Perceptions of pre-clerkship medical students and academic advisors about sleep deprivation and its relationship to academic performance: a cross-sectional perspective from Saudi Arabia

The prevalence and associated factors of sleep deprivation among healthy college students in China: a cross-sectional survey

Background

The prevalence of sleep deprivation among college students is increasing and has a few associated factors.

Methods

The present study analyzed 2,142 college students from 28 provinces in China. The Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess sleep duration. Binary logistic regression was conducted to explore the sleep deprivation related factors. Age and gender were controlled as covariates.

Results

Among the 2,142 college students (27.7% male, 72.3% female), 1,620 (75.6%) reported the average sleep duration was below 7 h per day for one month, 49.3% (1,055/2,142) slept 6∼7 h (contains 6 h), 21.0% (449/2,142) slept 5∼6 h (contains 5 h), and 5.4% (116/2,142) slept <5 h. Age increased the risk of sleep deprivation, the adjusted odds ratio = 1.05 (95% CI [1.01∼1.10]). The adjusted odds ratio (A-OR) for sleep deprivation was higher for students of more than 60 min nap duration per day (A-OR = 2.35, 95% CI [1.45∼3.80]), and age growth (A-OR = 1.05, 95% CI [1.01∼1.10]). In contrast, A-ORs were lower among sleeping inconsistency between work and rest days (A-OR = 0.61, 95% CI [0.49∼0.75]), accustomed to staying up late (A-OR = 0.45, 95% CI [0.36∼0.57]), staying up late to work or study (A-OR = 0.62, 95% CI [0.49∼0.78]), stress (A-OR = 0.75, 95% CI [0.58∼0.98]), and repeated thoughts in bed had (A-OR = 0.79, 95% CI [0.62∼0.99]).

Conclusions

Sleep deprivation is extremely common among healthy college students in China. It is necessary to perform methods maintaining enough sleep due to the current high incidence of sleep deprivation. Controlling the nap duration and getting enough sleep on rest days to replace missing hours of sleep on workdays might improve college students' sleep.

Effects of Sleep Quality on Academic Performance and Psychological Distress Among Medical Students in Saudi Arabia

Background: Sleep hygiene habits are essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Sleep deprivation is a prevalent problem worldwide. Multiple studies have shown a high prevalence of sleep insufficiency among medical students due to high academic load, caffeine intake, and high-stress levels. Objectives: This study explores the relationship between sleep quality, academic performance, and psychological distress among medical students at Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students of all academic years at Alfaisal University, Riyadh. Two popular surveys – the PSQI and K10 - were used to assess sleep quality and psychological distress, respectively. In addition, the survey contained questions on socio-demographics and academic performance. Sociodemographic characteristics were assessed across groups having poor and good sleep quality. In multivariate analysis, we employed conscious variable selection to develop models. All statistical tests were two-sided at P < 0.05 as statistically significant. Results: A total of 241 respondents participated in the study. Most respondents reported poor sleep quality (75.93%). The highest psychological distress was reported among respondents with poor sleep quality (48.63%). The relationship between Kessler's Psychological Distress score and sleep quality score was significantly positive and linear (P < 0.0001). The mean PSQI score was higher in students with lower GPAs (1.50 - 2.99) than in those with higher GPAs (3.00 - 4.00). This shows that those students who sleep well perform academically better. Conclusions: The quality of sleep among medical students is poor, which is associated with psychological distress and poor academic performance. It is highly suggested that the awareness of sleep hygiene with healthy sleep habits be campaigned among medical students. Also, academic mentors, program directors, and coordinators play a crucial role in ensuring that medical students are not academically overwhelmed.

Factors related to academic failure in preclinical medical education: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Identifying the learners' problems early enough and providing advice from the beginning is definitely an important investment in the training and progress of future practitioners. The current review aimed at examining factors related to academic failure of the preclinical medical students.

METHODS

The study was carried out as a systematic search of publications in the following databases published from January 1987 to January 2018: PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Educational Resources, Information Center and Scopus. No language limitation was set for searching the resources. As a comprehensive search, the following keywords were used for the abstract, title and keyword sections: academic performance, academic failure, academic achievement, drop out, academic engagement, learning disorder, medical student, struggle student and problem learner. A valid tool (STROBE) was used to determine the quality of the articles.

RESULTS

Most articles discussed personal causes, 7 discussed learning style, 7 discussed personality traits, 6 discussed motivational strategies and self-efficacy, 4 discussed quality of sleep, 4 discussed the effect of stress, 9 discussed demographic factors, 3 discussed physical activity, 1 discussed coping strategies, 2 discussed class attendance and 4 discussed study strategy. Twenty-five articles described instructional design cause, 3 described teaching strategies, 2 described course assessments, 1 described the course structure, 3 described critical thinking, 3 described blended learning, 13 described predictive courses, 14 described admission tests, 1 described the learning environment, 2 described curriculum planning and 3 described the pre-matriculation program.

CONCLUSION

Medical teachers often do not know which students are problem learners or what causes academic failure. The goal of this systematic review was to determine the origin of problems in learning to identify problem learners. The results indicates that managers, policymakers, instructors and counselors can monitor student academic achievement by careful planning of instructional design, attention to an educational environment, use of active teaching methods, continuous assessment of students and consideration of personal factors.

Factors related to academic failure in preclinical medical education: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Identifying the learners' problems early enough and providing advice from the beginning is definitely an important investment in the training and progress of future practitioners. The current review aimed at examining factors related to academic failure of the preclinical medical students.

