Comparison of Peer-Assisted Learning with Traditional Faculty-led Teaching in Family Medicine Clerkship: An Experimental Study.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the effects of reciprocal peer-assisted learning (PAL) with traditional faculty-led teaching on the academic performance of fourth-year medical students in Family Medicine clerkship.

STUDY DESIGN

An experimental study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY

Department of Health Professions Education and Department of Family Medicine, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad, Pakistan, from 22nd February 2019 to 25th February 2020.

METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted longitudinally in three clerkship rounds of Family Medicine with 77 fourth-year students separated into a control group and an intervention group taught by faculty and peers respectively. All peer tutors were trained prior to their sessions and there were parallel peer-led and faculty-led sessions. Both groups were given a pre-test prior to the intervention and a post-test after the intervention. The data were entered in SPSS version 24 and analysed using chi-square, independent and paired sample t-tests.

RESULTS

Participants of both intervention (PAL) and control (non-PAL) groups demonstrated a significant difference in post and pre-test scores with a p-value <0.05. However, the mean difference in the post-and pre-test scores between the two groups was not significant with a p-value >0.05.

CONCLUSION

Students taught by peers performed as well as students taught by the faculty in this study, as depicted by their academic scores. Henceforth PAL is comparable to faculty-led teaching in acquisition of knowledge in Family Medicine clerkship.

KEY WORDS

Peer-assisted learning, Reciprocal peer-assisted learning, Traditional teaching, Family medicine.