Students In Nepal Research Articles

A quantitative evaluation of empathy using JSE-S Tool, before and after a Medical Humanities Module, amongst first-year medical students in Nepal

BackgroundDoctors’ empathy: the understanding of patients’ experiences, concerns and perspectives, is highly valued by patients yet often lacking in patient care. Medical Humanities has been introduced within undergraduate curriculum to address this lack in empathy. There is a paucity of research on the impact of a course on medical humanities on the empathy of medical students, particularly in South Asia. Here we report on the impact of such an intervention in first-year medical students and aim to help outcome-based medical education and the evaluation and promotion of humanities within medical courses.MethodsThis study is a quantitative evaluation of student empathy before and after a Medical Humanities Module. The study employs the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student version (JSE-S). Participants were first-year medical students at Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Nepal. All cohort students were invited to participate and written consent was obtained. Data were collected both prior-to and on-completion-of, a six-week Medical Humanities Module. Pre- and post-module data were analyzed and the resulting empathy scores compared using the paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Subgroup analysis was undertaken to determine the association of the score with gender and preferred future speciality.ResultsSixty-two student responses were analyzed, 32 (52%) of whom were male. In the pre-module scores females had a slightly higher mean score than males:108 and 103 respectively. Participants who preferred people-oriented specialities also scored higher than those preferring procedure and technology-oriented specialities: 107 and 103 respectively. There was a significant increase in mean score for the entire class from pre-module to post-module: 105 to 116, p-value of < 0.001. Mean scores rose from 103 to 116 in males, and from 108 to 116 in females. Participants preferring procedure and technology-oriented specialities showed a significant increase in mean scores:103 to 117, and participants preferring people-oriented specialities demonstrated a smaller increase:107 to 111.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence of the impact of a Medical Humanities course for increasing medical student empathy scores at an institution in Nepal. Teaching of Medical Humanities is an important contributor to the development of empathy in medical students and its widespread expansion in the whole of South Asia should be considered.

Sleep quality and its correlates among undergraduate medical students in Nepal: A cross-sectional study.

Poor sleep quality has been found to affect students' learning abilities, academic performance, and interpersonal relationships. However, little is known about this issue in Nepal. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with poor sleep quality among undergraduate medical students in Nepal. A web-based survey was conducted in March 2021 among 212 undergraduate medical students at the Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal. Sleep quality was measured using a 19-item Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to assess the factors associated with sleep quality. In the study participants, 38.2% of the students were identified as poor sleepers. Factors like being depressed (AOR = 4.5, 95% CI; 1.2-5.4), current alcohol use (AOR = 2.5, 95% CI; 1.8-10.8), poor academic achievement (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI; 1.1-10.9), and being a fourth-year student (AOR = 3.6, 95% CI; 1.1-11.8) were significantly associated with poor sleep quality. Poor sleep quality was common among undergraduate medical students. Routine screening of sleep quality and depressive symptoms is necessary to mitigate their impact among medical students. Medical students of the fourth year, current alcohol users, and those who did not have good academic achievement had poor sleep quality. Special attention on these population subgroups is thus needed to enhance sleep quality.

Interview with Father David Townsend

Father David Townsend worked with the refugee education of the Bhutanese refugee students in Nepal. His contribution to the students deserves a historical archiving. I P Adhikari and Govinda Rizal of Bhutan Watch approached Father David for a written interview. He has given insightful information of the education system in refugee camps in the final years of the 20th century and several other facts related to Bhutan and Bhutanese refugees

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards COVID-19 among Undergraduate Students in Nepal

Background: Nepal is a landlocked country standing highly vulnerable to unfolding pandemic. As per a UNDP survey in May, three in five employees had lost their job during COVID-19 and most of them were youths. During the first 74 days of lockdown, 16 people committed suicide per day (total 1227 cases). Hence, the main objective of the study was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 in undergraduate students of Nepal. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice among undergraduates of Nepal. Materials and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study conducted among undergraduates residing in Nepal through online Google Forms for the conduction of online survey using purposive sampling technique. The participants were called through social media and the process about the use of Google Forms was explained by the researcher. The questionnaires were taken from open-access pre-published article. Univariate and bivariate analyses were applied for assessing knowledge, attitude, and practice and their association with independent variables. Results: In this study, among the 120 respondent who had agreed to take part in the research study, the overall knowledge level was found to be high toward COVID-19 among Nepalese undergraduates (Mean=0.74, SD=0.16), Majority of the participants, that is, 92.5% of participants had positive attitude regarding improved immunity as a measure to protect from COVID-19 and had good practice to prevent COVID-19 (Mean=0.84, SD=0.28). Conclusion: The knowledge was found to be high. Furthermore, optimistic attitude and proactive practice was seen among the undergraduates toward the battle against this pandemic. Contradiction to previous studies, significant association of provincial habitat with attitude towards COVID-19 was found.

