Asian medical students: quality of life and motivation to learn

Abstract

Issues linked with the notions of quality of life (QOL) and motivation to learn among Asian medical students have not been well documented. This is true in both the international and the New Zealand contexts. Our paper addresses this lack of research by focusing on the QOL of international and domestic Asian students studying in New Zealand, where Asian students form a significant proportion of tertiary students. Although there is evidence to suggest that Asian students do well academically, it was felt that an investigation into their QOL would be instructive as QOL will likely have an impact on cognition, behavior, general well-being, and motivation. The present study surveyed fourth-and fifth-year medical students to examine the relationship between QOL and motivation to learn and to consider how Asian medical students compare against European medical and non-medical student peers. The study utilized the World Health OrganizationQuality of Life questionnaire (BREF version) and a shortened version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. The results show that the Asian medical students in this study generated significantly lower scores in terms of their satisfaction with social relationships compared with their non-Asian peers. In addition, international Asian medical students appear to be more at risk than domestic Asian students with respect to test anxiety. The paper considers the findings and the implications for quality of life, motivation to learn, medical education, and the Asian student community.

Quality of life: international and domestic students studying medicine in New Zealand

“…Using a similar sample, Hsu et al [22] found that international students rated physical and environmental QoL lower than domestic students. In addition, Asian international students studying medicine in New Zealand were found to be more anxious about tests, whilst also scoring lower on environmental QoL than their domestic Asian peers [23]. These results are consistent with findings presented in studies conducted in other countries [24, 25].…”

“…It has been established that international students may be more at risk in reference to their QoL than their domestic peers [21–23, 26]. However, the characteristics of these two groups and associations with QoL have not been investigated in medical students.…”

“…However, some studies have indicated that international students do in some cases incur finance-related problems [42, 43], and that crisis situations for international students may have some association with financial difficulties [36]. In addition, there may be an inherent response bias in terms of revealing information about financial hardship [23, 34]. …”

Technology-enhanced surgical education: attitudes and perceptions of the endoscopic surgery community in Turkey

“…Examples include curriculum sequencing, clear learning needs, clear goals and well-defined learning objectives, assessment methods and tools, the standards being supported for documentation, development, assessment and teaching on these tools, appropriate levels of difficulty, reliable measures and reliable feedback mechanisms and advancement to the next tasks 3 32 33. However, there are several dimensions to be considered for better integration of these technologies for the surgical education programmes which can be summarised as below. Characteristics of medical students : Earlier studies show that there are significant differences between medical students and non-medical students considering their self-efficacy, intrinsic value and self-regulation characteristics 34. Students of secondary medical school achieve statistically significant higher results on the agreeableness scale compared with general education secondary schools35 and score higher on agreeableness36 where it may emerge from temperamental self-regulative systems37 as agreeableness describes warm and friendly personality.…”

“…Characteristics of medical students : Earlier studies show that there are significant differences between medical students and non-medical students considering their self-efficacy, intrinsic value and self-regulation characteristics 34. Students of secondary medical school achieve statistically significant higher results on the agreeableness scale compared with general education secondary schools35 and score higher on agreeableness36 where it may emerge from temperamental self-regulative systems37 as agreeableness describes warm and friendly personality.…”