EVALUATION OF FACTORS CAUSING ABSENTEEISM FROM LECTURES IN A MEDICAL COLLEGE

Main Article Content

Noor Akbar Sial
Rifat Humayun
Farhat Humayun

Abstract

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the factors causing absenteeism among undergraduate medical students from lectures in a medical college.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Aziz Fatimah Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad, Pakistan during the month of July and August 2017. The participants were the medical students of the three batches (third year, fourth year and final year) of the college. There were 308 students, with more than 50% attendance in the last semester. These students were also attending clinical classes. They were asked to fill the Likert scale based questionnaire. This study was done to find out the factors which influence the students not to attend the lectures in medical college.

RESULTS: Out of 308 medical students in three batches, a total of 267 completed the questionnaire; the response rate was 86.6%. Mean age was 21.14±3.4 years. There were 105 (39.3%) male and 162 (60.6%) female students. The two most common reasons for not attending the lectures were preference of self-studying over attending lectures (n=123, 46%) and poor teaching style by lecturers (n=128, 47.9%).

CONCLUSION: This study proved that the problem of absenteeism is increasing nowadays in medical students. There are multiple factors of absenteeism including bad construction of the lectures and preferring self-study over taking lectures.

KEY WORDS: Absenteeism (MeSH); Medical Students (MesH); Lectures (MeSH); Likert Scale (MeSH); Self-study (Non-MeSH)

Article Details

How to Cite
Sial, N. A., R. Humayun, and F. Humayun. “EVALUATION OF FACTORS CAUSING ABSENTEEISM FROM LECTURES IN A MEDICAL COLLEGE”. KHYBER MEDICAL UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, vol. 10, no. 3, Sept. 2018, pp. 135-39, doi:10.35845/kmuj.2018.18076.
Section
Original Articles
Author Biography

Farhat Humayun, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Al Majmaah university. College of medicine. Lecturer anatomy

References

REFERENCES

Khaild N. Effects of Absenteeism on Students Performance. Int J Sci Res Publ 2017;7(9):151-68.

Kearney CA. School absenteeism and school refusal behavior in youth: A contemporary review. Clini Psychol Rev 2008;28(3):451-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2007.07.012

Balfanz R, Byrnes V. The importance of being in school: A report on absenteeism in the nation's public schools. Educ Digest 2012;78(2):4.

Mourshed M, Farrell D, Barton D. Education to employment: Designing a system that works. McKinsey Center for Government 2012. [Cited on: December 15, 2017]. Available from: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/social-sector/our-insights/education-to-employment-designing-a-system-that-works

Askeland KG, Haugland S, Stormark KM, Bøe T, Hysing M. Adolescent school absenteeism and service use in a population-based study. BMC public health 2015;15(1):626. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-015-1978-9

Thornton M, Darmody M, McCoy S. Persistent absenteeism among Irish primary school pupils. Ed Rev 2013;65(4):488-501.

Gage NL. Dealing with the dropout problem. Phi Delta Kappan 1990;72(4):280-5.

Barmby T, Nolan M, Winkelmann R. Contracted workdays and absence. Manchester Sch 2001;69(3):269-75.

Steward RJ, Devine Steward A, Blair J, Jo H, Hill MF. School attendance revisited: A study of urban African American students' grade point averages and coping strategies. Urban Educ 2008;43(5):519-36.

Pehlivan Z. Absenteeism at state high schools and related school management policies in Turkey (Ankara Case). Procedia Soc Behav Sci 2011;1(15):3121-6. DOI:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.257

Eastman G, Cooney SM, O’Connor CA, Small SA. Finding effective solutions to truancy, what works, Wisconsin - Research to Practice Series 5. Wisconsin II, University of Wisconsin, Madison. 2007. [Cited on: December 15, 2017]. Available from: https://fyi.uwex.edu/whatworkswisconsin/files/2014/04/whatworks_05.pdf

Gottfried MA. Excused versus unexcused: How student absences in elementary school affect academic achievement. Educ Eval Policy Anal 2009;31(4):392-415.

Hafeez K, Khan ML, Jawaid M, Haroon S. Low attendance in lectures at medical colleges of Karachi–A cross sectional survey. J Postgrad Med Inst 2014;28(2):161-4.

Allen IE, Seaman CA. Likert scales and data analyses. Qual Prog 2007;40(7):64-5.

Murphy RJ, Gray SA, Straja SR, Bogert MC. Student learning preferences and teaching implications. J Dent Educ 2004;68(8):859-66.

McGarr O. A review of podcasting in higher education: Its influence on the traditional lecture. Aust J Educ Tech 2009;25(3):309-21. DOI: 10.14742/ajet.1136

Basch, CE. Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap. J Sch Health 2011;81(10):593-8. DOI: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00632.x

Dhaliwal UP. Absenteeism and under-achievement in final year medical students. Natl Med J India 2003;16(1): 34-7.

BinSaeed AA, al-Otaibi MS, al-Ziyadi HG, Babsail AA, Shaik SA. Association between student absenteeism at a medical college and their academic grades. J Int Assoc Med Sci Educ 2009;19(4):155-9.

Desalegn AA, Berhan A, Berhan Y. Absenteeism among medical and health science undergraduate students at Hawassa University, Ethiopia. BMC Med Educ 2014;14(1):81. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-14-81

Wilson N. Impact of extracurricular activities on students. Am Psychol Assoc 2009.

Karim JA, Marwan YA, Dawas AM, Akhtar S. Self-confidence of medical students in performing clinical skills acquired during their surgical rotation. Saudi Med J 2012;33(12):1310-6.

Kooshki A, Akbarzadeh R, Rivandi M. Medicine Students Reasons for Choosing Medicine as a Career and Changes in Their Motivation During the Course. J Biomed 2016; 1(2):e5987.

Grabe M, Christopherson K, Douglas J. Providing introductory psychology students' access to online lecture notes: The relationship of note use to performance and class attendance. J Educ Tech Sys 2005;33(3):295-308.

Thurber CA, Walton EA. Homesickness and adjustment in university students. J Am Coll Health 2012;60(5):415-9.

Tripura K, Das R, Saha N. Attitude of medical students towards the reasons of absenteeism in a medical college of Tripura. IOSR J Dent Med Sci 2015;92:93-9. DOI: 10.9790/0853-14115110112