Factors that influence the academic performance of medical students with prior tertiary education
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Date
2016-05-06
Authors
Berghout, Esther
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
An in-depth study was carried out with a view to provide the School of Medicine,
University of the Free State, with more insight into the academic performance of senior
students (i.e. students with prior tertiary education) and factors influencing the
performance in their medical studies. Many studies have been done to investigate the
influence of factors on academic performance with a view to enhance understanding of
academic performance, to predict academic performance and to select the students
who are best equipped to study medicine. Many factors have been identified and
measured in the past years, but no study has focussed on the factors that influence
the academic performance of senior students specifically.
In this study, the specific characteristics of senior students were identified and
analysed for having influence on academic performance. The research methods
comprised a literature review, a retrospective-cohort study (quantitative data) and
semi-structured interviews (qualitative data).
The literature review provided the study with a theoretical framework. Recent and
relevant studies were used to gather information about characteristics of senior
students, factors that have an influence on academic performance and student
selection. Quantitative data were gathered from the database of the University of the
Free State to measure and compare the academic performance of senior students with
the rest of the class. The quantitative data underwent statistical analyses to identify
factors that influence the academic performance of senior students. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted with the intent to include personal experiences, opinions
and ideas of the senior students on their academic performance and the influence of
their previous studies and other factors.
The quantitative and qualitative results were combined when the results were
interpreted and discussed. Different factors that were found to have an influence in previous studies were confirmed, new factors were found and a few results differed
from what was found in the literature.
Different characteristics of senior students were identified in the semi-structured
interviews; factors such as intrinsic motivation, maturity and more awareness of
learning style have a positive influence on academic performance. Social division from
the rest of the class, financial strain and family commitments, however, have a
negative influence on academic performance. The type of previous tertiary education
had a limited influence on academic performance. The number of previous courses
and the number of years studied were found to have an influence (two or more
courses and more than five years have positive influence). Many students were of the
opinion that their previous tertiary education helped them in the transition to medical
school. The quantitative data analysis concluded that students with a Health
Profession background perform significantly better than the other senior students in
first and second year. Non-Science students start their medical studies significantly
better than biomedical science students in the first year, but their performance drops
far below the class average over time. A Biomedical Science background has a lower
pass rate in the first year compared to students who study Biomedical science for only
one year. Demographic factors that were found to have a positive influence in every
year were female gender and studying in the mother language. Older age showed to
have a negative influence on academic performance in fourth and fifth year.
The findings of this study made a valuable contribution to the knowledge base of
health professions education. The study ends with a list of recommendations with
regard to student selection and student support and development as well as further
research. The sound research approach and methodology ensured quality, reliability
and validity.
Description
Keywords
Academic achievement, Medical students, Universities and colleges, Medical education, Dissertation (M.HPE. (Health Professions Education))--University of the Free State, 2014, Adult education, Senior students, Prior/previous tertiary education, Influencing factors, Academic performance, Student selection, Mixed-methods design, Semi-structured interview