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Background & Objective: Flourishing is a key indicator of psychological well-being, playing a significant role in the academic engagement and professional performance of medical students. Therefore, identifying the factors that contribute to flourishing is crucial. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the meaning in life and the flourishing of students while also examining the mediating role of grit.
Materials & Methods: This study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional correlation design and utilized structural equation modeling for analysis. The statistical population included all students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2024. Two hundred ninety-one participants were selected through stratified random sampling, proportional to their respective group sizes. Rashid and Seligman's flourishing scale, Steger's meaning in life scale, and Duckworth's short grit scale were used to collect data from 14 to 24 December 2024, and the data were analyzed by structural equation modeling using Amos-22 software.
Results: Meaning in life directly predicted flourishing (ß = 0.461, p < 0.001) and grit (ß = 0.428, p < 0.001), and the relationship between grit and students' flourishing was positive and significant (ß = 0.276, p < 0.001). Additionally, the meaning in life can indirectly influence flourishing through grit (ß = 0.118, p = 0.003). Thus, it can be concluded that grit serves as a mediating factor in the relationship between meaning in life and flourishing.
Conclusion: Strengthening the meaning in life in medical students can help increase their grit in stressful academic environments and ultimately improve their flourishing and academic success. Therefore, designing educational and counseling programs to enhance the meaning in life can help empower students in terms of grit and provide a basis for the further well-being of medical students. Furthermore, future studies can investigate the role of other individual and environmental variables in this process and assess the impact of meaning-seeking interventions on students' well-being.
 

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  Background and objective: The attitudes of medical students' toward psychiatry have been studied extensively in other countries. A positive attitude to psychiatry may make future doctors more responsive to the psychological needs and morbidity of patients in all branches of medicine. Large numbers of emotionally disturbed patients present themselves to non-psychiatric physicians, and much of somatic medicine is psychologically influenced. The purpose of this study was to assess medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry as well as to examine whether attitudes toward psychiatry improved during psychiatric attachment.

  Materials and Methods: 144 Medical students' of Zanjan Medical University in physiopathology, clerkship and Internship participated in the study with filling the "Attitude to Psychiatry Questionnaire". Also, clerkship medical students were divided into two groups. One group was those who had not stayed in the psychiatric ward and the other groups were those who had stayed in the psychiatric ward. Then, the attitudes of two groups were compared.

  Results: All of the students had favorable attitude to psychiatry with the mean score of 80/74 on "Attitude to Psychiatry Questionnaire"(neutral score 72).Improvement in attitudes was related to the increased motivation to pursue psychiatry as a career (p: 0/01 n: 144). Also, in comparing with two clerkship groups, it was found that attachment to psychiatric ward in proved attitude toward psychiatry among medical students (P: 0/015, n: 57).

  Conclusions: The study confirms earlier reports of a significant positive impact of undergraduate psychiatric attachment on medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry. Thus, teaching psychiatry at an undergraduate level may have important implications, because future doctors respond to patient's psychological difficulties.

 

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Good doctor -patient communication has been shown to have a positive impact on a number of health outcomes in several studies. Also, effective doctor- patient communication is shown to be highly correlated with patient satisfaction and health care services.

Material and Method: This study was conducted in Zanjan University of medical sciences. The sample was 33 medical students. Doctor-patient relationship was taught in a three-day workshop. The knowledge of students was assessed pre- and post-intervention. Also, student satisfaction was assessed. Then data was analyzed by SPSS.

Results: The findings showed that 85% were satisfied. There was statistically significant difference between pre- and post-test mean scores. The difference between subtests of pre- and post-tests were also statistically significant.

Conclusion: Teaching "doctor-patient relationship" to medical students is very effective for enhancing their knowledge of communication skills.

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Background and Objective: Horizontal integration means integration in a phase of curriculum. A new program in externship phase results in more satisfaction of medical students. But there is no  objective evaluation of the new program. The aim of this study is the evaluation of this change on basis of some objective outcome.

Materials and Methods: in this study 214 medical students consisting of 3 years before and 3 years after the new program implementation were compared. Primary outcomes were average score of externship phase, percentage of passing pre-internship exam, and national ranking of ZUMS in pre-internship exam. Quantitative variables were compared using a t-test and qualitative variables were compared using the Chi-square test. A significance of P less than 5percent considered for all statistical tests.