Correlation of Different Facial Measurements among Undergraduate Medical and Nursing students in Nepal

Background and Objectives: The human being is found different by its overall morphology and body dimensions. Thus, the study was focussed to access the correlation of different facial measurements among undergraduate medical and nursing students in Nepal. Material and Methods: An institutional based cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Clinical Anatomy, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal. The variables selected for the present study was 140 subjects, among them 44 were female and 96 were male. Physical measurements were made by Spreading Caliper, Measuring tape, Weight machine, Height Scale. All the procedures were of non-invasive type. The personal height and weight, head length, head breadth, head circumference, Facial height, bigonial breadth, bizygomatic facial breadth was measured using International standard protocol. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 20. ‘t’ tests was applied. P &lt;0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Out of total, 68.6% were male and 31.4% were female. The mean age of the study participants were 20.36±1.29 ranges from 18 years to 26 years. The mean facial height and bizygomatic facial width of male were 10.96 cm and 13.64 cm with SD of 0.59 cm and 0.48 cm whereas for female the mean were 10.13 cm and 12.75 cm with SD of 0.67 cm and 0.49 cm respectively. The anthropometry and different facial measurements among males were significantly higher (p&lt;0.0001) than the females. A positive correlation was observed for head breadth, head circumference, bigonial breadth, facial height, bizygomatic facial width whereas an inverse correlated was observed inversely correlated for head length with age. Conclusions: The anthropometry (height, weight, head length, head breadth, head circumference) and different facial measurements (Bigonial breadth, Bizygomatic facial width, and Facial height) among MBBS students were found to be significantly higher than the nursing students. A positive correlation was observed for head breadth, head circumference, bigonial breadth, facial height, bizygomatic facial width whereas an inverse correlated was observed inversely correlated for head length with age.

Oral Health Status and Practice among Buddhist Monk and Nun Students: Monastery Based Study in Nepal

Introduction: Oral health conditions can be largely preventable but still major health burden for many countries.&#x0D; Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate oral health status and practice among Buddhist monk and Nun students in Nepal.&#x0D; Methods: Monastery based cross sectional study was performed among 422 students from six monasteries with age group 6 to 20 years old from March to October 2021. A set of oral health related questionnaire were used followed by intraoral examinations including assessment of Decayed Missing Filled Teeth (DMFT), Gingival Status and Calculus Score along with dietary habits. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS with descriptive, Mann Whitney test and Spearman’s correlation test.&#x0D; Results: Oral health knowledge attitude and practice were good in compared to other school children with same age groups. The mean DMFT Score were 1.62 ± 2.19 and mean dmft 0.59 ± 1.4 with good gingival and calculus score. Very few of them (47, 11.1%) had filled permanent tooth and 98 (23.2%) of them had dental pain within past six months of study. None of them (100%) had undergone orthodontic treatment where 23% had class III Angle’s Molar relationship. Dental caries showed an increasing trend in relation to age with significant moderate correlation (r=0.35, p&lt;0.05).&#x0D; Conclusions: The increased oral pain among Buddhist monk and nun with untreated dental caries regardless of sugary foods seems to be a challenging problem in monasteries with limited provision of dental service.

High-Stakes Test Pressure and Anxiety in the Nepalese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners

Despite a growing body of research on language test impact, little is known about the impacts of a high-stakes test on students in the Nepalese context. This paper reports on a study that explored the impact of an English as a foreign language (EFL) test on students in Nepal. The data generated through a student survey (n=247), oral diaries (n=72) and semi-structured interviews (n=24) with students and parents indicate severe impact of the English test on students. The majority of students reported that they were under tremendous pressure to perform well on the test and they had a high level of anxiety associated with the test. There were several indications that students had test related anxiety mainly because of their perception that poor performance on the test has negative effects on their social prestige and on career prospects. Additional reasons of their anxiety included high expectations from their parents and teachers. Finally, some of the pressing policy, pedagogical and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Significance of Teaching the Pronunciation of Segmental and Suprasegmental Features of English

