A Community-Based, Active Learning Program in the Early Years of Medical School; a Questionnaire Survey on Students’ Perceived Learning Outcomes
Kunimasa Morio, Zayar Linn, Mikiko Matsuda, Yuko Takeda, Shigeyuki Yoshiyama, Hajime Kamiya, Hiroki HoriBackground
Mie University Faculty of Medicine introduced a community-based education program for first- and second-year medical students. This study primarily aimed to assess students’ perceived learning outcomes of this program using a large multi-cohort dataset. Additionally, the results were compared across student attributes such as admission category.
Methods
A questionnaire survey was carried out at three assessment points during the program among 1,246 students between 2012 and 2022. The questionnaire, consisting of 25 items across five factors, was designed to align with the program’s goals. After the structure of the questionnaire was analyzed using factor analysis, the mean total scores for the items included in each factor of the restructured questionnaire were analyzed using a repeated-measures one-way ANOVA and a 2×3 two-way ANOVA.
Results
The number of students with valid responses was 903. Based on the results of the factor analysis, the questionnaire was restructured to consist of 21 questions across four factors: “interest in community health”, “community survey skills”, “communication skills”, and “collaboration with community people”. Overall, students’ perceptions of interest in community health and collaboration with community people declined over time, while their self-assessed community survey skills improved. Interest in community health was higher among students admitted through regional quota admission than those admitted through general selection throughout the program, but this interest decreased significantly in the first year.
Conclusion
The community-based education program was associated with changes in students’ perceptions of community health and self-assessed skill attainment. The students decreased interest in community health and perceived challenges in collaboration with community people, while they perceived that they had improved their skills in conducting community surveys. Students admitted through the regional quota admission demonstrated greater interest in community health throughout the program than those admitted through the general selection. These results may provide valuable insights for future program improvements.