Results: 214 of medical students were investigated (125 before and 89 after intervention). Average score of externship phase were 15.76 ± 1.15 vs 16.34 ± 1.09 (P< 0.001). The result showed 0.56 increments in average score. The rate of pre-internship passing exam increased from 92.8 to 100% after the intervention. National ranking improved from 19 to 11 among 45 medical universities.

Conclusion: This study showed improvement in students' outcomes in both national and internal evaluation.

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Background and Objective: The 360-degree evaluation is a method which is used to assess performance of medical students. It is important for instruments such as questionnaires for 360-degree assessment to be reliable and valid. This study has been designed with the objective to assess validity and reliability of 360-degree questionnaires. Materials and Methods: At first, some questionnaires were developed based on an extensive literature review and expert panel views. Then they were distributed among a sample of faculty members, medical students, nurses, and patients. The collected data was analyzed with spss15 soft ware. Mean scores of the respondents in each category were calculated. Cronbach’s alpha was run to examine the internal consistency. Factor analysis was used to clarify the factorial structure of the data. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was computed to examine the correlation between the evaluators' scores. Results: The instruments' content and face validity were acceptable. Factor analysis confirmed the factor structure of the questionnaires. However, no significant correlation was found between the questionnaires. Conclusion: Based on this study, 360-degree assessment tools are reliable and valid measures for evaluating performance of medical student.

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Background and Objective: Learning style is one of the factors that affect learning and academic achievement of learners so that understanding it helps individuals adopt a more appropriate way of learning. Teachers' learning styles also affect selected teaching activities and learning environment. This study assesses the learning styles of students and faculty members in pre-clinical stage of medical education at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in the 2011-12. 221 medical students and 106 faculty staff in preclinical stage at Tehran University of Medical Sciences participated in a census study. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory was used to conduct the research. Results: Much of the students’ learning style was converging (34.4%) and accommodating (30.8%) while the majority of the faculty learning style was respectively converging (41.5%) and absorbent (26.4%). There was a significant difference (p=0.000) between learning styles of the students and the faculty staff. Conclusion: Similarity between learning style of medical students and the faculty increases learning motivation and achievement. We recommend that the faculty, regardless of their learning preferences, use laboratory and problem solving method in their teaching. In addition, the communication skills of medical students should also be strengthened.

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Background and Objective: Increasing access to hardware and software applications for e-learning has opened a new horizon facing educational institutions that can help to enhance the quality of education. This study was designed to compare the satisfaction and success rate of medical students for their endocrine pathophysiology course with two methods of education using e-learning vs lecture-based mode of instruction. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 57 medical students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in academic educational year of 2012. Topics related to pathophysiology of endocrine system were divided into two parts. Half of the instructional content delivered via lecture-based approach by two other instructors while the remaining divided in two parts and conveyed by the researcher via e-learning and lecture. At the end of the course the level of satisfaction of the students was evaluated by a valid questionnaire and their scores in lecture courses were compared with scores in courses taught using distance education Results: There were no significant differences between average test scores of students in e- learning courses (11.9± 2.7) and in lecture –based delivery of the course with the same teacher (12.25± 2.3) and also courses taught by lecture of other teachers (11.2± 3.4).The students were ranked based on their final scores in basic science courses. No difference was found between the scores of strong students in e-learning and lecture training contents. However, weak students got better scores in lecture training courses though their success rate to pass the courses were not different. Conclusion:E-learning is as effective as conventional lectures in training the pathophysiology of endocrine system course in medical students. Studies on comparing cost of the two methods are recommended

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Background and Objective: Learning via mobile, as a new stage of electronic learning development, has been introduced to provide opportunities for transferring information and improving students learning that its role has not defined in medical education clearly. Present study was carried out to compare the effects of anatomy education through lecture and mobile learning on medicine students’ learning and knowledge retention. Material and Methods: This quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design, conducted on 62 medicine students at Busheher University of Medical Sciences on 2013. Students were selected through census method and randomly divided into control group (instructed by lecture) and experimental group (instructed by mobile) and after pretest, received education. To collect data, an achievement test was used which included 30 questions in three levels of knowledge, apprehension and application. The effects of training were measure immediately after training and 4 weeks later. Data were analyzed through repeated measure ANOVA and independent t-tests with SPSS19 software. Results: The mean and standard deviation of scores in all learning levels in the lecture group before, immediately after and 4 weeks after training were respectively 12.03±2.822, 21.10±3.294 and 19.30±4.01 (P<0.001) and were 14.3±3.706, 21.13±4.416 and 21.33±3.177 in the mobile learning group. No significant difference was observed between the groups in the post-test(P=0.1), but a significant difference (P=0.03) demonstrated the effectiveness of mobile learning in the recall stage. Conclusion: Both methods are effective ways to improve learning and retention scores of medicine students in anatomy course but education through mobile is more effective in retaining.

