The pattern of social media use and its association with academic performance among medical students

<p><b>Background:</b> There are concerns that the use of social media (SM) among medical students could affect academic performance. The objectives of the study were to investigate the pattern and reasons for SM use and their association with academic performance.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> A stratified random sample, frequency distribution and comparison of categorical variables with Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Of the 97% who responded, 98% used SM. The most popular were Whatsapp (87.8%), You tube (60.8%) and Twitter (51.8%) for general use; while You tube (83.5%), Whatsapp (35.5%) and Twitter (35.3%) for learning. For general use, there was a significant higher number of visits to You tube and Facebook among male students, while the reverse was true for Instagram and Path. Around 71% visited SM >4 times/day and 55% spent 1–4 hours/day. The main reasons for SM use were entertainment (95.8%), staying up-to-date with news (88.3%), and socializing (85.5%); for academic studies (40%). There was no significant association between Grade Point Average and the frequency of daily SM use or use during lectures.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> While almost all the students used SM, only a minority used them for academic purposes. SM use was not associated with academic performance.</p

Validation of a new study skills scale to provide an explanation for depressive symptoms among medical students

<div><p>Background</p><p>Medical students are faced with enormous academic demands that may influence their emotional wellbeing. The high rate of depression among medical students and its negative impact is an impetus to find explanation for the factors associated with it. Study skills that students possess might be such a factor. The current tools for the assessment of the study skills may have certain limitations, particularly for different cultural settings.</p><p>Objectives</p><p>This study aimed to develop and validate a Study Skills Inventory (SSI), and to investigate the relationship between the students’ study skills and the extent (severity) of depressive symptoms, measured using the validated tool.</p><p>Method</p><p>The first version of the SSI was developed through expert consensus. The inventory was then administered to a randomly selected group of medical students. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for the internal validity. External validation was conducted by comparing the results of the SSI with the “Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students” (ASSIST). After validation, the correlation between the SSI total score with the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) total score was investigated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The means of the total study skills scores for each severity category of depression were compared using ANOVA.</p><p>Results</p><p>A total of 23 items, representing five sub-scales, were included in the inventory. Based on 372 student responses (response rate of 93%), the five-factor solution explained a cumulative variance of 52% and Cronach alpha was 0.84. The SSI total score had a significant negative association with the BDI-II depression score (Pearson correlation of -.348** and P<0.0001).</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>This study showed evidence for acceptable reliability and validity of the newly developed SSI. Poor study skills were found to correlate with higher depressive symptoms. This association needs confirmation in future research and could open a new door for better understanding of student depression.</p></div

The loading for the 23 items and the subscales they fit.

<p>The loading for the 23 items and the subscales they fit.</p

Comparison of the respondents’ means of SSI total scores with different severity levels of depression.

<p>Comparison of the respondents’ means of SSI total scores with different severity levels of depression.</p

Distribution of socio-demographic characteristics of study subjects (n = 328).

<p>Distribution of socio-demographic characteristics of study subjects (n = 328).</p

The SSI inventory total and five factors statistics for the study sample.

<p>The SSI inventory total and five factors statistics for the study sample.</p