Learning styles of medical students change along the study program: from ‘thinking and watching’ to ‘thinking and doing’

Background: Most students admitted to medical school are abstract-passive learners. However, as they progress through the program, active learning and concrete interpersonal interactions become crucial for the acquisition of professional competencies. The purpose of this study was to determine if and how medical students' learning styles change during the course of their undergraduate program. Methods: All students admitted to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) medical school between 2000 and 2011 (n = 1,290) took the Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory at school entrance. Two years later 627 students took it again, and in the seventh and last year of the program 104 students took it for a third time. The distribution of styles at years 1, 3 and 7, and the mobility of students between styles were analyzed with Bayesian models. Results: Most freshmen (54%) were classified as assimilators (abstract-passive learners); convergers (abstract-active) followed with 26%, whereas divergers (concrete-passive) and accommodators (concrete-active) accounted for 11% and 9%, respectively. By year 3, the styles' distribution remained unchanged but in year 7 convergers outnumbered assimilators (49% vs. 33%). In general, there were no gender-related differences. Discussion: Medical students change their preferred way of learning: they evolve from an abstract-reflexive style to an abstract-active one. This change might represent an adaptation to the curriculum, which evolves from a lecture-based teacher-centered to a problem-based student–centered model

Learning styles of medical students change along the study program: from ‘thinking and watching’ to ‘thinking and doing’

Background: Most students admitted to medical school are abstract-passive learners. However, as they progress through the program, active learning and concrete interpersonal interactions become crucial for the acquisition of professional competencies. The purpose of this study was to determine if and how medical students' learning styles change during the course of their undergraduate program. Methods: All students admitted to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) medical school between 2000 and 2011 (n = 1,290) took the Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory at school entrance. Two years later 627 students took it again, and in the seventh and last year of the program 104 students took it for a third time. The distribution of styles at years 1, 3 and 7, and the mobility of students between styles were analyzed with Bayesian models. Results: Most freshmen (54%) were classified as assimilators (abstract-passive learners); convergers (abstract-active) followed with 26%, whereas divergers (concrete-passive) and accommodators (concrete-active) accounted for 11% and 9%, respectively. By year 3, the styles' distribution remained unchanged but in year 7 convergers outnumbered assimilators (49% vs. 33%). In general, there were no gender-related differences. Discussion: Medical students change their preferred way of learning: they evolve from an abstract-reflexive style to an abstract-active one. This change might represent an adaptation to the curriculum, which evolves from a lecture-based teacher-centered to a problem-based student–centered model

Psicothema

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónValidación de la versión en español del Cuestionario del Continuo de Salud Mental-Versión Corta. Antecedentes: el Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) es un instrumento multidimensional diseñado para evaluar los componentes emocional, psicológico y social del bienestar personal. Ha sido traducido a varios idiomas; sin embargo, no hay una versión validada en español. Nuestro objetivo fue proveer a la comunidad hispanoparlante de una versión válida del MHC-SF. Método: MHC-SF se tradujo al español (s-MHC-SF) y se aplicó a una muestra de 3.355 adultos chilenos. Se realizó un análisis factorial confi rmatorio usando el modelo original de tres factores correlacionados y un modelo bifactorial recientemente descrito. Resultados: los puntajes obtenidos con el s-MHC-SF mostraron alta confiabilidad (α = .94). Mientras el modelo correlacionado presentó un ajuste aceptable a los datos, el bifactorial mostró un ajuste superior. Según las pruebas de invarianza de medición, ambos modelos podrían ser utilizados para comparar puntajes según sexo, edad, región geográfica y tiempo en la muestra. Conclusión: s-MHC-SF es un cuestionario válido para evaluar el bienestar en la población de habla hispana.Universidad de Oviedo. Biblioteca de Psicología; Plaza Feijoo, s/n.; 33003 Oviedo; Tel. +34985104146; Fax +34985104126; [email protected]

Data, Instrument and Code for validation of s-MHC-SF

Data ready for analysis, just relevant variables has been retained, no relevant transformations has been done to raw data, just renaming or relabeling. A codebook explaining data features is included. Also the code used for data analysis is attached in 2 formats: one .Rmd literate programming file with code, plain text and outputs that could be run easily in Rstudio; and another .R file with programming code and coments

Factores asociados a consumo de tabaco durante el último año en estudiantes de educación superior

Objetivo. Determinar los factores de riesgo asociados al consumo de tabaco en el último año en una población universitaria chilena. Metodología. Estudio observacional analítico, de corte transversal. Se realizó muestreo aleatorio estratificado según unidad académica y año de carrera, siendo el tamaño muestral de 2 045 estudiantes de cuatro Campus de la Universidad Católica de Chile. La toma de la información se hizo con ayuda de un cuestionario autoaplicado. Se realizaron análisis descriptivo, bivariado y de regresión logística. Resultados. El promedio de edad fue 20.4± 1,6 años, el 46.6% eran de sexo masculino y el 70.3% tenían nivel socioeconómico alto. Un 91.0% había iniciado el consumo después de los 18 años. La prevalencia mensual de consumo de tabaco fue de 40.5%, un 20.0% de los encuestados estaría a riesgo de tener diagnóstico de tabaquismo. Se encontró asociación positiva entre consumo de tabaco durante último año y: la edad (p<0.05), el sexo femenino (p<O.OOl), el nivel socioeconómico (p<0.05) y la percepción de consumo de droga por parte de padres ·(p<O.OOl). Se encontró asociación negativa entre consumo de tabaco y la religiosidad (p<O.OOl). Conclusión. En el grupo universitario en el que se realizó el estudio se encontró que el problema de tabaquismo merece especial atención por su magnitud, estando asociado a factores de riesgo como la edad, el sexo femenino, el estrato socioeconómico y una baja religiosidad