Effectiveness of interactive teaching intervention on medical students’ knowledge and attitudes toward stem cells, their therapeutic uses, and potential research applications

PeerJ

article

Fayez Abdulrazeq¹  Khalid A. Kheirallah¹  Abdel-Hameed Al-Mistarehi¹  Samir Al Bashir²  Mohammad A. ALQudah²  Abdallah Alzoubi³  Jomana Alsulaiman⁵  Mazhar S. Al Zoubi⁶  Abdulwahab Al-Maamari⁷ 

[1] Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology;Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology;College of Medicine, Ajman University of Science & Technology;Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology;Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Yarmouk University;Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Yarmouk University;Department of Private Law, Faculty of Law, Al-Isra Private University

关键词: Stem cells;    Knowledge;    Attitudes;    Interactive teaching;    Education;    Medical curriculum;    Students;    Jordan;    Arab;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.12824

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundStem cell science is rapidly developing with the potential to alleviate many non-treatable diseases. Medical students, as future physicians, should be equipped with the proper knowledge and attitude regarding this hopeful field. Interactive teaching, whereby the teachers actively involve the students in the learning process, is a promising approach to improve their interest, knowledge, and team spirit. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an interactive teaching intervention on medical students’ knowledge and attitudes about stem cell research and therapy.MethodsA pre-post test study design was employed. A six-session interactive teaching course was conducted for a duration of six weeks as an intervention. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were used. The differences in the mean scores of students’ knowledge and attitudes were examined using paired t-test, while gender differences were examined using an independent t-test.ResultsOut of 71 sixth-year medical students from different nationalities invited to participate in this study, the interactive teaching course was initiated by 58 students resulting in a participation rate of 81.7%. Out of 58 students, 48 (82.8%) completed the entire course. The mean age (standard deviation) of students was 24 (1.2) years, and 32 (66.7%) were males. The results showed poor knowledge about stem cells among the medical students in the pre-intervention phase. Total scores of stem cell-related knowledge and attitudes significantly improved post-intervention. Gender differences in knowledge and attitudes scores were not statistically significant post-intervention.ConclusionsIntegrating stem cell science into medical curricula coupled with interactive learning approaches effectively increased students’ knowledge about recent advances in stem cell research and therapy and improved attitudes toward stem cell research and applications.

【 授权许可】

CC BY