Correlation between mindfulness engagement and self-reported academic performance in medical students

ABSTRACT: English had been thought as one of the determining factor of academic excellence in medical school as students with better command of English are thought to have better understanding of the subjects compared to students who have poor command of English. English literacy has also been thought to be correlated with academic performance in medical school. While a lot of researches had been conducted on the relationship of English language proficiency and academic performance among non-native English speakers in other countries. The study on Malaysian medical students regarding this issue is still limited. The study was conducted to look at the correlation of English literacy and academic performance of medical students in USIM (Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia or Islamic Science University of Malaysia). This is a retrospective observational study. The results for “English for Medical Sciences” in Semester 4 was compared to the performance in Pathology course in the Second Professional Examination in Semester 6. A correlation study showed no correlation between the English literacy and the academic performance of the medical students with r = -0.027. Therefore, there is no significant correlation between the English literacy and the academic performance of the medical students in USIM. KEY WORDS : English literacy, academic performance, medical student of USIM, and English language proficiency. About the Authors: Dr. Suhaila Sanip is a Lecturer (Medical Education) at the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences USIM (Islamic Science University of Malaysia) and now as Deputy Dean (Student Development & Performance Management) at the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences USIM, 13 th Floor, Menara B, Persiaran MPAJ, Jalan Pandan Utama, Pandan Indah, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Dr. Noor Fadzilah Zulkifli is Senior Lecturer (Pathology), Multidisciplinary Laboratory Coordinator, and Pathology Course Coordinator at the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences USIM. They can be reached at: suhaila.s@usim.edu.my and nfadzilahz@usim.edu.my How to cite this article? Sanip, Suhaila & Noor Fadzilah Zulkifli. (2011). “Significance of English Literacy and Academic Performance of Medical Students in USIM” in EDUCARE: International Journal for Educational Studies , Vol.4(1) August, pp.93-98. Bandung, Indonesia: Minda Masagi Press owned by ASPENSI in Bandung, West Java; and FKIP UMP in Purwokerto, Central Java, ISSN 1979-7877. Chronicle of the article: Accepted (June 17, 2011); Revised (July 19, 2011); and Published (August 17, 2011).

Introduction: Video-gaming has become one of the most preferred leisure activities among adolescents, with prevalence rate being as high as 75% in some of the industrialized countries. Video games provide a ‘virtual world’ where the gamer can seek challenges and thrills in a safe way and fulfill his need for adventure and excitement. The popularity of video-games has raised concern over their possible impact on the physical, mental and emotional well being of an individual. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of video-games on academic performance and sleep duration in medical students. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in GIMS, Gadag, after being cleared by the Ethical committee. Fifty healthy male medical students who regularly played video-games acted as subjects, and fifty age and gender matched students were controls. Information related to duration of video-gaming, sleep duration and academic performance was assessed using comprehensive questionnaire. Comparison between the groups was done using students t-test. Correlation between duration of videogaming with academic performance and sleep duration in the subjects was assessed using Pearson’s correlation. Effect size was calculated. Results: In students, who regularly played video games, the academic performance was less and the duration of sleep was more, when compared to the students who didn’t play videogames. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0> Conclusion: Video-games have a negative effect on academic performance in medical students, and they also seem to increase the duration and requirement of sleep. Keywords: Video-games, Academic performance, Sleep duration.

Introduction: An important indicator of quality of medical education is students' academic performance and the study of factors which influence the academic performance of medical students is important as it can provide information to improve educational programs. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving medical students who passed their final professional examinations and were about to start their internship training. They were asked to complete an anonymously administered feedback form which contained questions regarding the academic performance of students in all the professional examinations of MBBS along with background characteristics of students. Data entry and statistical analysis was carried out using statistical software SPSS version 12. The primary outcome was the proportion of students in different levels of academic achievement. The secondary outcome was the factors associated with different levels of academic achievement. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the distribution of all variables. For finding out the association, an analysis using Chi-square test was done for qualitative data. Results: The mean age of participants was 22.7 ± 0.67 years (range 21–25). About 43.6% of the students had scored Conclusion: Many factors were found to have a significant association with academic performance of students such as residence, having a doctor parent, spending time on personal hobbies and social networking sites, time spent on study, and duration of sleep a day before examination.