Pronunciation is an essential and rudimentary facet of language involved in an oral communication. This article attempts to highlight the significance of teaching the pronunciationof segmental and suprasegmental features of English. The segmental features involve consonant and vowel sounds or phonemes, whereas the suprasegmental features include stress, rhythm, intonation, pitch, length etc. The central function of a language is for communication through speech. The speech is sequences of the pronunciation of segmental as well as suprasegmental features. At least, legible pronunciation is essential for anunderstandable communication. Legible pronunciation of any one of Standard British English (SBE), Scottish Standard English and General American English (GAE) is indispensable for the proper and effective oral communication in the global context. Standard British English (SBE) is normally used in context of teaching English to the students in Nepal. It is a difficult task to teach the standard pronunciation to the students whose native tongue is not English, but teaching pronunciation can improve their ways of speaking to some extent. There is not always one-to-one corresponding correlation between spellings and their sounds in words. A spelling may retain different sounds in different phonetic environment. The article writer has pinpointed some instances where the wrong pronunciation of a speaker can lead to a misleading communication. To avoid the wrong or unintelligible pronunciation, it is necessary to teach the intelligible or standard pronunciation of English to our students.

Knowledge of Unsafe Abortion among Female Students in Nepal

The term 'abortion' is a deliberate termination of unwanted human pregnancy. To save maternal health and life and control population growth, abortion has been legally permitted in Nepal since 2002. Most of the female youths stay away from home and are vulnerable to risky behavior regarding sex related matters. They have no proper knowledge about unsafe abortion. The objective of this article is to investigate the knowledge about unsafe abortion among the female youths in Pokhara. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 133 BBS first-year female students by using the simple random sampling. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared to assess the participants’ socio-demographic factors along with their knowledge about unsafe abortion. The association of knowledge was categorized with selected variables. Out of the 133 respondents, 49.6 percent were from the age group 19-20, 46.6 percent from the group of Janjati, 78.2 percent from the group of Hindu followers and 86.5 percent from the single respondents. The majority of the respondents (71.4 percent) were found to have the knowledge that over-bleeding was the consequence of abortion. Among the total respondents, 58 percent respondents had good knowledge about unsafe abortion and 15 percent had poor knowledge about unsafe abortion. No significant connection of age with knowledge of unsafe abortion has been observed during the study as the p value is greater than 0.05 at 95 confidence level, but other variables like caste, religion, place of residence and marital status have been found to have a significant relation with knowledge of unsafe abortion because p value is smaller than 0.05 at 95 confidence level.

Effects of Using Digital Devices on Food Consumption among University Students in Nepal

Food consuming behavior is a concern for good physiological, physical, psychological, and social health. An unbalanced eating habit may be related to several factors. The objective of the study was to investigate how the use of digital devices influences graduate students’ eating behavior. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 320 Masters of Philosophy (MPhil) scholars of Nepal Open University through an online survey. A Chi-square test and a binary logistic regression model were fitted to find the effect of digital devices on food consumption. There was a significant association between the duration of using a mobile phone, computer, and TV with the quantity of food consumed, preferred time of using a laptop with the quantity of food consumed, and the sitting position during the use of digital devices with the quantity of food consumed. The logistic regression model showed that individual’s sitting positions while using digital devices were significant predictors of food consumption at a 95% confidence level.

Association Between Internet Addiction, Depression and Sleep Quality Among Undergraduate Students of Medical and Allied Sciences.

The use of the internet is growing rapidly worldwide with easier availability and affordability in developing countries like Nepal. Apart from several benefits, it has also led to deleterious effects on certain individuals' physical and mental well-being. The present study aimed to assess the burden of internet addiction among nursing, dental and medical undergraduates at a medical school, and examine its relationship with depression and sleep quality. A cross-sectional study among 494 students pursuing nursing, dental and medical undergraduate courses at the same medical college in Nepal was conducted. The burden of internet addiction, depression, and sleep disturbance was assessed using Young's Internet addiction test, Beck's depression inventory, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaires respectively. The majority of respondents reported either controlled use of internet or mild problem with internet use. However, 4.7% of respondents reported significant problems due to internet use. Further, about 42.3% reported poor sleep quality, and 8.9% screened positive for depression. In both chi-square and logistic regression analyses, internet addiction was significantly associated with poor sleep quality and depression. The study shows that about half of the participants experienced at least some problems and a small but significant proportion of them reported severe problems due to internet use. This warrants the need to address the issue of internet addiction among medical and allied sciences students in Nepal. Further, internet addiction is associated with both depression and poor sleep quality, highlighting a need to develop effective interventions targeting all three problems holistically.

