School of Public Health (ETDs)
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Item Remediating health science students’ perceptions of factors contributing to their successful completion of physiology and biochemistry courses at the University of the Witwatersrand(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Erlwanger, Kennedy Honey; Ndofirepi , ElizabethBackground: A significant proportion of students who enrol for courses in the health sciences either do not complete them or have to remediate the courses before succeeding. However, they often fail to remediate successfully. In order to meet the increasing demands for qualified health care practitioners, there is need to ensure that all students complete their degree programmes. Understanding factors which contribute to successful academic throughput is therefore essential. Aim: This study explored factors which health sciences students perceived to have contributed to their successful progression after remediating medical biochemistry and physiology. Methodology: For this qualitative non-intervention study, phenomenography was used. Students were purposively sampled and semi-structured interviews conducted online or in-person. They were asked what they felt contributed to their poor academic performance initially, then what they attributed to their success in the remediation year as well as their emotions and advice they would give to remediating students and to faculty. The interview audios were transcribed and a systematic thematic analysis undertaken to explore themes and sub-themes. Findings: The reasons proffered for initially failing included poor study techniques, lack/inappropriate use of teaching and learning resources, failure to adjust to remote learning due to covid-19 lockdown restrictions, heavy workload, neglect of the course due to wrongly perceiving it as easy compared to the other courses and the innate difficulty of the course. Factors perceived to have resulted in successful academic progression in the remediating year included, increased self-efficacy, increased and purposeful use of teaching and learning resources (tutorials, past exam papers and eQuip), use of institutional support systems (Office of Student Success, academic advisors, course coordinators and tutors) and tapping into social support systems (family, peers, clergy and senior students). The students’ emotional feelings during remediation included, fear, isolation, stigmatisation, embarrassment and stress. They generally recommended that remediating students should use the interventions that they used in order to succeed. Advice to faculty centred on providing academic and emotional support to remediating students as well as to actively monitor their progress. Conclusions: There is need to review the workload of the medical biochemistry and physiology course. Students need to be equipped early with appropriate study skills and how to make the most of the support systems available to them in order to iv increase their prospects for academic success. Remediating students are under emotional strain and strategies to alleviate it need to be implemented.