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1 – 10 of over 34000John C. Jasinski, Jennifer D. Jasinski, Charmine E. J. Härtel and Günter F. Härtel
Purpose: To demonstrate how an online coaching intervention can support well-being management (mental health and mood) of medical students, by increasing psychological awareness…
Abstract
Purpose: To demonstrate how an online coaching intervention can support well-being management (mental health and mood) of medical students, by increasing psychological awareness, emotional management, and healthy/positive action repertoires.
Design/methodology/approach: A two-group randomized control trial design using a waitlist as a control was used with a sample of 176 medical students. Half were randomly assigned the 5P© coaching intervention and the remaining half assigned to the waitlist group, scheduled to receive the intervention after the initial treatment group completed the intervention. Participant baseline data on stress, anxiety, depression, positive and negative affect, and psychological capital were obtained prior to commencing the study, after completion of the first treatment group, and again postintervention of the waitlisted group, and then at the end of the year.
Findings: Coaching the students to reflect on their emotions and make solution-focused choices to manage known stresses of medical education was shown to decrease medical student stress, anxiety, and depression, thereby increasing the mental health profiles of medical students.
Research limitations/implications: The findings suggest that an online coaching tool that increases psychological awareness and positive action can have a positive effect on mental health and mood of medical students.
Practical implications: The framework developed and tested in this study is a useful tool for medical schools to assist medical students in managing their well-being, thereby decreasing the incidence and prevalence of mental illness in medical students. The implications of this research are significant in that positively affecting the psychological well-being of medical students could have a significant effect not only on each medical student but also on every patient that they treat, and society as a whole. Better mental health in medical students has the potential to decrease dropout rates, increase empathy and professionalism, and allow for better patient care.
Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on online coaching for improved psychological well-being and emotional regulation, mental health, and medical students. It is one of the first studies using a coaching protocol to make a positive change to the known stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by medical students worldwide.
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Alexander Seeshing Yeung, Rhonda G. Craven, Ian Wilson, Jinnat Ali and Bingyi Li
Rural Australian patients continue to receive inadequate medical attention. One potential solution to this is to train Indigenous Australians to become medical doctors and return…
Abstract
Purpose
Rural Australian patients continue to receive inadequate medical attention. One potential solution to this is to train Indigenous Australians to become medical doctors and return to their community to serve their people. The study aims to examine whether Indigenous medical students have a stronger intention to practice in underserved communities.
Methodology
A sample of Indigenous (N = 17) and non-Indigenous students (N = 188) from a medical program in Sydney was surveyed about their medical self-concept and motivation. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted, group differences were tested, and correlation patterns were examined.
Findings
CFA found seven distinct factors – three medical self-concepts (affective, cognitive, and cultural competence), one motivation factor, and three work-related variables – intention to serve underserved communities (intention), understanding of Indigenous health (understanding), and work-related anxiety (anxiety). Indigenous medical students were higher in cultural competence, intention, and understanding. Both the affective and cognitive components of medical self-concept were more highly correlated with intention and understanding for Indigenous students than for non-Indigenous students.
Research implications
It is important to examine medical students’ self-concepts as well as their cultural characteristics and strengths that seed success in promoting service to underserved Indigenous communities.
Practical implications
The findings show that Indigenous medical students tended to understand Indigenous health issues better and to be more willing to serve underserved Indigenous communities. By enhancing both the affective and cognitive components of medical self-concepts, the “home-grown” medical education program is more likely to produce medical doctors to serve underserved communities with a good understanding of Indigenous health.
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Daniel Michaeli, Gregory Keough, Quirin Strotzer and Thomas Michaeli
Medical education was challenged and re-imagined during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the consequent changes in medical school curricula alongside students’…
Abstract
Purpose
Medical education was challenged and re-imagined during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the consequent changes in medical school curricula alongside students’ mental and physical health.
Design/methodology/approach
It is observed that 549 medical students (response rate: 79.7%) from 31 of 37 public medical schools in Germany completed a cross-sectional online survey. Students answered questions regarding teaching, internet use, COVID-19 and well-being. A multivariate logistic regression examined factors associated with depressed mood, insomnia and headache.
Findings
Academic teaching moved to a virtual environment (91%), whilst practical activities were suspended or cancelled (88%). Virtual teaching modality, quantity and quality were well-perceived, yet 35% of respondents were dissatisfied with their internet connection. Consequently, students worried about the pandemic’s adverse effect on their quality as a doctor (60%) and thought about postponing their studies (30%). Students were frequently engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients (36%). Daily screen time was significantly associated with depressed mood, insomnia and headache. Negative changes in mental and physical health were frequently observed.