Optimal Use of the Sixth Sense in Devkota’s Poem “The Lunatic”

“The Lunatic” is one of Devkota’s widely read and intensely discussed poems by critics, teachers and university level students in Nepal. It has already been studied from structural, thematic and contextual perspectives by other writers, but this article writer attempts to pinpoint the poet’s optimal use of the sixth sense to perceive the people and society mentioned in the poem. The article writer underscores some poetic lines that reflect the utilization of the sixth sense which implies an extra-sensory perception beyond ordinary senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. These five natural senses are not sufficient to grasp the meanings and messages of the poem. This poem will be better understood if readers are capable of examining the poet’s sixth sense with which he perceives the persons and their deeds in society.

P10‐23: Magnitude of sleep quality and factor associated among undergraduate medical students in Nepal; cross‐sectional study

P10‐23: Magnitude of sleep quality and factor associated among undergraduate medical students in Nepal; cross‐sectional study

Deteriorating Performance of Students of Community School in English

Tremendous attempts have been made to ensure the quality of education and educational status of the students since if performance in the English language is good, it opens the door of the vast ocean of knowledge. Even though community school education in Nepal receives a significant portion of the total national budget, students' performance in those schools is below average, when compared to students in private institutions with limited resources and teachers who receive merger remuneration. This paper attempts to shed light on the causes of poor performance in the English language among Nepalese community school students in Nepal. This is a qualitative study in which assertions are backed up by pieces of evidence. It is based on previous studies about deteriorating English language performance in the world in general, and in Nepal in particular. The study identified student enrolment, motivation and language learning, politicization, lack of teachers’ professional development, and limited exposure to the English language as the major causes of students’ poor performance in English.

Online learning perception among college students during COVID-19 pandemic around the world: Review

The author conducted a systematic review of the perception of online learning among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The review included 21 studies from institutions in Asia (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia, and The Philippines), Europe (Romania and Poland), Africa (Ghana and Algeria), and South America (Chile). The results indicated that students from Asia and Africa overwhelmingly had an unfavorable view of online learning during the pandemic. More than 75% of students in Nepal, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Algeria, and Ghana used mobile phones to access course material which brought challenges, such as the high cost of data bundles, unreliable network, and lack of adequate cellphone space to download the materials needed for class. Other than Poland, Romania, and United Arab Emirates, students from the rest of the countries reported unreliable internet access. Additional challenges reported include lack of prior experience with online learning, technical difficulties accessing materials online, high volume of assignments, poor communication between learners and educators, distractions from home environment, and lack of practical and clinical experience for students in medical schools. The findings from this systematic review could help administrators of higher education institutions acknowledge the online learning difficulties experienced by college students and prepare for future disruptions.

Digital learning Initiatives, Challenges and Achievement in Higher Education in Nepal Amidst COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide and reshaped the existing educational system. Due to travel constraints and physical separation, there has been a global shift toward distance learning, and Nepal is no exception. This research intends to assess the practicality of online education by evaluating learners' experiences amidst COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was directed among HEIs students in Nepal using self-structured questionnaires. Our study revealed that 64.6% of the respondents were unsatisfied with online classes. More than half of the respondents (53.4%) use cell phones for online studies. Online education was reported to be unappealing to 28.8% of respondents. Variables such as age group (p = 0.05), enjoying class (p &lt; 0.001), hours spent for an online class in a day (p = 0.05), and period for educational work using an electronic device (p = 0.1) were found significant with satisfaction level using both bivariate test and inferential test of univariate binary logistics regression. The challenges and opportunities encountered among students and faculties are highlighted along with the recommendations for fortifying communication in online-based teaching/learning.

