Search

Background: Sociocultural competence is essential for health professions education (HPE) students. However, the relationships between university campus environment, sense of belonging, and sociocultural engagement of HPE students remain unclear. We hypothesized that a university environment promoting students' participation in social activities enhances their sociocultural engagement, which is mediated through the students' sense of belonging, ultimately increasing their satisfaction with university experience. Methods: The study included undergraduate HPE students (n = 638) at Gulf Medical University. We used a validated questionnaire for measuring sociocultural engagement of students (13 items). In addition, we used scales for measuring the supportive campus environment (8 items), quality of student relationships (4 items), students' sense of belonging (5 items), and student satisfaction with university experience (one item). We examined the relationships between the study variables using path analysis. Results: The campus environment had direct significant effects on the two dimensions of sociocultural engagement: sociocultural interactions and sociocultural adaptation (β = 0.18 and 0.24, P <.001, respectively). Similarly, the quality of student relationships had direct significant effects on sociocultural interactions and sociocultural adaptation (β = 0.29 and 0.26, P <.001, respectively). In addition, a supportive campus environment and student relationships had direct significant effects on the students' sense of belonging (β = 0.41 and 0.35, P <.001, respectively). Furthermore, the sense of belonging directly affected student's satisfaction with the university experience (β = 0.50, P <.001), and indirectly mediated the relationship between the supportive campus environment, student relationships, and student satisfaction (β = 0.33 and 0.26, P <.001, respectively). However, there was no direct significant effect of either supportive campus environment, student relationships, or sociocultural engagement of students on their satisfaction with university experience. Conclusions: A supportive campus environment and positive student relationships significantly affected sociocultural engagement and sense of belonging among HPE students. Moreover, the sense of belonging serves as a partial mediator, linking the campus environment and the quality of student relationships to overall satisfaction with the university experience. While student satisfaction is primarily driven by the sense of belonging, sociocultural engagement did not have a significant direct impact on student satisfaction with university experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This research explores the relationships between the educational environment, student engagement, and academic achievement in Health Professions Education (HPE) , specifically examining the mediating role of engagement. Methods: The study used cross-sectional design, and data were collected from 554 HPE students via self-report questionnaires. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) assessed the educational environment while the University Student Engagement Inventory measured learning engagement across the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dimensions. Academic achievement was measured using cumulative GPA. Relationships between study variables were analyzed using path analysis. Results: Path analysis demonstrated that four educational environment subscales directly affected emotional engagement (48% variance explained). Students' perception of learning and academic self-perceptions influenced behavioral engagement (28% variance explained), while cognitive engagement was influenced by academic self-perceptions (39% variance explained). GPA was positively influenced by behavioral and cognitive engagement but negatively by emotional engagement. Cognitive and behavioral engagement mediated the relationship between students' academic self-perceptions and academic achievement. Conclusions: Students' perceptions of the educational environment significantly influenced emotional engagement, followed by cognitive and behavioral engagement. Cognitive and behavioral engagement directly affected academic achievement and mediated the relationship between the educational environment and academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sociocultural engagement of students refers to broadening viewpoints and providing awareness of, and respect for, diverse backgrounds and perspectives. However, there are no existing validated instruments in the literature for measuring sociocultural engagement of health professions education (HPE) students. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire designed to assess sociocultural engagement among HPE students. Methods: The study included undergraduate HPE students (n = 683) at Gulf Medical University. The initial version of the sociocultural engagement of students' questionnaire (SESQ) was developed after extensive literature review and guided by the Global Learning Qualifications Framework. We then tested the content validity of the questionnaire by using focus group discussion with subject experts (n = 16) and pilot testing with students (n = 20). We distributed the content-validated version of the SESQ (16 items) to undergraduate students in six HPE colleges. To examine the construct validity and construct reliability of the questionnaire, we conducted exploratory factor analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor structure which consists of 13 items with good fitness indices (χ2 = 214.35, df = 61, χ 2/df = 3.51, CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.025, and AIC = 208.00). The two factors were sociocultural interactions (8 items) and sociocultural adaptation (5 items). The construct reliability of the total questionnaire is 0.97 and the two factors were 0.93 and 0.92 for sociocultural interactions and sociocultural adaptation, respectively. In addition, there were significant weak correlations between both factors of sociocultural engagement scores and student satisfaction with the university experience (r =.19 for each, P =.01). Conclusions: The sociocultural engagement of students' questionnaire exhibits good evidence of construct validity and reliability. Further studies will be required to test the validity of this questionnaire in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]