The Malaysia DREEM: perceptions of medical students about the learning environment in a medical school in Malaysia

Abstract

Redhwan A Al-Naggar,1 Mahfoudh Abdulghani,2,14 Muhamed T Osman,3 Waqar Al-Kubaisy,1 Aqil Mohammad Daher,15 Khairun Nain Bin Nor Aripin,4 Ali Assabri,5 Dawood A Al-Hidabi,6 Mohamed Izham B Mohamed Ibrahim,7 Ahmed Al-Rofaai,8 Hisham S Ibrahim,9 Hassanain Al-Talib,10 Alyaa Al-Khateeb,11 Gamil Qasem Othman,6 Qaid Ali Abdulaziz,6 Karuthan Chinna,12 Yuri V Bobryshev131Population Health and Preventive Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 2Pharmacology Department, International Medical School, Management and Science University, 3Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine & Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 4Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Islamic Science University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 5Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Sana'a University, 6University of Science and Technology, Sana'a, Yemen; 7College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; 8School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang, Malaysia, 9Physiology Discipline-Faculty Of Medicine and Health Sciences-Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia, 10Laboratory Medical Science Cluster, Drug Discovery & Health Community of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 11Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Discipline, Drug Discovery & Health Community of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 12Social and Preventive Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 13Faculty of Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; 14Pharmacology Department, Unaizah College of Pharmacy (UCP), Qassim University, Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia; 15Department of Community medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaBackground: Students’ perceptions of their learning environment, by defining its strengths and weaknesses, are important for continuous improvement of the educational environments and curriculum. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore students' perceptions of their learning environment, among medical students in Malaysia. Various aspects of the education environment were compared between year levels and sex.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia in 2012. A total number of 438 medical students participated in this study, and the response rate was 87.6%. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Comparisons of the mean scores of Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) subscales were calculated. The t-test was used to determine statistically significant differences.Results: The majority of the study participants were female, Malay, and from year 3 (68.7%, 65.3%, and 55.7%; respectively). Analysis of each of the 50 items of the DREEM inventory showed that 47 items scored ranged between 2.00 and 3.00, and three items scored below 2.00. These were identified as problem areas in this medical school that are required to be critically addressed. The overall score showed that the medical students’ perceptions were positive. The students' perception toward educational environment was positive for all five DREEM subscales.Conclusion: The study found that, in general, the perceptions of the participants about the learning environment were positive. Nevertheless, the study also found there is a need for curriculum improvement in this school and identified priority areas for such improvement.Keywords: students’ perceptions, DREEM, Malaysia, learning environment, medical education