Guraya Salman Y, Abdalla Mohamed E
Department of Clinical Science, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
College of Medicine & Medical Education Center, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
J Taibah Univ Med Sci. 2020 May 30;15(3):177-184. doi: 10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.05.002. eCollection 2020 Jun.
Despite the popularity of peer-assisted learning (PAL), existing literature has not shown enough evidence that can validate its impact on students' active learning. This meta-analysis aims to quantitatively analyse the effectiveness of PAL in medical education.
We searched selected databases using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms 'peer-assisted', 'learning', 'active learning', 'teaching strategy', 'peer mentoring', and 'peer instructions' for full-text English language studies with a pre-post design. Following a systematic protocol, we selected 11 articles for final analysis. A meta-analysis was done using Review Manager (RevMan) 5.3 from Cochrane Training and the final output was presented by a forest plot.
The results showed a significant effectiveness of PAL; notably, there was a standardised mean difference of 1.26 with a confidence interval of 0.58-1.94. The Cochran's Q test showed a 5% level of significance as measured by Chi = 449.46. Besides, the results of the I test were significant (98%); moreover, a z value of 3.65 validated the effectiveness of PAL.
This research has shown that PAL can be used as a valuable learning tool in the medical field. Educational interventions in curricula for incorporating PAL strategies can potentially enhance the learning experience of the medical students.
尽管同伴辅助学习（PAL）很受欢迎，但现有文献尚未充分证明其对学生主动学习的影响。本荟萃分析旨在定量分析PAL在医学教育中的有效性。
我们使用医学主题词（MeSH）“同伴辅助”“学习”“主动学习”“教学策略”“同伴辅导”和“同伴指导”在选定数据库中检索采用前后设计的全文英语研究。按照系统方案，我们选择了11篇文章进行最终分析。使用Cochrane培训的Review Manager（RevMan）5.3进行荟萃分析，最终结果以森林图呈现。
结果显示PAL具有显著有效性；值得注意的是，标准化平均差为1.26，置信区间为0.58 - 1.94。Cochran's Q检验显示，以卡方=449.46衡量，显著性水平为5%。此外，I检验结果显著（98%）；而且，z值为3.65证实了PAL的有效性。
本研究表明，PAL可作为医学领域一种有价值的学习工具。课程中纳入PAL策略的教育干预可能会提升医学生的学习体验。