Knowledge and Factors Associated with Compliance of Standard Precautions in Clinical Exposure among Proficiency Certificate Level Nursing Students of Pokhara, Nepal

Introduction: The compliance with standard precautions during clinical exposure prevents the risk of infections in health professionals. Despite high degree effectiveness of standard precautions, low compliance rates has been reported among the nursing students in Nepal. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and factors associated with the compliance of standard precautions in clinical exposure among the nursing students in Pokhara, Nepal.&#x0D; Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in between July to December 2019 among 208 Proficiency Certificate Level nursing students studying in different nursing schools in Pokhara. Self-reporting questionnaire was used as a tool to determine knowledge on standard precautions and Compliance with Standard Precautions Scale (CSPS) was used to measure compliance rate. Chi-square test was performed to assess the factors associated with the compliance of standard precautions and binary logistic regression was performed to measure the strength of association.&#x0D; Results: Out of 208 students participated in the study; the overall compliance rate with standard precautions was 65%. Similarly, 91.3% nursing students had fair and only 2.9% had a good knowledge on standard precautions with average knowledge score 12.15 out of 24. Multivariable analysis revealed age &lt;18 years (AOR=2.307, 95% CI: 1.217-4.371), availability of infection control (IC) guidelines in wards (AOR=5.331, 95% CI: 1.852-15.345) and feedback on safety practices (AOR=7.419, 95% CI: 1.409-39.061) as the predictors of compliance of standard precautions among nursing students.&#x0D; Conclusion: The study concluded that, despite having fair knowledge on standard precautions, compliance rate is comparatively less among the students. Age of students, availability of infection control (IC) guidelines and feedback on safety practices were identified as significant predictors. There is an immediate need of training/orientation on standard precautions before clinical posting along with provision of infection control guideline in wards and supportive supervision and feedback during clinical exposure.

Quality of Life Among Medical Students in Nepal: A Comparative Study

Introduction: Medical education increases mental stress and affects the quality of life in medical students. Tough competition, academic performances, psychological distress, and unhealthy lifestyle add extra burden to the student. The study aimed to compare the quality of life among students of first and final year students.&#x0D; Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study among first and final-year students of Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery (MBBS) degree at National Medical College at Birgunj, Nepal. Pre-designed socio-demographic proforma along with the Kuppuswamy scale was administered to the student. Another scale used was the English version of (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief version) WHOQoL-Bref scale.&#x0D; Result: Eighty-one students participated in this study, where 54 students were from the first year and 27 students from an internship. 43.2% of them belonged to the upper socioeconomic class as per the Kuppuswamy scale. The quality of life of interns was higher and better in all domains but was statistically significant in general (0.002), psychological (0.006), environmental (0.002), and overall (0.008) domains.&#x0D; Conclusion: The quality of life of medical students is lower than the general population. It is poorer for the first-year student than the final year interns.

Knowledge, Practices and Anxiety related to Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID -19) among Nursing Students in Nepal

Introduction: COVID-19 is a pandemic that emerged and rapidly spread throughout the world in no time. Nursing students are the foundation of nursing profession and they have enormous role to control the spread of the disease in society. The present study was conducted to assess knowledge, practice and anxiety related to COVID-19 among nursing students of Nepal and to find out the correlation between anxiety and knowledge and practice. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 214 Proficiency Certificate Level and Bachelor of Sciences in Nursing students of Nursing Programme, Manipal College of Medical Sciences. Data were collected from 25th May to 2nd June 2020 through self-developed structured questionnaire to measure knowledge and practice whereas, a validated “Self -rating Anxiety scale (SAS)” was used to measure anxiety level via Google form. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential (spearman rho correlation) statistics. Results: Majority (73.80%) were from age group 16-20 years of age with mean age of 19.33±1.96 years. Majorities (83.60%) were Hindus. More than half (57.50%) of the respondents had adequate knowledge regarding corona virus infection, 58.90% had good practice and only 6.10% had mild to moderate anxiety level. There was no significant correlation of anxiety with knowledge (p=0.857) and practice (p=0.375). Conclusion: The study showed that more than half of the nursing students had inadequate knowledge, poor practices regarding corona virus infection and very few had mild to moderate anxiety level. Anxiety was not related to knowledge and practice regarding corona virus infection.

Problem-Based Learning Curriculum and Process Assessment System for the Undergraduate Competency-Based Medical Education

This article aims to provide an overview of problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum for integrating basic sciences subjects and clinical sciences with early clinical exposure. This approach provides the opportunity to teach the basic science subjects in context to medical students. PBL promotes self-directed learning skills among the medical students and facilitation skills among the faculty. PBL can also be used to observe, assess, and foster the noncognitive competencies among the medical students for which process assessment system must be established. The use of process assessment to observe, assess, and improve the preparation, participation, self-directed learning, critical thinking, leadership, communication, group skills and reflective competencies among medical students in Nepal for the last 10 years reveals that it can be implemented with the proper planning and training of faculty for this new system. PBL and process assessment system can serve to complement the competency-based medical education in the basic sciences phase of the undergraduate medical education curriculum.