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Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Many factors shape the quality of learning. The intrinsically motivated students adopt a deep approach to learning, while students who fear failure in assessments adopt a surface approach to learning. In the area of health science education in Nepal, there is still a lack of studies on l...

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Autores principales: Shah, Dev Kumar, Yadav, Ram Lochan, Sharma, Deepak, Yadav, Prakash Kumar, Sapkota, Niraj Khatri, Jha, Rajesh Kumar, Islam, Md Nazrul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4786058/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27019603
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S100968
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author Shah, Dev Kumar
Yadav, Ram Lochan
Sharma, Deepak
Yadav, Prakash Kumar
Sapkota, Niraj Khatri
Jha, Rajesh Kumar
Islam, Md Nazrul
author_facet Shah, Dev Kumar
Yadav, Ram Lochan
Sharma, Deepak
Yadav, Prakash Kumar
Sapkota, Niraj Khatri
Jha, Rajesh Kumar
Islam, Md Nazrul
author_sort Shah, Dev Kumar
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Many factors shape the quality of learning. The intrinsically motivated students adopt a deep approach to learning, while students who fear failure in assessments adopt a surface approach to learning. In the area of health science education in Nepal, there is still a lack of studies on learning approach that can be used to transform the students to become better learners and improve the effectiveness of teaching. Therefore, we aimed to explore the learning approaches among medical, dental, and nursing students of Chitwan Medical College, Nepal using Biggs’s Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) after testing its reliability. METHODS: R-SPQ-2F containing 20 items represented two main scales of learning approaches, deep and surface, with four subscales: deep motive, deep strategy, surface motive, and surface strategy. Each subscale had five items and each item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using Student’s t-test and analysis of variance. Reliability of the administered questionnaire was checked using Cronbach’s alpha. RESULTS: The Cronbach’s alpha value (0.6) for 20 items of R-SPQ-2F was found to be acceptable for its use. The participants predominantly had a deep approach to learning regardless of their age and sex (deep: 32.62±6.33 versus surface: 25.14±6.81, P<0.001). The level of deep approach among medical students (33.26±6.40) was significantly higher than among dental (31.71±6.51) and nursing (31.36±4.72) students. In comparison to first-year students, deep approach among second-year medical (34.63±6.51 to 31.73±5.93; P<0.001) and dental (33.47±6.73 to 29.09±5.62; P=0.002) students was found to be significantly decreased. On the other hand, surface approach significantly increased (25.55±8.19 to 29.34±6.25; P=0.023) among second-year dental students compared to first-year dental students. CONCLUSION: Medical students were found to adopt a deeper approach to learning than dental and nursing students. However, irrespective of disciplines and personal characteristics of participants, the primarily deep learning approach was found to be shifting progressively toward a surface approach after completion of an academic year, which should be avoided.
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spelling pubmed-47860582016-03-25 Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study Shah, Dev Kumar Yadav, Ram Lochan Sharma, Deepak Yadav, Prakash Kumar Sapkota, Niraj Khatri Jha, Rajesh Kumar Islam, Md Nazrul Adv Med Educ Pract Original Research BACKGROUND: Many factors shape the quality of learning. The intrinsically motivated students adopt a deep approach to learning, while students who fear failure in assessments adopt a surface approach to learning. In the area of health science education in Nepal, there is still a lack of studies on learning approach that can be used to transform the students to become better learners and improve the effectiveness of teaching. Therefore, we aimed to explore the learning approaches among medical, dental, and nursing students of Chitwan Medical College, Nepal using Biggs’s Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) after testing its reliability. METHODS: R-SPQ-2F containing 20 items represented two main scales of learning approaches, deep and surface, with four subscales: deep motive, deep strategy, surface motive, and surface strategy. Each subscale had five items and each item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using Student’s t-test and analysis of variance. Reliability of the administered questionnaire was checked using Cronbach’s alpha. RESULTS: The Cronbach’s alpha value (0.6) for 20 items of R-SPQ-2F was found to be acceptable for its use. The participants predominantly had a deep approach to learning regardless of their age and sex (deep: 32.62±6.33 versus surface: 25.14±6.81, P<0.001). The level of deep approach among medical students (33.26±6.40) was significantly higher than among dental (31.71±6.51) and nursing (31.36±4.72) students. In comparison to first-year students, deep approach among second-year medical (34.63±6.51 to 31.73±5.93; P<0.001) and dental (33.47±6.73 to 29.09±5.62; P=0.002) students was found to be significantly decreased. On the other hand, surface approach significantly increased (25.55±8.19 to 29.34±6.25; P=0.023) among second-year dental students compared to first-year dental students. CONCLUSION: Medical students were found to adopt a deeper approach to learning than dental and nursing students. However, irrespective of disciplines and personal characteristics of participants, the primarily deep learning approach was found to be shifting progressively toward a surface approach after completion of an academic year, which should be avoided. Dove Medical Press 2016-03-04 /pmc/articles/PMC4786058/ /pubmed/27019603 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S100968 Text en © 2016 Shah et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Original Research
Shah, Dev Kumar
Yadav, Ram Lochan
Sharma, Deepak
Yadav, Prakash Kumar
Sapkota, Niraj Khatri
Jha, Rajesh Kumar
Islam, Md Nazrul
Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study
title Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study
title_full Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study
title_fullStr Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study
title_short Learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in Nepal: a cross-sectional study
title_sort learning approach among health sciences students in a medical college in nepal: a cross-sectional study
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4786058/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27019603
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S100968
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