Measuring sociocultural engagement of health professions education students: a psychometric study.

BACKGROUND: Sociocultural engagement of students refers to broadening viewpoints and providing awareness of, and respect for, diverse backgrounds and perspectives. However, there are no existing validated instruments in the literature for measuring sociocultural engagement of health professions education (HPE) students. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire designed to assess sociocultural engagement among HPE students. METHODS: The study included undergraduate HPE students (n = 683) at Gulf Medical University. The initial version of the sociocultural engagement of students' questionnaire (SESQ) was developed after extensive literature review and guided by the Global Learning Qualifications Framework. We then tested the content validity of the questionnaire by using focus group discussion with subject experts (n = 16) and pilot testing with students (n = 20). We distributed the content-validated version of the SESQ (16 items) to undergraduate students in six HPE colleges. To examine the construct validity and construct reliability of the questionnaire, we conducted exploratory factor analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor structure which consists of 13 items with good fitness indices (χ2 = 214.35, df = 61, χ 2/df = 3.51, CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.025, and AIC = 208.00). The two factors were sociocultural interactions (8 items) and sociocultural adaptation (5 items). The construct reliability of the total questionnaire is 0.97 and the two factors were 0.93 and 0.92 for sociocultural interactions and sociocultural adaptation, respectively. In addition, there were significant weak correlations between both factors of sociocultural engagement scores and student satisfaction with the university experience (r = .19 for each, P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: The sociocultural engagement of students' questionnaire exhibits good evidence of construct validity and reliability. Further studies will be required to test the validity of this questionnaire in other contexts.

Influence of students' self-directed learning on situational interest: A prospective randomised study.

INTRODUCTION: Evaluate the effectiveness of a newly developed interactive 3D head and neck software package on students' situational interest and knowledge acquisition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective randomised controlled study was carried out on two groups of dental students, 25 each. The study group "A" received education on head and neck anatomy using an interactive 3D software package. The same content was delivered to the students in group B via the standard PowerPoint presentation. The same lecturer delivered the educational modules over 80 min. Throughout the course of learning, the students completed a situational interest questionnaire, every 20 min. At the end of the session, each participant completed a knowledge acquisition test. RESULTS: Wilcoxon signed-rank sum test showed a clear difference in the pattern of situational interest between the two groups; a statistically significant drop in the interest in the head and neck was noted amongst the students after 40 min in group B (p < .05). An opposite pattern was detected amongst the students in group A. No statistically significant differences were detected in the knowledge acquisition between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The 3D software package of the head and neck anatomy has augmented the students' situational interest and improved their knowledge acquisition. However, further research is required to evaluate students' perception and experience of its use before it is widely generalised in universities and educational institutes.

Faculty and Students' Perceptions About Online Teaching Styles of Faculty in Large Group Lectures.

Introduction: An unprecedented disruption in medical education worldwide was caused due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Online teaching has become one of the primary forms of education. In this paper, we aimed to understand the faculty and students' perceptions about the teaching styles adopted by the faculty during online large group teaching from two universities in the United Arab Emirates. Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional opinion survey-based study. A pre-validated teaching style inventory in higher education (TSIHE) questionnaire was emailed to the students and faculty involved in large group online learning and teaching activities during the lock-down period of the COVID 19 pandemic from two different medical Universities in the United Arab Emirates. A total of 423 students and 57 faculty participated in the study. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: There was a significant difference between the faculty and students on the perception of faculty online teaching styles. The difference was significant in teacher-student interaction and teacher structuring styles. In contrast, faculty and students' perceptions were comparable for decision-making negotiation and behavioral control teaching styles. Conclusion: The study found that there was a significant perception differences between the faculty and students on the faculty teaching style during online large group teaching. Importantly, faculty perceived that they were more emotionally attached and more flexible in teacher-student interaction and teaching structuring during online teaching than the student perceived.

