The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: validation of the Urdu translation.

OBJECTIVE: To translate and validate the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a standardized self-administered questionnaire for the assessment of subjective sleep quality into the Urdu language. STUDY DESIGN: Validation study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from March to April 2012. METHODOLOGY: The PSQI was translated into Urdu following standard guidelines. The final Urdu version (PSQI-U) was administered to 200 healthy volunteers comprising medical students, nursing staff and doctors. Inter-item correlation was assessed by calculating Cronbach alpha. Correlation of component scores with global score was assessed by calculating Spearman correlation coefficient. Correlation between global PSQI-U scores at baseline with global scores for each PSQI-U and PSQI-E at 4-week interval was evaluated by calculating Spearman correlation coefficient. Moreover, scores on individual items of the scale at baseline were compared with respective scores after 4-week by t-test. RESULTS: One hundred and eighty five (185) participants completed the PSQI-U at baseline. The Cronbach alpha for PSQI-U was 0.56. Scores on individual components of the PSQI-U and composite scores were all highly correlated with each other (all p-values < 0.01). Composite scores for PSQI-U at baseline and PSQI-E at 4-week interval were also highly correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.74, p-value < 0.01) indicating good linguistic interchangeability. Composite scores for PSQI-U at baseline and at 4-week interval were positively correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.70, p < 0.01) indicating good test-retest reliability. CONCLUSION: The PSQI-U is a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of sleep quality. It shows good linguistic interchangeability and test-retest reliability in comparison to the original English version when applied to individuals who speak the Urdu language. The PSQI-U can be a tool either for clinical management or research.

Effectiveness of teaching methods in a medical institute: perceptions of medical students to teaching aids.

OBJECTIVES: To discover the most effective mode of teaching from the perspective of medical students and to analyse their preferences for various pedagogical aids. METHODS: The qualitative, descriptive survey designed as a cross-sectional study was conducted at the King Edward Medical University, Lahore, from April to June 2011. A 25-item questionnaire regarding perceptions towards teaching aids was handed out to 500 undergraduate medical students and the answers were analysed using SPSS 17. RESULTS: Of the 500 questionnaires, 8 (1.6%) were left out for being incomplete.The study sample size, as such, was 492 with a response rate of 98.4%. Out of the 492 students, 325 (66%) disagreed that the whole lecture should be delivered via PowerPoint slides.To understand complex concepts, 246 (50%) approved of animation based learning. For retaining and recalling facts, the combination of PowerPoint slides and animations was considered by 157 (32%) as most effective, while transparencies were considered to be the least effective (n=5; 1%). Regarding their attention span 357 (76%) students said they experienced the lowest attention span during Overhead Projector lectures. Irrespective of the method used, 225 (46%) students responded that visual aids of any sort increased their concentration 'a lot'. For small groups, 283 (58%) students considered blackboards optimal, while for a large group, 243 (49%) students considered animations to be optimal. As far as combinations went, 291 (59%) preferred blackboard plus animations, 148 (30%) preferred blackboard plus PowerPoint. CONCLUSION: The combination of animations alongside blackboard was preferred over other combinations. The subjects wanted animations to be incorporated frequently into medical pedagogy, while overhead projectors were clearly disliked by them.