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Introduction: The objective structured clinical examination(OSCE) is one of the assessment tools of the final examination in clinical wards of Semnan University of Medical Sciences. The study set out to explore medical student and resident views about the quality of this exam. Methods: In this cross sectional study, a self administered questionnaire was completed by 132 medical students and residents who were assessed at least once by this examination. The outcome measures were student’s opinion about the quality of the exam, quality of the questions and the time for each station and their attitude about the exam as a whole. Results: There was overwhelming acceptance of the OSCE among the residents in comparison to the students (p=0.034). With respect to the quality of the questions, also the residents of higher grades had a better view in comparison to the students (p=0.037) and with respect to the time for each station, the third grade residents had a better opinion (p<0.001). Concerns were expressed regarding the inadequacy of orientation sessions before the examination among the medical students. Conclusion: Student feedback is invaluable in influencing faculty teaching, curriculum direction and appreciation of student opinion. Furthermore evaluation will strengthen the development of OSCE

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Materials and methods: This descriptive and solidarity study is at 120 students (male and female) of the College of Management of Shiraz Medical Science University that selected randomly. In order to evaluate the effective factors on using attention of technology we use five questionnaires of using intention as: technology, understand of using a technology facility, and understanding of profitability of using technology, pleasure and enjoyment, and being applying of the technology system. In order to survey analysis, we use the descriptive statistics and the correlation efficient, path analysis and and goodness of fit indices using Iisrel 8.5, Spass 18 softwares. Results: All the effective variables on using intention of the technology by the medical science students in the form of the conceptual model of the research have been evaluated and finally the conceptual model with goodness of fit indices has been confirmed and examined. Conclusion: On the using intention of the technology by the Medical Science students, many variables affect that some of them have been evaluated in this study. Path analysis results indicate that perceived ease and pleasure seeking the most effective way to use the technology are significant.

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ABSTRACT Background and Aim: Academic performance is affected by many factors, one of these factors is study habits and study skills. The present study was conducted to determine student`s study habits and skills in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2013-2014. Materials and Methods: This descriptive - cross sectional study was done on students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences students who were enrolled in the academic year 2013-14. The study population of 324 subjects was determined, but total of 245 questionnaires were analyzed. Data was collected using a standardized questionnaire Palsane & Sharma Study Habits Inventory (PSSHI) and analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Descriptive statistics was used and to present absolute and relative frequency of variables. For quantitative variables, mean and standard deviation was used. Independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, as well as logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the effect of different factors on study habits. Results: The mean of total score of students' study habits was 45.8 ± 11.1. Average score for girls was 46.1 ± 11.4 and for boys was 45.4 ± 10.8 that there was no statistically significant difference between the two (p=0.62, t=0.49). Comparing the different fields of study habits in both "gender", results indicated that in note-taking field (t = 2.46 and p = 0.015) and health (p = 0.028, t = 2.20) girls had superiority than boys. Results showed that compared to students who used just books or class pamphlets students who used books and class pamphlets at the same time in terms of study habits were in better situation and this difference was statistically significant (p = 0/001). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the study habit of students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences is at the average level which is similar to other Medical Science Universities of country. Presenting a course entitled "Study Skills and Habits" in curriculum of students is recommended.

