Students' Learning Approaches at Medical Schools Applying Different Curricula in Turkey

Objective: To investigate the learning approaches of undergraduate students at different medical schools applying different curricula in Turkey Design: Comparative study Setting: Three medical schools applying different curricula, namely Hybrid (Akdeniz University), Integrated (Ege University) and Problem Based Learning (Pamukkale University) Subjects: All Year I and Year II students (n = 1038) at these three schools were invited to participate. Interventions: The Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire was chosen to reveal learning approaches. Another questionnaire was established in order to see any association between learning approaches and demographic characteristics. Statistical analyses were done by using SPSS for PC 13.0. Chi-square test was used for the analysis of the data. Main Outcome Measures: Learning approaches, gender, living area, parents' graduation and high school characteristics of all students Results: Nine hundred and sixty six out of 1038 (93%) students filled out the questionnaires. More participants in Year I had approached their learning activities more deeply than those in Year II (chi(2) = 16.417, p = 0.00). Only at the medical school applying Problem Based Learning, more participants in Year II had a deep approach than those in Year I (chi(2) = 9.983, p = 0.00 for Year I and chi(2) =16.263, p = 0.00 for Year II). No association between demographic characteristics except gender and learning approaches was found. Conclusions: Application of Problem Based Learning curriculum may be more helpful in developing a deep learning approach than a Hybrid or Integrated curricula. Measurement of learning approaches at later years will provide stronger evidence.