RESUMO
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages unabated, and with more infectious variants, vaccination may offer a way to transit out of strict restrictions on physical human interactions to curb the virus spread and prevent overwhelming the healthcare system. However, vaccine hesitancy threatens to significantly impact our progress towards achieving this. It is thus important to understand the sentiments regarding vaccination for different segments of the population to facilitate the development of effective strategies to persuade these groups. Here, we surveyed the COVID-19 vaccination sentiments among a highly educated group of graduate students from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Graduate students who are citizens of 54 different countries, mainly from Asia, pursue studies in diverse fields, with 32% expressing vaccine hesitancy. Citizenship, religion, country of undergraduate/postgraduate studies, exposure risk and field of study are significantly associated with vaccine sentiments. Students who are Chinese citizens or studied in Chinese Universities prior to joining NUS are more hesitant, while students of Indian descent or studied in India are less hesitant about vaccination. Side effects, safety issues and vaccine choice are the major concerns of the hesitant group. Hence, this study would facilitate the development of strategies that focus on these determinants to enhance vaccine acceptance.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of providing online procedural videos to postgraduate chiropractic students preparing for an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). METHODS: Eighty-three postgraduate chiropractic students enrolled in a diagnostic unit during 2017 received supplemental video resources prior to their final OSCE. Ninety students enrolled in the 2016 offering of the unit acted as the control group. Two-sample t tests were used to compare OSCE results between groups and paired t tests were used for within-group comparisons. Regression analysis was used to examine the association of age, undergraduate grade point average, and gender with the final OSCE scores. Students were also surveyed regarding their perceptions of the video resources using a purpose-built questionnaire. RESULTS: A paired t test comparing initial and final OSCE scores found a small but significant increase in scores for the 2017 (mean change 3.6 points; p = .001) but not the 2016 (mean change -1.1 scores; p = .09) cohort. The 2017 cohort had significantly more change than the 2016 cohort (mean difference 4.7 points; p < .001). Analysis of responses to the questionnaire highlighted overall positive feedback for the procedural videos. CONCLUSION: Online procedural videos as learning resources had a small but positive effect on OSCE performance for a group of postgraduate chiropractic students. Students perceived the resource as being helpful for OSCE preparation.