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Introduction: Problem based learning (PBL) is one of the common educational methods in different countries. This study was conducted to compare the medical student’s satisfaction in problem based learning method versus conventional lecturing. Methods: Two groups of five and six year medical students of Zanjan university of medical sciences referred to pediatric wards of Mousavi Hospital in Zanjan, Iran were enrolled in this study. The students were divided in two groups. Two common topics in pediatrics were selected. One of the topics was presented as lecture for the first group and as PBL to the second group. After 1.5 months, the second topic was presented as PBL to the first group and as lecture to the second group. Results: In the present study, concerning learning quality 62.31% of students preferred PBL and 31.88% of them preferred lecture. Knowledge retention in PBL was 62.31% compared to 33.33% in lecture. In the practical application of contents %57/98 of students preferred PBL and 37.68% of them considered lecture more effective. Class attraction in PBL and lecture were 68.11% and 8.98% respectively. In motivation for study 89.85% of students found PBL more effective, comparing to7.24% for lecture. In overall 76.81% of students preferred PBL and 18.84% of them preferred lecture. In this study 69.56% of students believed that lecture increases the ability to answer the questions versus 24.63% in PBL. Discussion: Overall, students preferred problem based learning (PBL) to the traditional lecture method for teaching.

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Background and Objective: The purpose of this project was applying IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness) as an educational intervention for the medical trainees, interns and pediatric residents in approach with sick children.

Materials and Methods: In this educational intervention all of the trainees, interns, and residents at Golestan Medical Sciences University in 2010-2011 participated in the research. The procedures of implementation and evaluation were documented. In order to study the participants' experiences and perspectives (faculty members, students, mothers of children) semi-structured interviews were conducted.  Data was analyzed using content analysis method.

Results: The MANA Program was a practical approach in educational programs for the medical students in pediatrics wards. The analysis of participants' experiences revealed five themes "usefulness of  IMCI teaching method", " IMCI implementing problems", "algorithmic thinking",  and "feasibility". The analysis of care receivers' experiences indicated two main themes "satisfaction" and "sometimes boredom".

Conclusion: To get the best results in implementing IMCI Program in clinical pediatrics courses, modifications and changes in the current health care settings and also integrated and continuous coordination is highly essential.

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 Background and objective: Studies have indicated that metacognitive strategies control and direct cognitive strategies. Thus, application of metacognitive and cognitive strategies together is essential for successful learning to happen. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of metacognitive-oriented instruction on development of problem solving skills in students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences.

Materials and Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental research with pretest/posttest and control group design. The study sample included the students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (n=4283) in the academic year of 2013-2014. A total number of 40 students were selected through convenient sampling method as the study sample. The samples were randomly placed in experimental and control groups. For the experimental group, problem solving skills were taught based on metacognitive strategies in 8 sessions, each session for 1 and half hours. For the control group, however, problem solving skills were taught through conventional teaching method. The instrument for data collection was  Heppner’s  problem  solving inventory (1988) whose validity and reliability were confirmed previously. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation, and the hypotheses were tested through t-test.

Results: The results of the posttest showed that the total mean of scores for problem solving skills in the experimental group (99.75) was higher than that of the control group (26.800) (p<0.0001). This difference was significant in the case of confidence, approach/avoidance and personal control components (p<0.0001). Moreover, the mean of students’ scores was not significant in terms of gender and major.

Conclusion: Given the positive effect of metacognitive strategies on the students’ performance and the necessity of teaching metacognition for the sake of academic achievement, these strategies are recommended to be taught to students.

Keyword: Metacognition, Problem-solving skill, Metacognition instruction, Medical students.

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Introduction: The literature supports the inclusion of professional education in undergraduate education. We assessed the attitudes of undergraduate medical students toward medical professionalism in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences during the educational year of 2014-2015.

Methods: All undergraduate medical students, in clerkship and internship levels, enrolled in a descriptive study in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. Data were gathered based on a questionnaire adjusted by the culture considerations of the country. Analyses were performed by SPSS software.

Results: A total of 131 medical students and interns (62.6% female) with the mean age of 24.6±1.12 years old participated. Forty two percent of the participants were studying in the fifth (last) year of medical school and 57% were in internship level. Most trainees believed that learning about ethics and professionalism is necessary and should be taught and learned. Medical ethics course should be formally taught in the medical school in opinion of half of the trainees while the others preferred to consider it as an elective. The majority of participants (94.5%) believed that learning medical professionalism needs more than only a theoretical course. A longitudinal approach for teaching medical ethics and professionalism was the most agreed format rather than a time-limited course. There was a significant difference between attitude of the students and interns in terms of necessity of lifelong learning and having updated knowledge (p=0.044), Interprofessional collaboration and team-work (p=0.032) and the importance of continuous education (p=0.030). Also, frequency of professional behaviors [e.g. number of weekly studied articles (p=0.025), use of previous notation (p=0.015) and participation in social services in the past few years (p=0.047)] were statistically different based on the level of education.

