Effectiveness of case-based learning during small groups sessions at army medical college

ABSTRACT

A pragmatic and sequential mixed method study was conducted at Army Medical College, from October to December 2014 to determine medical students' perceptions regarding effectiveness of small groups during the CBL [case-based learning] sessions. Tutorial Group Effectiveness Instrument [TGEI] was used after written and informed consent. Free text comments about CBL were invited from the respondents and common ones, and were tabulated. The mean scores were calculated and compared among different subgroups of respondents using appropriate independent sample t-test. Content analysis of qualitative segment was done. A p-value of less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. The analysis of qualitative and quantitative variables was integrated in the final interpretation phase to draw conclusion. The average age of the participants was 19.33 +/- 0.657 years. The difference in scores was statistically insignificant for cognitive [p = 0.537], motivational [p = 0.868], and demotivational [p = 0.125] effectiveness between males and females. Insignificant difference was also observed for qualification of the overall group productivity among male and female students [p = 0.162], and exposed and non-exposed groups [p = 0.272]. The perceptions of overwhelming number of participants were in favour of small group discussion as a component of CBL