A comparative, multi-national analysis of the quality of life and learning factors of medical and non-medical undergraduate student

Abstract

Objective Thisstudy comparesdatafromtwo medical student cohortsearly in their trainingfromNew Zealand and HongKong and then makes further comparisons with a non-medical group. Methods Questionnairesobtainedinformationregardingeducationalsite(universitiessituatedinNewZealand,HongKong,and USA),gender,age,motivationalbeliefs,qualityoflife,andcompetitiveness.Thestudywassplitintotwophases.Thefirstphase focused on measuring and comparing the learning and wellbeing variables of two medical student cohorts. The second phase focussed on making further comparisons with non-medical student groups. Results Responses were elicited from 353 students in medically oriented courses and 688 students with a non-medical orientation. For phase 1, the results indicated differences between the two medical student groups on measures of self-efficacy, intrinsic value, enjoymentofcompetition,andphysicalqualityoflife.Forphase2,differencesbetweenthemedicalandnon-medicalstudentgroups were noted for self-efficacy, intrinsic value, enjoyment of competition, contentiousness, and physical and social quality of life. Conclusions Theresultsprovideinsightsintomedicalandnon-medicalstudents’learningandwellbeingexperiencesfrommultinational, multi-discipline perspectives. The results suggest that wellbeing issues of students are likely context-specific and moderated by region, curriculum, gender, and culture.