School of Education, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia.
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia.
Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2024 May;29(2):689-714. doi: 10.1007/s10459-023-10274-3. Epub 2023 Aug 24.
To determine the effect of distributed practice (spacing out of study over time) and retrieval practice (recalling information from memory) on academic grades in health professions education and to summarise a range of interventional variables that may affect study outcomes. A systematic search of seven databases in November 2022 which were screened according to predefined inclusion criteria. The Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale-Education (NOS-E) were used to critically appraise eligible articles. A summary of interventional variables includes article content type, strategy type, assessment type and delay and statistical significance. Of 1818 records retrieved, 56 were eligible for inclusion and included a total of 63 experiments. Of these studies, 43 demonstrated significant benefits of distributed practice and/or retrieval practice over control and comparison groups. Included studies averaged 12.23 out of 18 on the MERSQI and averaged 4.55 out of 6 on the NOS-E. Study designs were heterogeneous with a variety of interventions, comparison groups and assessment types. Distributed practice and retrieval practice are effective at improving academic grades in health professions education. Future study quality can be improved by validating the assessment instruments, to demonstrate the reliability of outcome measures. Increasing the number of institutions included in future studies may improve the diversity of represented study participants and may enhance study quality. Future studies should consider measuring and reporting time on task which may clarify the effectiveness of distributed practice and retrieval practice. The stakes of the assessments, which may affect student motivation and therefore outcomes, should also be considered.
确定分布式实践（随时间推移分散学习）和检索实践（从记忆中回忆信息）对健康专业教育学术成绩的影响，并总结可能影响研究结果的一系列干预变量。2022 年 11 月，对七个数据库进行了系统搜索，根据预先确定的纳入标准对这些数据库进行了筛选。使用医学教育研究质量工具（MERSQI）和纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表-教育（NOS-E）对合格文章进行批判性评估。干预变量的总结包括文章内容类型、策略类型、评估类型以及延迟和统计意义。在检索到的 1818 条记录中，有 56 条符合纳入标准，共纳入 63 项实验。在这些研究中，有 43 项研究表明分布式实践和/或检索实践相对于对照组和比较组具有显著优势。纳入的研究平均在 MERSQI 上得分为 12.23 分，在 NOS-E 上平均得分为 4.55 分。研究设计具有异质性，干预措施、对照组和评估类型多种多样。分布式实践和检索实践在提高健康专业教育的学术成绩方面是有效的。未来的研究质量可以通过验证评估工具来提高，以证明结果衡量标准的可靠性。在未来的研究中增加参与机构的数量可以提高代表性研究参与者的多样性，并可能提高研究质量。未来的研究应考虑测量和报告任务时间，这可能会阐明分布式实践和检索实践的有效性。评估的重要性（可能会影响学生的积极性，从而影响结果）也应予以考虑。
