الثمالي، يوسف محمد عوض

Objectives: Professionalism has been considered one of the main outcomes of healthcare education where the focus is to create healthcare personnel who adopt appropriate attitudes, ethical behavior and legal approaches to the clinical practice. The current study was conducted to learn how successful is the TUDENT model of assessment of student professional behavior in terms of validity, reliability, feasibility and impact on student. Material and Methods: A Cross-section Descriptive Program Evaluation study was conducted. Final sample included 24 faculty members and 96 students. TUDENT model of professionalism assessment scale included seven item scales: Random observation classroom check (RCC), Laboratory inspection (LI), Course coordinator feedback (CCF), Integrated learning activity (ILA), Student reflection (SR), Dental clinical inspection (DCI) and Critical incident reporting (CIR). Cronbach‘s Alpha was measured to study the internal consistency of all the items included in the TUDENT model with alpha ≥ 0.70 as satisfactory internal consistency. Validity evidence was assessed by using Pearson‘s correlation coefficients. Discriminant validity was assessed one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Internal structure validity evidence was assessed by using principal component factor analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation. Result: Cranach's alpha for all of the studied items showed values ranging from 0.7 to 0.9, showing high rate of internal reliability of TUDENT scale of professionalism assessment. Pearson‘s correlation values showed significant association between total professionalism scores and individual subscale scores with values of 'r' more than 0.5. PCA analysis for whole TUDENT model produced 9 factors (ROCC, LI, DCI, CCF, ILA, SR, CIR, TPS and SPS), with factor loading > 0.5 and Eigen values > 1 indicating satisfactory result of checked professionalism items. Conclusions: To conclude TUDENT model of assessment of student professional behavior showed satisfactory construct and discriminant validity with factor loading > 0.5 and Eigen values > 1. Further longitudinal studies are needed with more sample size to prove the results of the present study.

ابو زيد، هاني بن حمد

Purpose: This study examines the prevalence and impact of psychological distress on the academic achievement of medical students and their associated learner characteristics. Methods: This study used a mixed-methods design, including both quantitative and qualitative components conducted on 15 September 2017 for 3 months among Saudi medical students. The quantitative component was a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire for Phase 3 medical students. The qualitative component used structured interviews for students with severe psychological distress. Results: Results from this study (n = 289) reveal that more than 52% of medical students at Taif university suffering from mild, and moderate psychological distress while 17% with severe psychological distress. No statistically significant differences between gender, the year of study and psychological distress. Overall, there was no statistically significant association between GPA and disease score. Moreover, it determines factors that led to severe psychological distress include academic, environmental, personal, and relationship, and how medical students can handle their stress. Conclusions: This study concluded that a high prevalence of psychological distress among medical students at Taif university with no statistically significant differences between gender, the year of study and psychological distress. Moreover, no statistically significant association between GPA and disease score. This study recommendations the establishment of psychological counseling unit at medical schools in Saudi Arabia for early detection of psychological distress in medical students and timely referral of those who need medical advice. Moreover, stress awareness and management, time and financial resources management along with mental health programs could be added to the curriculum of medical colleges.

البليهد، محمد عبدالرحمن عبدالعزيز

Objective Leadership is supporting patient care and is no longer accepted specially for those in formal management positions it is perceived to be the responsibility of all healthcare professionals. On review the contents taught in medical colleges of Saudi Arabia, despite the change in curricular perspective and design teaching of leadership is absent, if not fully, then to an extent where it does not equip the young graduate to compete on the global stage. Needs Assessment should be done to see if such a course or a module could be incorporated into the existing curricula of Medical Colleges in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two research questions were asked 1.What are the students’ perceptions about skills required of a leader in health care context in an undergraduate curriculum in Saudi Arabia? 2. What are the perceptions of College faculty about skills required of a leader in health care context in an undergraduate curriculum in Saudi Arabia? Methods A cross sectional study, which combined a quantitative approach through a self-administered questionnaire based survey, was carried out. Sampling procedure was non-probability convenience technique was adopted on male and female undergraduate medical students from four medical colleges were selected which totaled 700. Faculty members which were 250, including Deans, Vice Deans, Administrators, Heads of Department and Curriculum Unit members were also approached to fulfill the questionnaires. As pre-determined criteria the four colleges were, College of Medicine at King Saud University, Riyadh / College of Medicine at Qassim University, Qassim / College of Medicine at Taif University, Taif and Sulaiman Al Rajhi College of Medicine, Bukairyah (Private school). Results Results showed that in the students group 75.46% had minimal experience of leadership while 22.69% had whereas 3.02% out of 464 thought they were highly experienced in the leadership expanse. Faculty group showed even distribution in all three ranges 32.56% felt they had basic or minimal experience while 38.37% had some experience while 29.07% out of 114 felt they were highly experienced. Conclusion This needs assessment and other relevant factors showed the necessity for introduction of leadership as a skilled subject. There is always going to be an increasing demand of competent medical graduates who can be future leaders. Elementary leadership concepts remain fundamentally the same yet the development of the curricula needs to focus on the needs of the society and stakeholders.

