Does Gender, Academic Status, Years of Teaching Experience, and Discipline Affiliation Affect Strategies Used to Promote Creativity in Medical Education at King Abdulaziz University?

Background This study aimed to explore the effect of gender, academic status, years of teaching experience, and discipline affiliation on strategies used to promote creativity in medical education. Methodology This study was conducted in the Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Faculty teaching in both the basic sciences and clinical disciplines was included. A 15-item electronic survey was created. The frequencies were obtained for the demographic and academic characteristics of the participants. For each question (Q5-Q15), the mean and SD of participant responses were obtained. The chi-square test was used to compare all categorical variables. This included the comparison of the participants’ demographic characteristics with their academic characteristics. The chi-square test was also used for the comparison of participant characteristics among the categorical questions (Q5-Q15). Results A statistically significant association was determined between academic status, years of teaching experience, faculty’s perception of the curriculum, tasks used in teaching, and the suitability of the used assessment strategies in promoting creativity. Teaching in clinical disciplines was statistically associated with using real-life problems, challenging students, and deliberately creating chaos or disorder in the classroom. Conclusions Academic status, years of teaching experience, and discipline affiliation are more likely to affect how faculty members promote creativity in medical education.