Research limitations/implications
Students’ experience with digital education during the COVID-19 pandemic was mixed. Whilst teaching modality, quantity and quality were well-perceived, students’ mental and physical health deteriorated. Further longitudinal studies investigating the impact of digital education on students’ well-being are necessary.
Practical implications
Besides teaching, faculties must quickly digitalize and strengthen social communities and offer targeted support services for students.
Originality/value
This is the first cross-sectional survey exploring medical students’ experience with virtual medical teaching alongside their mental and physical well-being in Germany.
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Sahar Issa, Heba Abd El Aaty, Yasmin Mohammed Gaber and Nancy M. Zaghloul
The current work aimed to investigate the private tutoring phenomenon among Egyptian medical faculty students.
Abstract
Purpose
The current work aimed to investigate the private tutoring phenomenon among Egyptian medical faculty students.
Design/methodology/approach
The present work is a cross-sectional observational study using an online, anonymous questionnaire disseminated to Egyptian medical students and instructors via social platforms and university e-mails. All subjects involved in the survey gave informed consent to begin the questionnaire. No financial incentives were awarded to finish the questionnaire.
Findings
In total, 79.2% of the surveyed students (n = 198) admitted taking private medical courses during their medical study courses till the date of the survey. The Egyptian students, 68.4% (n = 171), markedly surpassed the non-Egyptian participants (n = 79, 31.6%). Males were nearly double the female participants (n = 162 and 88 consecutively).The highest academic-level-seeking private medical tutoring was the fifth-year students (n = 66, 26.4%).
Research limitations/implications
A large sample size is needed to strengthen the statistical power and permit the generalization over the population, so more research work in this aspect is recommended. Also, subject-specific data in private medical tutoring need to be investigated in future works. Similar global work is recommended to allow better comparison of data worldwide.
Originality/value
When conceptualizing medical education processes and developing its regulations, the dynamics of private medical instruction should be taken into account, especially concerning socioeconomic inequities and efficiency in medical school systems. This work has been the first to investigate the private tutoring phenomenon among Egyptian medical students to the authors' best knowledge.
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Satar Rezaei, Mohammad Hajizadeh, Ali Kazemi Karyani, Shahin Soltani, Heshmatollah Asadi, Mohammad Bazyar, Zahra Mohammadi, Neshat Kazemzadeh and Bijan Nouri
Appropriate access to formally-trained health workers for people living in rural and underdeveloped areas is a continuing challenge worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Appropriate access to formally-trained health workers for people living in rural and underdeveloped areas is a continuing challenge worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the willingness of formally-trained health workers to practice in underdeveloped areas and its main determinants among medical students in the western provinces of Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 753 medical students from four provinces in western Iran (Kermanshah, Ilam, Lorestan and Kurdistan) were surveyed cross-sectionally in 2017. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics, willingness to practice in underdeveloped areas, intrinsic (e.g. desire to help others and self-interest in medicine) and extrinsic (e.g. the high income of physicians and social prestige) motivations of the study population. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the main determinants of willingness to practice in underdeveloped areas among medical students after their graduation.
Findings
The results indicated that 58.3 percent of students were willing to practice in underdeveloped areas. While 59 percent of the study population had a strong extrinsic motivation to study medicine, the remaining 41 percent of the study population had a strong intrinsic motivation to study medicine. The logistic regression results indicated that low parental professional and educational status, an experience of living in rural areas and having strong intrinsic motivation were associated with greater willingness to practice in underdeveloped areas.
Originality/value
This is the first study to investigate the willingness to practice in underdeveloped areas and its main determinants among medical students in the west of Iran.
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Thomas Flamini, Natasha R. Matthews, George S. Castle and Elliot M. Jones-Williams
The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceptions towards a career in psychiatry among medical students and psychiatrists and identify how recruitment into the specialty may…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceptions towards a career in psychiatry among medical students and psychiatrists and identify how recruitment into the specialty may be improved.
Design/methodology/approach
This study locally compares medical student and psychiatric doctor responses to a structured online survey and structured interviews with key managerial figures in the Humber NHS Foundation Trust.
Findings
Comparison across two main areas (pre-decision exposure to psychiatry and reasons for considering a psychiatric career) found that both students and doctors were influenced to make a choice about a career in psychiatry during medical school. Medical students found compatibility with family life to be more important when considering psychiatry, whereas doctors cited content-based reasons as significant pull factors. Stigma and fear of being harmed deterred some students from choosing a career in psychiatry. Structured interview responses reiterated the importance of pre-medical school and undergraduate mentorship in bolstering future recruitment to psychiatry.
