Comparing students' performance in self-directed and directed self-learning in College of Medicine, University of Bisha.

Background: Student-centered learning strategy increases the likelihood of graduation of competent, self-dependent, and problem-solving physicians. The University of Bisha, College of Medicine (UBCOM) adopted self-directed learning (SDL) represented by problem-based learning (PBL), and directed self-learning (DSL) represented by team-based learning (TBL). Aim: To compare the students' performance in SDL and DSL among UBCOM students. Methodology: A total of 502 multiple choice questions (MCQs) from the mid-course and final exams were collected by the relevant subject experts from nine courses during the period from September 2020 till June 2023 that adopted PBL and TBL; 247 MCQs related to PBL and 255 related to TBL. Psychometric analysis was used to determine difficult, easy, and optimum questions (≤25%, ≥90%, and 26-89%, respectively). Point biserial as <0.19, 0.20-0.29, 0.30-0.39, and >0.40 which indicate poor, marginal, good, and excellent point biserial, respectively. Finally, the number of functional distractors was attempted by >5% of the candidates. Results: No significant differences were noted for the students' performance in MCQs related to PBL (representing self-directed, small group learning tool), and TBL (representing directed-self, large group learning tool) regarding difficulty index (DI), point biserial, and distractors functionality. Conclusion: It has been observed that there is no difference in students' performance whether PBL or TBL is used for learning Basic Medical Science courses. Small group learning such as PBL needs more resources in comparison to large group learning as in TBL, therefore any institute can decide on the adopted learning strategy depending on its resources and the number of students.

Disease-specific quality of life in patients with diabetic neuropathy.

OBJECTIVES: To compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and diabetic neuropathy (DN) (D+N) with patients with DM without DN (D-DN) and healthy participants. To evaluate factors associated with poor HRQoL in patients with DN. METHODS: This study included 306 participants residing in Bisha, Saudi Arabia. Patients with DM were screened for DN using the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument. Neuropathy severity, disability and HRQoL were determined using the Neuropathy Severity Scale (NSS), the Neuropathy Disability Score (NDS), and the Norfolk Quality of Life-Diabetic Neuropathy (QOL-DN) tool, respectively. Nerve conduction studies (NCSs) were also performed. RESULTS: The D+DN group had poorer overall and domain HRQoL scores compared to the D-DN group (p<0.001). There was a strong correlation between overall HRQoL score and both NDS and NSS scores in the D+DN group (ρ= -0.71 and p<0.0001; ρ= -0.81 and p<0.0001, respectively). There was also a significant difference in all mean HRQoL domain scores between D+DN participants with normal and abnormal NCS. Physical inactivity (p=0.043), duration of DM (p<0.0001), abnormal NCS, NSS (p<0.0001), and NDS (p<0.0001) predicted HRQoL in the D+DN group. CONCLUSION: D+DN participants had a worse HRQoL compared with D-DN and healthy counterparts. NDS, NNS, physical inactivity, abnormal NCS, and duration of DM independently predicted poor HRQoL in D+DN participants.

Awareness of diabetes risk factors among Bisha Residents Southwestern Saudi Arabia.

Introduction: In the past few decades, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased dramatically in many countries. While primary preventive measures can reduce the prevalence of diabetes, knowledge of the risk factors of diabetes mellitus has many benefits for patients with diabetes. The study aimed to assess diabetes mellitus risk factors (DM-RFs) awareness among adults residing in Bisha, Southwestern Saudi Arabia. Awareness of the risk factors of diabetes mellitus was reported to be highest for obesity, sweet intake, and family history of diabetes. Methods: The study participants were 404 adults (225 males and 179 females) with an age range of 18-65 (mean age: 40.83+/-9.3). People with diabetes and those without diabetes were involved in the study. The study was conducted in Bisha city, southwestern Saudi Arabia, using an online random sampling technique and a structured and validated questionnaire, and analysis was by SPSS V 24. Results: This study showed that 168 (41.6%) participants had diabetes and 236 (58.4%) were non-diabetics; 64.9% of the respondents were aware of the DM-RFs. Among the people with diabetes, 128 (76.2%) agreed that obesity is a DM-RF, while 210 (89%) of the non-diabetics were aware that obesity was a DM-RF. Further, 77.7% of the respondents agreed that the risk factors were avoidable, with 50.7% willing to know more about DM-RFs. Conclusion: The study found a high level of awareness of DM-RFs among diabetes and non-diabetics in Bisha, southwestern Saudi Arabia.