Aim: To investigate the gender differences in stress and academic performance in first year medical students

Background: During menstrual period, there are many changes occurs such as somatic changes and mood changes which may affect day-to-day activity as well as academic performance of the young female students. Aim and Objective: The aim of our study is to find out the effect of menstrual symptoms on academic performance of medical students. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 180 female medical students were participated. For the assessment of the effect of menstrual symptoms on academic performance, students have to fill the Goggle Forms which contains the self-administered questionnaire. In this study, we include young medical and paramedical female students age between 17 and 25 years who have any musculoskeletal abnormality and who are willing to participate in this study. Results: Effect on academic performance was suggest by 113 (62.78%) students think that the classroom performance is affected and 110 (61.11%) students think that the examination performance is affected during menstrual period. One hundred and thirty-three (73.89) having mood swings during menstrual period. Conclusion: In this study, we have found that the menstrual symptoms have major effect on academic performance of female medical students. Counseling, mentoring, and support of female students during the menstrual period may improve their academic performance.

Factors related to academic performance in medical students

BackgroundThis paper is devoted to a narrative review of the literature on emotions and academic performance in medicine. The review aims to examine the role emotions play in the academic performance of undergraduate medical students.MethodsEight electronic databases were used to search the literature from 2013 to 2023, including Academic Search Ultimate, British Education Index, CINAHL, Education , ERIC, Medline, APA Psych Articles and APA Psych Info. Using specific keywords and terms in the databases, 3,285,208 articles were found. After applying the predefined exclusion and inclusion criteria to include only medical students and academic performance as an outcome, 45 articles remained, and two reviewers assessed the quality of the retrieved literature; 17 articles were selected for the narrative synthesis.ResultThe findings indicate that depression and anxiety are the most frequently reported variables in the reviewed literature, and they have negative and positive impacts on the academic performance of medical students. The included literature also reported that a high number of medical students experienced test anxiety during their study, which affected their academic performance. Positive emotions lead to positive academic outcomes and vice versa. However, Feelings of shame did not have any effect on the academic performance of medical students.DiscussionThe review suggests a significant relationship between emotions and academic performance among undergraduate medical students. While the evidence may not establish causation, it underscores the importance of considering emotional factors in understanding student performance. However, reliance on cross-sectional studies and self-reported data may introduce recall bias. Future research should concentrate on developing anxiety reduction strategies and enhancing mental well-being to improve academic performance.

Background: The identification of the factors influencing the academic progress and performance of students can be a suitable basis for planning and developing educational programs to achieve the best possible results in line with educational development. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of stress in the relationship of mindfulness and self-construal with the academic performance of medical sciences students. Methods: This was a descriptive correlational study in which the convenience sampling method was used to select 301 medical students from Jondishapur University of Ahvaz, Iran, in 2022. The participants completed the mindfulness, self-construal, and stress questionnaires. In addition, academic performance was measured based on the grade point average (GPA) in the previous semester. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping were also employed to examine the fit of the proposed model and indirect relationships between the variables, respectively. Results: The mean of academic performance, mindfulness, self-construal, and stress were obtained as 16.57, 57.6, 140.53, and 29.72, respectively. The results showed a significant relationship between all research variables (P &lt; 0.05) except for the relationship between mindfulness and academic performance. The results also indicated that stress was a mediator in the indirect relationship of mindfulness and self-construal with academic performance (P &lt; 0.001). The fit indices of the Tucker–Lewis index (TLI), comparative fit index (CFI), relative fit index (RFI), normed fit index (NFI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) in the final model were 0.94, 0.96, 0.92, 0.94, and 0.077, respectively. Conclusions: The results confirmed the proposed model’s goodness of fit. Therefore, this model can be used for identifying the factors affecting the academic performance of medical students and developing programs to prevent academic failure and stress among these students.

Recent researchers found that undergraduate medical students experience academic pressure due to less support from teachers and little recreation time. Therefore, the current study aimed at examining the important relationship between perceived autonomy support, physical fitness, and academic performance among medical students. Since, numerous researches raised the concern of poor academic performance of undergraduate medical students. A total of 503 data was collected using stratified random sampling from 4 medical university. Data was gathered using standardized measures. Descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Analysis were run using SPSS software. Results revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between perceived autonomy support, physical fitness, and academic performance. Studies present useful insight for policy makers, stakeholders, and teachers.

Introduction/Objective. University students from low-income families may face many challenges during their studies, which may affect their academic experience and outcomes. The aims of this study were to assess some lifestyle characteristics and academic performance of medical students and their relation to family income. Methods. A cross-sectional study included 2551 undergraduate medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, in Belgrade, Serbia. Results. According to multivariate analysis, in comparison with students from families with income lower than two national average salaries, students with higher family income significantly more frequently finished gymnasium before medical faculty, more frequently were in emotional relationships, were more frequently smokers and, alcohol and energy drinks consumers, and they less frequently reported academic pressure. Conclusion. The present study emphasizes that socioeconomic status is not associated with the academic success of undergraduate medical students. Students from higher status feel less academic pressure, they are more often consume cigarettes, alcohol, and energy drinks, they are more likely to have an urban background and have highly educated parents who work as private company employees, which can be indicators of the specific economic climate in Serbia. More studies need to be conducted to strengthen the implementation of evidence-based decisions.

Background: Feedback provides clarity on learning intention such as understanding, performance and acquisition of required skills. Regular feedback sessions, scheduled after each academic assessment, could help the students in improving their educational performance. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of feedback on academic growth of undergraduate medical students. Methods: It was a qausi-experimental study. Seventy-seven undergraduate medical students from academic year 2023 were randomly assigned to 18 teachers. Formal feedback was given to the students after first formative assessment followed by second formative assessment, conducted two months after the first one. Marks achieved in first and second formative assessment were compared through paired t test. A p value ≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The mean score of students in the exam conducted after feedback program was significantly higher than their previous performance (63.31±1.51 vs 52.08±1.52, p value &lt; 0.0001). Feedback helped girls achieving significantly higher increment in their marks as compared to boys (67.85 ±1.66 vs 59.72 ±2.22, p value &lt; 0.0001). Also, in comparison between students scoring &gt; 50% and the students scoring &lt; 50% marks in their first formative assessment, feedback proved more effective for the former group (68.92±1.34 vs 53.67±2.59, p value &lt; 0.0001). Conclusion: Feedback program ensures significant progress in academic performance of undergraduate medical students. Such programs should be incorporated regularly in the academic calendars of medical teaching institutes to promote student’s personal and professional development.

BACKGROUND:Academic performance of medical students is governed by various factors. Personality traits such as core self-evaluation (CSE) and locus of control (LOC) are a few of the most important factors that could govern academic performance. The medium of communication is another important factor, especially in a country with language diversity that could affect the academic performance of the new medical entrants. The study aims to examine the effect of LOC, CSE score, and English Language proficiency on the academic performance of undergraduate medical students.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Ninety undergraduate medical students of a premier central government medical institute of India has been recruited for the study after due ethical clearance from the Institutional Ethical Committee. A standard questionnaire for all the parameters to be studied had been filled by the participants. The academic performance has been judged on the basis of the professional examination's marks score.RESULTS:The multiple regression analysis considering all the variables, the English language proficiency appears to be the most important factor with R2 = 0.106 and P = 0.003. Most of the academic performers have shown the dominance of internal LOC and moderately high CSE scores though not statistically significant.CONCLUSIONS:Language proficiency appears to be one of the most important determinants of academic performance in the medical entrants of Indian subcontinent. LOC and CSE could be an important yardstick for academic performance, but that needs to be confirmed with another study with a bigger data set.

Current academic performance plays a crucial role in preparing medical students for final exams. High academic achievements during studies are significant predictors of success in the licensing KROK-2 exam, which assesses professional competencies. However, the war in Ukraine has introduced substantial challenges to the educational environment, particularly in medical education, disrupting teaching and learning processes. The aim of this study was to analyze the success of foreign medical students in the KROK-2 exam as a means of improving the effectiveness of the educational process in universities. Materials and Methods. The study analyzed the academic performance of 6th-year foreign medical students specializing in "Medicine" during the 2023 and 2024 academic years. The subtest results for "Hygiene and Health Care Organization" in KROK-2 were compared with academic marks in the discipline "Hygiene and Ecology." Results and Discussion. The analysis revealed significant changes in the distribution of grades between 2023 and 2024. The proportion of students achieving higher grades ("B" and "C") increased, while those with lower grades ("D" and "E") decreased. In 2024, a greater number of students took the KROK-2 exam (252 compared to 112 in 2023). Despite this, the average scores in 2024 were generally lower than in 2023, indicating potential challenges in adapting to wartime conditions. Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation between KROK-2 results and both discipline scores and everyday control assessments. The correlation strength washigher in 2024, suggesting that current academic performance and regular assessment more effectively predicted exam success compared to 2023. Conclusions. There is a positive trend in student performance, with an increase in higher ECTS grades (“A,” “B,” and “C”) and a decrease in lower grades (“D” and “E”) in 2024. While the number of students taking the KROK-2 exam increased in 2024, the average scores decreased, indicating a need for further investigation into influencing factors. Efforts should focus on enhancing the preparation of students with lower grades (“C,” “D,” and “E”) to improve overall educational outcomes.

Background: due to their demanding lifestyle, sleep deprivation is common amongst the medical students. A study, which followed 1,007 young adults at a health maintenance organization for 3.5 years, found that a history of insomnia predicted new-onset depression, also other psychiatric disorders. Another study showed that sleeping disorders and insomnia are negatively associated with academic performance in medical students in Saudi Arabia. The relationship between sleeping disorders among medical students in Saudi Arabia; about anti-insomnia medications is insufficiently addressed in the literature. This study aimed to assess the relationship between sleep habits and sleep duration with academic performance in the medical students. Objectives: this study aimed to determine sleep pattern disorders among medical students, as well as, the use of anti-insomnia medications and alsoto define the relation regarding the academic performance among the sample medical students in Saudi Arabia. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study which was conducted among the medical students at three different medical schools, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from May 2014 to December 2014.. A self-administrated randomized questionnaire was developed and designed in the Arabic language in the form of multiple choices and short answers, concerning age, gender, educational level, grade point average GPA, financial status, total sleep hours per day, mid-day naps duration, quality and latency of sleep and using of anti-insomnia medications. Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was also involved in the questionnaire. Results: out of 276 received questionnaires, 237 questionnaires were completed. Out of those 237 subjects, 92 subjects were female students (38.7%), and 145 were male students (60.9%). The mean age was 22 ±2.37. Regarding GPA, 122 participants got below average GPA, 28 participants got average GPA, 62 participants got an average GPA, while 25 participants got an excellent GPA (51.3%, 11.8%, 26.1%,10.5% respectively). 127 of the participants were used medications to help them to sleep, and 9.7% used it occasionally, whereas 110 of the participants did not use any medication. Out of 127 participants who used the medications, 92.5% of them agreed that medications they took were helpful and effective.Conclusion: this study showed a significant relationship between the use of anti-insomnia medications and the academic performance of medical students, further committee and education should be established by the universities and faculties to enhance the student’s awareness to the issue of the chronic use of anti-insomnia medications at first and to apply a perfectly healthy environment with less stress and condensed classes and exams.

BackgroundThis study was conducted to identify predictors of self-reported academic performance in undergraduate medical students at Hawassa University.MethodsAn analytical cross-sectional study involving 592 undergraduate medical students was conducted in November 2012. The academic performance of the study subjects was measured by self-reported cumulative grade point average (GPA) using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16 software. Pearson’s bivariate correlations, multiple linear regression, and multiple logistic regression were used to identify predictors of academic performance.ResultsThe self-reported academic performance of students had been decreasing as the academic years progressed, with the highest and lowest performance being in the premedicine (mean GPA 3.47) and clinical I (mean GPA 2.71) years, respectively. One hundred and fifty-eight (26.7%) of the participants had ever been delayed, 37 (6.2%) had ever re-sat for examination, and two (0.3%) had ever been warned due to academic failure. The overall variation in self-reported academic performance of the students was 32.8%. Participant age alone explained 21.9% of the variation. On the other hand, university entrance examination results, substance use at university, and medicine as first choice by students were identified as predictors of variation in self-reported academic performance, accounting for 6.9%, 2.7%, and <1% of the variation, respectively. Students who had never used tobacco, alcohol, or khat after starting university were twice as likely to score a self-reported cumulative GPA above 3.0 (adjusted odds ratio 1.95, 95% confidence interval 1.25–3.02) and less likely to be delayed, have to re-sit an examination, or be warned (adjusted odds ratio 0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.29–0.77).ConclusionOnly 32.8% of the variation in self-reported academic performance was explained by the studied variables. Hence, efficacious mechanisms should be designed to combat the intervenable determinants of self-reported academic performance, like substance use and a low medical school entrance examination result. Further studies should also be undertaken to gain a better understanding of other unstudied determinants, like personality, learning style, cognitive ability, and the system used for academic evaluation.