Implications of introducing case based radiological images in anatomy on teaching, learning and assessment of medical students: a mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND: Introducing radiological anatomy in the preclinical curriculum can increase the understanding of Anatomy. Regardless of the integration when teaching anatomy, it is essential to maintain oversight as to what and how much is being taught. In addition, the knowledge requirements for preclinical students should be considered. The purpose of this kind of integration is that the student should be able to apply the knowledge which can help them better understand anatomy and not to make the course more challenging. This study aimed to understand whether adding radiological images would increase the difficulty level of the questions. METHODS: We introduced radiological images, including X Rays, CT scans and MRIs, when teaching anatomy in the preclinical curriculum. A class of 99 students were tested using A-type MCQs (n = 84). All 84 questions were categorized on whether they were case-based with or without a radiological image. The item analysis of both groups of test questions was then compared based on their difficulty and discrimination index. A qualitative student perception regarding the inclusion of radiological images in anatomy was also measured using a questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. RESULTS: The results showed that the performance level of the students was similar when comparing the test questions in both groups. The item analysis of the MCQs in the two groups revealed that by integrating radiological images when teaching anatomy, the various parameters in both groups of test questions were in the same range. More than 80% of the students felt that radiological images facilitate the achievement of learning outcomes and help to apply their knowledge in clinical contexts. The study's findings reported that the rate of satisfaction by including radiological images when teaching anatomy is high. CONCLUSION: Recognition and interpretation of images are essential in an undergraduate medical program. Students found it helpful when radiological images were introduced to them when teaching anatomy. Since the students' performance in summative exams in both groups of questions was in the same range, the findings also point out that adding radiological images when teaching anatomy does not increase the difficulty of the subject.

Non-linear modeling using fuzzy principal component regression for Vidyaranyapuram sewage treatment plant, Mysore - India.

Fuzzy principal component regression (FPCR) is proposed to model the non-linear process of sewage treatment plant (STP) data matrix. The dimension reduction of voluminous data was done by principal component analysis (PCA). The PCA score values were partitioned by fuzzy-c-means (FCM) clustering, and a Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy model was built based on the FCM functions. The FPCR approach was used to predict the reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) of treated wastewater of Vidyaranyapuram STP with respect to the relations modeled between fuzzy partitioned PCA scores and target output. The designed FPCR model showed the ability to capture the behavior of non-linear processes of STP. The predicted values of reduction in COD and BOD were analyzed by performing the linear regression analysis. The predicted values for COD and BOD reduction showed positive correlation with the observed data.

Factor analysis and discriminant analysis of wastewater quality in Vidyaranyapuram sewage treatment plant, Mysore, India: a case study.

Wastewater treatment plant monitoring is an essential part of effective wastewater management. The analysis of eight physico-chemical parameters of untreated wastewater was carried out at Vidyaranyapuram sewage treatment plant, Mysore, India. Factor analysis (FA) was applied to the untreated wastewater data matrix, and pollution was found to be the most contributing factor, explaining 22.31% of the total variance (chloride, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and total dissolved solids). The second most contributing factor was found to be nitrification which explained 21.11% of the total variance (pH and nitrate), whereas the salinization factor contributed 16.98% of the total variance (total solids and total suspended solids). FA regression scores could not satisfactorily classify the data matrix with respect to the seasonal variations. Discriminant analysis (DA) was used to find the seasonal variations in the data matrix, and the standard mode DA explained 66.6% of total variance by grouping the cases with respect to seasons.

An additional muscle belly of the first lumbrical muscle.

INTRODUCTION: Lumbrical muscles play a vital role in the precision movements of the hand, along with the thenar, hypothenar and interossei muscles. The variation in the lumbrical muscle is clinically significant. CASE PRESENTATION: During routine dissection of an adult male cadaver, we observed an additional muscle belly of the first lumbrical muscle took origin from the tendon of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) to the index finger, close to the proximal margin of the flexor retinaculum. CONCLUSION: The presence of such an additional muscle in the carpal tunnel should be considered in the aetiology of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).