الخلف، أحمد محمد جاسم

Title: Needs Assessment for Developing a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology Program in Saudi Arabia Introduction: There are a number of challenges in Saudi Arabia regarding developing higher health standards and particularly psychological services. There are challenges in existing psychological training, but also a significant lack of learning from Western standards in psychological work both academically and clinically. Objectives: This study has two primary aims: (1) to examine the attitude of local practicing physicians (who are working with psychologists) towards the current psychologists’ work and towards establishing a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology program; and (2) to explore the needs for such a program to have culturally relevant content and competencies to meet local needs and enhance general professional competencies. Methods and Participants: The sample of participants consisted of 73 (54 male [74%] and, 19 female [26%]) practicing physicians in Saudi Arabia. Participants ranged from 29 to 59 years of age (M = 38.18 years, SD = 6.94 years), with an average of 5.86 years (SD = 1.37) of clinical experience. All participants completed the questionnaire used in this study. The main tool (the questionnaire and interview) was developed for this study after reviewing the literature, local needs and policies, and asking input from a small sample of clinicians. Results: Belief in the importance of developing a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology program was strong. It was also found to be significantly, positively correlated with the belief that the psychologists should work as part of a multidisciplinary team in particular with family medicine, neurosurgery, neurology, psychiatry, and pediatric(r = .415; p ≤ 0.01). Conclusions: There is a real need to conduct a needs assessment for developing a Doctorate Clinical psychology program in Saudi Arabia to contribute and enhance the healthcare for a good quality of patient, as indicated by the view of local practicing physicians. The study provides high recommendations to develop a curriculum of the global standards in Saudi Arabia which is the need of hour.

نمنغاني ، دلال محيي الدين

Introduction: Professionalism is the ability of a competent individual to adhere to values and principles of the profession, and the capacity to negotiate between competing values in a specific context. In Saudi Arabia, the directors of internship programs face the responsibility of selecting new interns. This process requires an effective tool with validity evidence to support high standards of professionalism. The Professionalism Mini Evaluation Exercise (P-MEX) is used to assess professionalism in clinical training through a faculty observed encounter. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is unique in that it has its own set of cultural norms and values which differ in some aspects from those of the West. To date, there is no published research which informs how well the P-MEX is applicable to measure professionalism in residents in the local context and in the Gulf Region more broadly. This study aims to gather validity evidence of P-MEX scores in the Saudi context. Methods: Validity of P-MEX scores was examined using Messick’s unified validity framework based on sources of validity evidence, focusing on response process and internal structure. Feasibility of administering the P-MEX in the Saudi context was also examined. To administer the P-MEX, three 12-minute standardized patient (SP) cases involving professionalism issues were developed. Twelve clinicians involved in supervising interns in a tertiary care hospital were trained as raters and assessed interns using the P-MEX form. The interns were divided into two groups A & B; each group had almost equal numbers of interns. The entire data collection process took place in June 2017. Results: A cohort of 21 interns was divided into two groups, A and B, to administer the P- MEX cases. Group A had 10 interns and group B had 11 interns. The mean P-MEX scores and standard deviations for groups A and B were, 60.3 ± 9.4 and 60.4 ± 7.3, р = .979. Six items (28.5%) in which majority of the interns received ‘unacceptable’ or ‘below expectation’. There were 16 items (76.1%) in which majority of the interns received ‘met expectations’. All items had item discrimination indices above .20, except for items 20 (maintained patient confidentiality) and 21 (used health resources appropriately) which had indices of .11 and .01, respectively. Overall, the internal-consistency reliability was .79. Person variance accounted for 2.4% of the overall variability in P-MEX scores. The largest proportion of variance was due to person-station interaction, which accounted for 17.4% of total variance. Variability due to raters also accounted for 13.9%. Taking these factors into account, the generalizability coefficient for three cases administered was .24, with standard error of measurement of .18. Decision Study projections in reliability showed that over 20 stations are needed to reach sufficient generalizability coefficient > .70 with 2 raters. Having each case scored by two raters increased reliability by .05 points, compared to a single rater; there was only modest increase in reliability between two to three raters. Conclusion: This study supports the use of P-MEX to measure professionalism among interns in the Saudi Culture without any need for it to be modified. It has been found to have robust response process, internal structure and feasibility. Interns have received low scores in some sections of the form, signifying that there is a dire need for formally including the teaching of professional behavior in the MBBS curriculum of Taif University.