences for planning and evaluating interventional programs to reduce stress among nursing students and instructors. Each identified theme in this study could be considered as a subject for planned interventions. Among them, it seems that "interpersonal relationships and interactions" is of the highest priority.

[Do the teachers who are selected by students have a higher emotional intelligence?]

Background and Objective: In order to achieve an efficient teaching, in all fields includin Medicine, effective teachers are needed and to evaluate the efficiency of teachers, students' comments are a remarkable indicator. Since during the recent decades, Emotional Intelligence has been mentioned as one of the characteristics of distinguished teachers, this study aimed to investigate the emotional intelligence and its components among professors of basic sciences level of Medicine field selected as distinguished teachers by senior students in comparison to other professors in this level

Methods: In this descriptive study, all Medicine students of the selected university in the final semester of basic sciences phase [n=65] were asked to name their five top distinguished teachers. Finally 8 teachers who had the highest votes were considered as the distinguished group. To assess teachers' emotional intelligence, the standard questionnaire of Bar-On is distributed among all teachers of basic sciences [53 cases], and their emotional intelligence in 15 different components was evaluated. Data were analyzed through SPSS software and by using correlation and independent t-tesl

Results: Mean total score of Emotional Intelligence of distinguished teachers [352.13] was higher compared to that of the other teachers [337.88] but the difference was not significant. The scores of distinguished group in the subscales of happiness, optimism, self-confidence and flexibility were significantly higher compared to the other teachers [P <0.05]

Conclusion: It seems that, factors like happiness, optimism, self-confidence and flexibility cause teachers to teach more efficiently and make teaching-learning process more satisfying for students. Therefore, it is recommended to pay special attention to these aspects of emotional intelligence in teachers' training programs

[Medical and dentistry students' perceptions of self directed learning and its relationship with personal traits]

Background and objective: Self directed learning is increasingly used in dentistry and medical programs in order to improve students' lifelong learning skills. Since there are a limited number of studies about self directed learning in Iran, any research on students' readiness for self-directed learning seems necessary. This study was aimed to explore Medical and Dentistry students' perceptions of self directed learning and its relationship with students' personal traits [age, gender, high school and university grade point averages and score of basic sciences program]

Methods: In this descriptive-correlation study, 81 extern intern completed the standard self directed learning scale consisted of 40 items in 3 subscales. Students' scores in the applied scale and basic sciences program together with the average and mean of all past terms scores were considered as indices for academic achievement. One way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression were used for analyzing data

Results: Self-directed learning readiness showed a significant relationship with students' grade point average, but a negative relationship with basic sciences score [p<0/0001]. In addition there was no significant difference between Self-directed learning readiness scores and demographic features [p<0/05]

Conclusion: According to the obtained results, students' readiness for self directed learning can be predicted based on their basic sciences score and grade point average?