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- Title
Factors predictive of successful learning in postgraduate medical education.
- Authors
Smits, P B A; Verbeek, J H A M; Nauta, M C E; Ten Cate, Th J; Metz, J C M; Van Dijk, F J H
- Abstract
To establish which personal and contextual factors are predictive of successful outcomes in postgraduate medical education. We performed a follow-up study of 118 doctors on a postgraduate occupational health training programme on the management of mental health problems. The following personal and contextual variables were measured as potential predictors of outcome: gender; age; years of experience as a doctor; university of graduation; learning style (Kolb); present employer (occupational health service), and educational format (problem-based or lecture-based). The main outcome measures were: scores on knowledge tests consisting of true/false and open answer questions, and performance in practice based on self-report and performance indicators. To determine the effect of potential predictive factors univariate analyses of variance and repeated measurement analysis of variance was applied. The mean scores of knowledge ( P < 0.001) and performance ( P = 0.001) of the participants increased after the educational programme. After multivariate analysis female gender was positively related to accruements in both knowledge and performance (both P < 0.05), independently of the influence of other factors. Accommodator learning style showed a relation with knowledge increase ( P = 0.05), but had no influence on performance ( P = 0.79). The problem-based educational format yielded a better performance outcome ( P = 0.05), but had no influence on knowledge tests ( P = 0.31). Gender and learning style were found to be related to an increase in knowledge. Gender was also found to be related to improvement in performance after a postgraduate medical education programme. We found no interactions with course design (i.e. problem-based or non problem-based learning formats), but further research could reveal other cues, suggesting practical consequences of student characteristics for course design in postgraduate training.
- Subjects
GRADUATE medical education; MEDICAL education; OCCUPATIONAL medicine; PROBLEM-based learning; MENTAL health services; LEARNING
- Publication
Medical Education, 2004, Vol 38, Issue 7, p758
- ISSN
0308-0110
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2929.2004.01846.x