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A growing body of evidence suggests an increased prevalence of anxiety and depression among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is little evidence in research documenting the extent of anxiety and depression in the university teacher population and how these relate to feelings of loneliness. This study aims to explore the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among university teachers, identify differences, and further examine the relationships between loneliness and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The study participants included university teachers in the College of Health and Medical Sciences from four purposefully selected public universities who completed a survey questionnaire consisting of items that measured anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as loneliness. The final sample included 148 participants (45 participants [30.4%] located in the center or capital; 125 (83.1%) men; and 90 [62.5%] taught both online and face-to-face). The university teachers' sample mean age = 39.07 had an SD = 7.67. As per the findings of this study, the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms was significant (11% and 12.3%) among university teachers in Ethiopia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, this study found a significant association between these symptoms and loneliness. Therefore, incorporating relevant strategies to promote mental well-being and targeting individuals who felt lonely were essential for overcoming health-related burdens. Universities should equip teachers with resources to prevent mental health issues and offer need-based counseling services to alleviate them.
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Background: In Ethiopia, the University Entrance Exam (UEE) score is the only criteria for selecting prospective medical students entering the university system, disregarding their career choice motivation. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted to identify medical students career choice motivation and predictors of college academic achievement at Gondar university, Ethiopia. The study was conducted on 222 medical students enrolled at Gondar University in 2016. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on study participants demographic characteristics, career choice motivation, and informed career choice. Data on the UEE score and student's college academic achievement were collected from the university registrar. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: Desire to help others as a medical doctor and prevent and cure diseases were mentioned as the first important career choice reasons by 147 (68.2%) and 135 (64.0%) study participants, respectively. The results of regression analysis showed that the UEE score was significantly associated with pre-clinical cumulative GPA (R2=.327, p<.05) and 5th year cumulative GPA (R2=.244, p<.05) respectively. The stepwise multiple regression revealed that UEE score, having prior knowledge about medical profession, positive experience in the medical school, and intrinsic career choice motivation significantly predicted 5th year cumulative GPA (p<.05). The high beta weight of 0.254 and 0.202 confirmed the strongest prediction to come from prior knowledge about the medical profession and positive experience in medical school, respectively. Conclusion and Recommendation: The UEE score is a significant predictor for medical students' academic achievement, but it should not be the sole admission criterion. We suggest that comprehensive admissions criteria covering both cognitive and non-cognitive factors, as well as informed career choice, be developed to select the best applicants in the future.
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Despite the presence of a common agreement on the importance of integrating professional development (PD) for instructors in higher education (HE), the level of progress made in that regard varies greatly across HE systems around the world. Part of the variation was due to the lack of comprehensive theories and guidelines that leverage efforts to integrate PD issues into HE system. Also, there is limited research regarding the development and revision of PD programs for instructors of health sciences in HE setting. The limited studies primarily lack a comprehensive or all-encompassing framework that capture the complexities of the program development and validation process. Rather, they are essentially impact evaluation studies, examining the short-term and long-term benefits of the programs under studies. This study offers a theoretical rationale and a three-step framework for PD program development and review in HE through presenting a case study of an innovative PD program in the Ethiopian public university context. A three-step approach that consists of curriculum development, an iterative research-based review, and collaborative revision and validation is recommended in this study, to promote a commitment to systematic planning and research-based review and revision in a PD of instructors in HE in Ethiopia and beyond.
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INTRODUCTION: Clinical reasoning skills are a core competency that must be taught at all levels of health-care education. In the last decade, several health professional education curricula in Ethiopia have been redesigned with the goal of improving student competence in key health-care delivery skills. Despite the fact that some academic programs followed the conventional educational strategy, a significant number of academic programs adopted a new educational strategy for curriculum development: Student-centered, Problem-based, Integrated, Community-based, Elective, and Systematic (SPICES) model. More empirical evidence, however, is required to determine whether the new curricular approach is effective in improving students' clinical reasoning. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the new educational strategy for curriculum development improves the clinical reasoning ability of midwifery students when compared to a peer institution that follows a traditional curriculum. METHODS: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the clinical reasoning skills of midwifery students who completed the new curricular approach versus students who completed a traditional curriculum. A Script Concordance Test (SCT) was used to collect data. The mean SCT score and an independent two-sample t-test were calculated to see if the two groups differed significantly in terms of clinical reasoning skills in managing Post-Partum hemorrhage (PPH). RESULTS: A total of 77 final-year midwifery students participated (38 from the new and 39 from the traditional curriculum approach). Midwifery students who completed the new and conventional curriculum approaches had mean clinical reasoning SCT scores of 0.7 (SD = 0.35) and 0.53 (SD = 0.37), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the overall mean SCT score between the two study groups in terms of clinical reasoning skills (p = 0.008). CONCLUSION: Our study found that the new SPICES model curricular approach is promising in fostering the development of clinical reasoning skills of Midwifery students in managing PPH.