Conclusion: The undergraduate medical students have positive attitudes toward the specific elements of professionalism (empathy, teamwork, and lifelong learning) but didn’t use them in their behavior.

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Background and Objective:   Morning report is a common and valuable method (Gold Standard) in clinical education. It has some characteristics and standards that, when properly applied, will play an effective role in students’ clinical learning.
Materials and Methods:  A total of 196 apprentices, interns and residents participated in this descriptive-analytical study. The data were gathered by a researcher-made questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed by experts’ views and Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. Data analysis was performed by SPSS (version 20) using descriptive and inferential statistics.P≤0.05 was considered significant.
Results: The majority of participants believed the order of meetings, duration of meetings, and venues were at an average level. They also rated the seating of the teachers in the meeting and the type of diseases introduced to be at a good level. Presence of experts from other disciplines was found to be at the poorest level. 88% of students reported the overall usefulness of the morning reports to be average, and only 2% believed the morning reports’ usefulness to be appropriate, while 10 % evaluated the usefulness range as inappropriate for them. The maximum level of satisfaction was reported for infectious diseases morning report sessions.
Conclusion: In general, the quality of morning reports from the perspective of the students was average. Considering the importance of morning reports in medical education, more attention is recommended to be paid to promotion of its quality.

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Background & Objective: Attention to the necessary skills in time and place are among the most important issues in the evaluation of the quality of academic education. The present study aimed to evaluate the access of students to the 21^st century general skills at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted on 300 medical students, who were selected via simple random sampling. Data were collected using the questionnaire developed by Mahmoodi and Mola, which its validity has been confirmed based on expert opinions, and the reliability has been established at the Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90.
Results: The general skills of the 21^st century in the medical students were at an average level in the cognitive and affective domains considering a theoretical average of 3 (P<0.0001). However, the skill level was observed to be above average and favorable in the sociocultural domain (P<0.0001).  
Conclusion: According to the results, the access of the students at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences to the high-level cognitive and affective skills of the 21^st century was average, which should be taken into account for the optimization of the teaching-learning process and improvement of the curricula. 

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Background & Objective: Motivation and interest play a major role in the learning process, and the student's academic motivation depends on teaching style to some extent. In fact, a student-oriented and flexible learning method can increase the activities of learners. This study aimed to describe the effects of education management on the academic motivation of medical students in education management pattern, compared to the traditional method in the morning report topic.
Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study had a pretest-posttest design and was conducted on 30 medical students of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, randomly divided into two test and control groups. Data were collected using Harter's Holding School questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (independent t-test and univariate intergroup covariance) statistics.
Results: In this study, the mean and standard deviation of academic motivation in the two groups of education management and traditional method were 92.53±10.126 and 12.68±116.66, respectively. Comparison of d mean score of satisfaction of students in two groups and univariate intergroup covariance (F=6.816 and P=0.015) showed a significant difference between the satisfaction scores of students in the two research groups (ɑ<0.05).
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, the academic motivation of medical students was higher with the education management method, compared to traditional education. The model of education management led to better education and increased the academic motivation of students in the field of medicine by increasing motivation and reinforcing participatory spirit in these individuals.
 

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Background & Objective: Hope can maximize the satisfaction and mental wellbeing of students and result in their physical and mental health and adaptation. This study aimed to determine the relationship between hope components with academic status, motivation and burnout in students of Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
Materials and Methods: This correlational, descriptive study was conducted on 261 students in 2017, who were selected by random relative cluster sampling based on gender. Data were collected using the hope components questionnaire by Snyder et al., academic burnout scale by Berso et al., and academic motivation scale by Vallerand et al. In addition, data analysis was performed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, independent t-test and stepwise multiple regression.
Results: In this study, there was a negative, significant relationship between the total score of hope components and their subscales with academic burnout. On the other hand, a positive, significant association was observed between the mean total score of hope components and their dimensions with academic motivation. However, no significant relationship was found between the mean total score of hope components and their dimensions with academic status. Moreover, the regression results indicated that academic burnout was able to predict hope components in a negative, significant manner.
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, hopeful students have more academic motivation and lower vulnerability to academic burnout. Therefore, it is suggested that the hope level of students be increased by university authorities and professors in order to improve and decrease their academic motivation and burnout, respectively.

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