Practical implications
Medical students perceive certain career issues differently to their postgraduate counterparts. Widening the content-based appeal of psychiatry and optimising the medical school experience of the specialty via varied and high-quality placements may be a key step towards tackling the national shortfall in qualified psychiatrists.
Originality/value
This is the first published study comparing medical student and psychiatric doctor perceptions of a career in psychiatry.
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Sibongile Brenda Zungu, Kenneth M. Mathu and Caren Brenda Scheepers
The learning outcomes are as follows: to identify stakeholder groups in an inter-country training intervention and apply contextual intelligence to a leadership role and to apply…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes are as follows: to identify stakeholder groups in an inter-country training intervention and apply contextual intelligence to a leadership role and to apply the theory of constraints in developing solutions to research constraint environments.
Case overview/synopsis
On 10 September 2018, the Director-General (DG) of South African National Department of Health (NDOH) Ms Precious Matsoso pondered over the scheduled meeting that afternoon with the South African Committee of Medical Deans in Pretoria. She was leading the initiative of the integration of the South African Cuban-trained medical students into the local medical schools for the final phase of their studies. She needed to streamline the assimilation process. The case highlights the dilemma to identify actions to improve the level of integration of these students.
Complexity academic level
MBA M Phil in Healthcare Management
Supplementary materials
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Subject code
CSS 10: Public Sector Management
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Xinguang Chen, Xiaolan Tang, Bonita Stanton, Hanwu Li and Weiqing Chen
The reduction of tobacco use among medical students is a potentially powerful strategy to reduce tobacco use among future health professionals, who in turn, can have significant…
Abstract
Purpose
The reduction of tobacco use among medical students is a potentially powerful strategy to reduce tobacco use among future health professionals, who in turn, can have significant impact on tobacco use among patients as well as the general population in China. The goal of this study is to update information on the prevalence of cigarette smoking among Chinese medical students and to assess modifiable factors for smoking reduction.
Design/methodology/approach
Presented in the paper are descriptive, associative and path model analyses of survey data collected among 758 medical students in year one through year three from Hainan Medical College, Hainan, China.
Findings
Among the total 758 participants, 66.9 percent of males and 26 percent of females smoked and 26.5 percent of males and 1.6 percent of females had smoked in the past 30 days. The median monthly expenditure on cigarettes was 30 Chinese Yuan (approximately US$4.25). The likelihood of smoking increased with male gender, more advanced year group, poor academic performance, perceived peer smoking, and depressive symptoms, after controlling for covariates.
Originality/value
Findings reported in this study provide further insight into the smoking prevalence among medical students in China as well as adding to knowledge about several potentially modifiable factors that are related to smoking. Data collected in this study are likely to prove valuable in prioritizing tobacco control among Chinese medical students, as they are future medical doctors, and their smoking behaviors will have strong influence on their patients as well as the general public.
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Prior to the 1970s, the enrollment of black students in U.S. medical schools was less than 3%. One-third of these students attended the three historically black medical schools…
Abstract
Prior to the 1970s, the enrollment of black students in U.S. medical schools was less than 3%. One-third of these students attended the three historically black medical schools that existed at that time. In 1970, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), representing the nation's medical schools, made a commitment for reaching parity of black medical student enrollment to that of the proportion of blacks in the U.S. population. The goal was that the enrollment of black students should reach 12% of total medical school enrollment. Within four years the enrollment of black students more than doubled to 7.5% by 1974. This greater than 100% enrollment increase was attributed to medical schools’ change in their commitment to affirmative action (Petersdorf, Turner, Nickens, & Ready, 1990; Cohen, Gabriel, & Terrell, 2002).
Emmanuel E. Baro, Benake‐ebide C. Endouware and Janet O. Ubogu
The aim of this paper is to investigate whether undergraduate students in the College of Health Sciences in Niger Delta University are information literate, and to determine…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate whether undergraduate students in the College of Health Sciences in Niger Delta University are information literate, and to determine whether they are aware of and use different information resources including electronic ones, and to assess their ability to evaluate information before use.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaire and interview methods were used to collect data from the students.
Findings
The students mostly rely on textbooks, medical journals, the internet, colleagues, and the Nigerian National University Commission's virtual library for information. They rarely use electronic resources such as MEDLINE, HINARI, the Cochrane Library, and EbscoHost. This could be because of a lack of awareness and skills necessary to search databases. Problems such as lack of time, the challenge of locating “good citable stuff”, inability to use effectively the medical library, and poor skills in information searching were mentioned. The study recommends that medical librarians and faculty should collaborate in integrating information literacy skills into the medical school curriculum.
Originality/value
This paper may help inform discussion about students' competences for locating, selecting, evaluating and using information essential for lifelong learning.
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