Assessing Student Support Needs to Inform the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

This project examined the health and wellbeing of students in all five undergraduate degree programmes (MBBS, BNurs, BChinMed, BPharm and BBiomedSci) at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the impact on academic outcomes and the stressors identified by students. The 2014-15 first year students collectively, had higher stress levels than the Hong Kong general population and worse quality of life than the world general population in the psychological and physical domains. BPharm students were the most stressed and had the worst physical QOL scores. BChinMed students had the worst psychological QOL scores. Twelve months later, the MBBS cohort became significantly more stressed while the other programme cohorts remained unchanged. Stress did not have a quantitative impact on academic outcomes but was associated with decreased self-efficacy which is an important component of motivation to learn. The main causes of stress were structural (timetabling, shuttle bus schedule, catering etc) but also learning-related (exams, disconnect between what was taught and what was examined, insufficient feedback etc) and support-related (distrustful of confidentiality, hard to access etc). Documenting the state of student wellbeing and the issues contributing to it will help identify areas in need of intervention.

Deliverables