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Background: Since 2012 the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health and Education implemented a new medical curriculum in 13 institutions. The new curriculum introduced some questions on its admission policy: students can join with different educational backgrounds. Students' performance on qualifying exams and grade point average are lower than desired. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate what factors predict the academic performance of students in the New Medical Education Initiative in Ethiopia. Methods: A concurrent mixed method of survey and qualitative was used; for the survey, a structured self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students of four randomly selected medical schools from December 2018 to January 2019. The questionnaire includes questions about socio-demographic and educational background of participants. Multiple linear regression analysis was used in order to identify the factors associated with academic performance. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 key informants to explore qualitatively. Results: In the multiple linear regressions, stress was associated with lower academic performance. Students with prior education in the field of health science outperformed students with other bachelors. The cumulative grade point average of the previous bachelor degree and the score on the entrance exam to join medicine also significantly predicted performance. Although some more variables are identified from the qualitative interviews, its findings supported the survey results. Conclusions: Of the number of predictor variables analyzed in the model, only stress, prior educational degree, performance in the prior degree and entrance exam score were significantly correlated with the performance of students in their preclinical medical engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Excellence in Anesthesia education has been advocated to meet the current and future needs of the society. Educational environment plays significant role in determining students' learning and academic achievement. This study assessed the perception of Anesthesia students on their educational environment and it association with their academic achievement at Debre Tabor University and University of Gondar. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study design was employed on 3rd and 4th year students. Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) was used to assess students' perception on their educational environment. Perceived performance, Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) and 100 MCQ items were used to assess the academic achievement of the students. An independent t-test was used to assess the differences in the perception of educational environment and academic achievements. Bivariate and multivariable linear regressions were fitted to assess the relationship between perception on educational environment and academic achievement. A P-value of less than 0.05 was used to declare the statistical significance. Result: A total of 123 students (91 from University of Gondar and 32 from Debre Tabor University) were participated on this study. The study showed no statistically significant differences between the groups on the perception of students on the educational environment on DREEM total and subscale scores, and academic achievements. However, there were statistically significant differences in some items of the educational environment measures. On multivariable linear regression; entrance exam result, students' perception of teachers, students' academic self –perception and students' social self-perception showed positive correlation with students' academic achievement (ß = 0.003 & P = 0.04, ß = 0.009 & P = 0.9, ß = 0.06 & P = 0.42, ß = 0.06 & P = 0.39, ß = 0.14 & P = 0.015 and ß = 0.13 & P = 0.023) respectively. Conclusion: The perception of students on the educational environment was found to be more positive and there was no statistically significant differences in total and domains of DREEM scores and academic achievement of students between the two institutions. Entrance exam result and more positive perception of the educational environment were positively associated with academic achievement of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breakfast skipping and its relationship with academic achievement among primary school children were investigated in this study. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 848 primary school children. Breakfast skipping was analyzed using a 2-item questionnaire. A 19-item Social Academic and Emotional Behavior Risk Screening questionnaire was used to collect data on children's behavior. The prevalence of breakfast skipping was found to be 38.1%. Living in a rural area (AOR = 5.2; 95% CI: 3.54, 7.71); having illiterate parents (AOR = 6.66; 95% CI 3.0, 14.7); having parents with a primary education level (AOR 5.18, 95% CI: 2.25, 11.94); living with guardians or other relatives (AOR = 4.06; 95%CI: 2.1, 7.9); and having lower academic achievement (AOR = 2.76; 95% CI: 1.44, 5.29) were factors associated with skipping breakfast. In conclusion, breakfast skipping has been identified as a significant public health concern that requires an immediate response from stakeholders. It is recommended to intervene based on the identified factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Education plays a pivotal role in producing qualified human power that accelerates economic development and solves the real problems of a community. Students are also expected to spend much of their time on their education and need to graduate with good academic results. However, the trend of graduating students is not proportional to the trend of enrolled students and an increasing number of students commit readmission, suggesting that they did not perform well in their academics. Thus, the study aimed to identify the determinants of academic performance among university students in Southern Ethiopia. Method: Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 1 to 28, 2020. A total of 659 students were enrolled and data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. A multistage sampling technique was applied to select study participants. Data were cleaned and entered into Epi-Data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 software for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable data analysis were computed and a p-value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Smoking, age, and field of study were significantly associated with academic performance. Result: Four hundred six (66%) of students had a good academic performance. Students aged between 20 and 24 years (AOR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.22-0.91), and medical/ health faculty (AOR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.45-4.20) were significant associates of good academic performance. Students who didn't smoke cigarettes were three times more likely to score good academic grades compared to those who smoke (AOR = 3.15, 95% CI = 1.21-7.30). Conclusion: In this study, increased odds of good academic performance were observed among students reported to be non-smokers, adults, and medical/health science students. Reduction or discontinuation of smoking is of high importance for good academic achievement among these target groups. The academic environment in the class may be improved if older students are invited to share their views and particularly their ways of reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]