METHODS

The study was carried out as a systematic search of publications in the following databases published from January 1987 to January 2018: PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Educational Resources, Information Center and Scopus. No language limitation was set for searching the resources. As a comprehensive search, the following keywords were used for the abstract, title and keyword sections: academic performance, academic failure, academic achievement, drop out, academic engagement, learning disorder, medical student, struggle student and problem learner. A valid tool (STROBE) was used to determine the quality of the articles.

RESULTS

Most articles discussed personal causes, 7 discussed learning style, 7 discussed personality traits, 6 discussed motivational strategies and self-efficacy, 4 discussed quality of sleep, 4 discussed the effect of stress, 9 discussed demographic factors, 3 discussed physical activity, 1 discussed coping strategies, 2 discussed class attendance and 4 discussed study strategy. Twenty-five articles described instructional design cause, 3 described teaching strategies, 2 described course assessments, 1 described the course structure, 3 described critical thinking, 3 described blended learning, 13 described predictive courses, 14 described admission tests, 1 described the learning environment, 2 described curriculum planning and 3 described the pre-matriculation program.

CONCLUSION

Medical teachers often do not know which students are problem learners or what causes academic failure. The goal of this systematic review was to determine the origin of problems in learning to identify problem learners. The results indicates that managers, policymakers, instructors and counselors can monitor student academic achievement by careful planning of instructional design, attention to an educational environment, use of active teaching methods, continuous assessment of students and consideration of personal factors.

Relationship between poor quality sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness and low academic performance in medical students

PURPOSE

Poor quality of sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness affect cognitive ability and have a negative impact on the academic performance of medical students. This study aims to determine the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and psychological distress as well as assess their association with low academic performance in this population.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 457 medical students from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat, Morocco, who completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale to determine the quality of sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness, respectively. Sociodemographic variables and psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale) were also measured. Multivariate linear regression was performed in order to evaluate the link between low academic performance and sleep quality after adjusting for other covariates.

RESULTS

Among the included students, the median age was 20 (19; 21) years; 70.7% of the participants were females. Almost one-third of the students (36.6%) had excessive daytime sleepiness and this was more frequently observed in female students (43% vs 20.1%, <0.001). Furthermore, 58.2% of the students were poor sleepers (PSQI ≥5), while 86.4% of them had psychological distress. The bivariate analysis showed that psychological distress was associated with decreased risk of low performance (ß=0.04; 95% CI=0.005-0.07; P=0.024). Being a poor sleeper was statistically associated with poor academic performance (ß= -0.07; 95% CI=-0.14 to -0.002; P=0.04) in the multivariate analysis. In our study, daytime sleepiness was not statistically associated with academic performance.

CONCLUSION

A poor sleep quality determined by PSQI ≥5 was related to poor academic achievement at the end of the study year in medical students.

Research trends in studies of medical students' characteristics: a scoping review

The purpose of this study is to investigate domestic and international research trends in studies of medical students' characteristics by using the scoping review methods. This study adopted the scoping review to assess papers on the characteristics of medical students. The procedure of research was carried out according to the five steps of the scoping review. The full texts of 100 papers are obtained and are read closely, after which suitable 88 papers are extracted by us for this research. The review is mapped by the year of the study, source, location, author, research design, research subject, objective, and key results. The frequency is analyzed by using Microsoft Excel and SPSS. We found 70 papers (79.5%) on a single medical school, 15 (17.0%) on multiple medical schools, and three (3.4%) on mixed schools, including medical and nonmedical schools. Sixty-nine (79.5%) were cross-sectional studies and 18 (20.5%) were longitudinal studies. Eighty-two papers (93.2%) adopted questionnaire surveys. We summarized research trends of studies on medical students in Korea and overseas by topic, and mapped them into physical health, mental health, psychological characteristics, cognitive characteristics, social characteristics, and career. This study provides insights into the future directions of research for the characteristics of medical students.

Perceptions of preclinical medical students towards extracurricular activities

OBJECTIVES

To determine the percentage of students involved in extracurricular activities (EAs), explore relationships between participation in EAs and students' characteristics, and investigate students' perceptions (i.e., motives and barriers) towards participation in EAs.

METHODS

An online, anonymous, random, cross-sectional, self-rating survey was administered during spring 2015-2016 to second-year and third-year students (n=340). Chi-square test was used to explore relationships between participation in EAs and students' characteristics. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare the mean 5-point Likert scale responses according to students' characteristics. Statistical significance was determined as p<0.05.

RESULTS

Two hundred thirty-seven students participated in the survey (n=237/340, response rate: 69.7%). Only 143 students (60.3%, n=140/237) participated in EAs, and this percentage significantly differed by gender (χ²(1, N=237)=4.3205, p<0.037), nationality (χ²(1, N=237)=18.7069, p<0.000) and cumulative grade point average (cGPA, χ²(1, N=237)=17.8296, p<0.000). The top three motives towards participation in EAs were: "improve resume" (83.5%, n=198), "improve networking skills" (82.7%, n=196) and "improve teamwork skills" (76.8%, n=182). The top three barriers towards participation in EAs were: "lack of time" (61.2%, n=145), "lack of equal opportunities in EAs" (57.8%, n=137) and "lack of curricular emphasis of EAs" (52.7%, n=125). There was a statistically significant difference of means between male (mean=2.8) and female (mean=3.2) students regarding the following barrier: "affect academic performance negatively" (U=5389.5, p<0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

The participation rate in EAs was satisfactory, and positively related to students' characteristics of male gender, non-Saudi nationality and high cGPA. Medical schools should facilitate all potential motives and resolve all associated barriers towards participation in EAs.