Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study
Purpose This study aimed to detect relationships between undergraduate students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographic variables (such as age, academic year, and gender). Understanding these relationships could provide information for communication skills facilitators and cu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Korea Health Personnel Licensing Examination Institute
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.jeehp.org/upload/jeehp-20-16.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797787251464208384 |
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| author | Mercy Ijeoma Okwudili Ezeala John Volk |
| author_facet | Mercy Ijeoma Okwudili Ezeala John Volk |
| author_sort | Mercy Ijeoma Okwudili Ezeala |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose This study aimed to detect relationships between undergraduate students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographic variables (such as age, academic year, and gender). Understanding these relationships could provide information for communication skills facilitators and curriculum planners on structuring course delivery and integrating communication skills training into the medical curriculum. Methods The descriptive study involved a survey of 369 undergraduate students from 2 medical schools in Zambia who participated in communication skills training stratified by academic year using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale. Data were collected between October and December 2021 and analyzed using IBM SPSS for Windows version 28.0. Results One-way analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in attitude between at least 5 academic years. There was a significant difference in attitudes between the 2nd and 5th academic years (t=5.95, P˂0.001). No significant difference in attitudes existed among the academic years on the negative subscale; the 2nd and 3rd (t=3.82, P=0.004), 4th (t=3.61, P=0.011), 5th (t=8.36, P˂0.001), and 6th (t=4.20, P=0.001) academic years showed significant differences on the positive subscale. Age showed no correlation with attitudes. There was a more favorable attitude to learning communication skills among the women participants than among the men participants (P=0.006). Conclusion Despite positive general attitudes toward learning communication skills, the difference in attitude between the genders, academic years 2 and 5, and the subsequent classes suggest a re-evaluation of the curriculum and teaching methods to facilitate appropriate course structure according to the academic years and a learning process that addressees gender differences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:20:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4ddde393d09e4efb8f3ad17705e7f308 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1975-5937 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:20:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Korea Health Personnel Licensing Examination Institute |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions |
| spelling | doaj.art-4ddde393d09e4efb8f3ad17705e7f3082023-07-05T04:47:44ZengKorea Health Personnel Licensing Examination InstituteJournal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions1975-59372023-06-012010.3352/jeehp.2023.20.16480Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive studyMercy Ijeoma Okwudili Ezeala0John Volk1Departmet of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, ZambiaSchool of Postgraduate Studies, Africa Research University, Lusaka, ZambiaPurpose This study aimed to detect relationships between undergraduate students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographic variables (such as age, academic year, and gender). Understanding these relationships could provide information for communication skills facilitators and curriculum planners on structuring course delivery and integrating communication skills training into the medical curriculum. Methods The descriptive study involved a survey of 369 undergraduate students from 2 medical schools in Zambia who participated in communication skills training stratified by academic year using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale. Data were collected between October and December 2021 and analyzed using IBM SPSS for Windows version 28.0. Results One-way analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in attitude between at least 5 academic years. There was a significant difference in attitudes between the 2nd and 5th academic years (t=5.95, P˂0.001). No significant difference in attitudes existed among the academic years on the negative subscale; the 2nd and 3rd (t=3.82, P=0.004), 4th (t=3.61, P=0.011), 5th (t=8.36, P˂0.001), and 6th (t=4.20, P=0.001) academic years showed significant differences on the positive subscale. Age showed no correlation with attitudes. There was a more favorable attitude to learning communication skills among the women participants than among the men participants (P=0.006). Conclusion Despite positive general attitudes toward learning communication skills, the difference in attitude between the genders, academic years 2 and 5, and the subsequent classes suggest a re-evaluation of the curriculum and teaching methods to facilitate appropriate course structure according to the academic years and a learning process that addressees gender differences.http://www.jeehp.org/upload/jeehp-20-16.pdfattitudecommunicationstudentundergraduate medical educationzambia |
| spellingShingle | Mercy Ijeoma Okwudili Ezeala John Volk Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions attitude communication student undergraduate medical education zambia |
| title | Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study |
| title_full | Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study |
| title_fullStr | Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study |
| title_short | Relationships between undergraduate medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study |
| title_sort | relationships between undergraduate medical students attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in zambia a survey based descriptive study |
| topic | attitude communication student undergraduate medical education zambia |
| url | http://www.jeehp.org/upload/jeehp-20-16.pdf |
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