Journal of Medical Education Development

fa Self-directed learning ability and its relationship with perceived perioperative competence in the senior undergraduate surgical technology students: A cross-sectional study آموزش پزشکی Medical Education پژوهشي اصیل Orginal Research <div style="text-align: justify;">Background & Objective: Self-directed learning (SDL) as an effective strategy in surgical technology students can significantly help to improve their skills and clinical competence. The present study aimed to determine SDL ability and its relationship with Perceived Perioperative Competence in senior undergraduate surgical technology students. Materials & Methods: The present descriptive study was conducted based on a cross-sectional design. This research included 207 final-year surgical technology students via the census method. Data collection tools included a demographic characteristics form, the Self-Directed Learning Instrument (SDLI) developed by Su-Fen Cheng (2010), and the Perceived Perioperative Competence scale. After collecting the data, they were analyzed in  SPSS version software (version 20). Results: The mean SDL and clinical competence scores were reported as 73.8±8.9(intermediate level) and 107.2±17.3 (intermediate level), respectively. Among various dimensions of perceived clinical competence, interaction with colleagues had the highest value (3.4±0.6). Among the dimensions of SDL, interpersonal communication obtained the highest value (3.8±0.4). To investigate the relationship between SDL and clinical competence, Kendall's Tau and Spearman's correlation coefficients were obtained at 0.601 and 0.794, respectively, pointing to the significant positive relationship between the two variables (P<0.001). Conclusion: As evidenced by the obtained results, the SDL ability predicts the clinical competence of surgical technology students; therefore, revising the curricula of surgical technology students at the BS level and paying attention to the principle of student-centeredness in the education process, along with conducting training courses on SDL principles, can improve students' clinical competence. </div> Self-directed learning, clinical competence, operating room, student 45 54 http://edujournal.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-12-1773-2&slc_lang=fa&sid=1 Omid Zadi Akhuleh omid.zd.axule73@gmail.com 5300319475328460030250 5300319475328460030250 No Medical Education Research Center, Health Management and Safety Promotion Research Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Mojgan Lotfi mojgan.lotfi@yahoo.com 5300319475328460030251 5300319475328460030251 No Medical-Surgical Nursing Department, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Vahid Rahmani vahid.rahmani.73@gmail.com 5300319475328460030252 5300319475328460030252 Yes Department of Operating Room, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran. Zahra Sheikhalipour sheikhalipourz@gmail.com 5300319475328460030253 5300319475328460030253 No Medical-Surgical Nursing Department, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. mozhgan behshid mozhganbehshid@hotmail.com 5300319475328460030254 5300319475328460030254 No Medical Education Research Center, Health Management and Safety Promotion Research Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Mohammadtaghi Khodayari khdayarimt50@gmail.com 5300319475328460030255 5300319475328460030255 No Department of Public Health, School of Allied Medical sciences, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran. Nasrin Aghazadeh nasrinaghazade7@gmail.com 5300319475328460030256 5300319475328460030256 No Department of Midwifery, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran.