Perceived leadership quality in 1st-year medical students: A single-center, cross-sectional, and observational study

Abstract

Background: Today’s medical students are tomorrow’s future workforce in the Indian health-care system. Leadership quality among medical students is rarely assessed or discussed during the undergraduate medical course. Aim and Objective: This study aimed to ascertain the level of perceived leadership quality among 1st-year medical students in an Indian medical college. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with all 1st-year medical students studying MBBS. We took a convenience sample for this study. A self-report questionnaire-abbreviated self-leadership quality was used to assess the perceived leadership quality. This questionnaire has a total of nine questions or statements that have a 5-point Likert-type response option. Data were presented descriptively and analyzed by one-way analysis of variance. Results: A total of 87 (58 male and 29 female) 1st-year medical students participated in this study. The highest score was for self-goal setting and the lowest score was for self-reward. There was a significant difference (P < 0.0001) in the variance of a score. The questionnaire showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.86 which indicates the questionnaire was having a goo d internal consistency. Conclusion: From the experience of this single-center, it may be concluded that 1st-year medical students are having a high level of perceived leadership quality. Although their goal-setting is the highest quality, self-reward is not practiced by them. Leadership training in the curriculum may help in growing the leadership quality among medical students.