observational application comparing problem-based …volume 2018 immunology research hindawi volume...

Research ArticleObservational Application Comparing Problem-BasedLearning with the Conventional Teaching Method for ClinicalAcupuncture Education

Yun Jin Kim

School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiamen University Malaysia, Jalan Sunsuria, Bandar Sunsuria, Sepang,Selangor 43900, Malaysia

Correspondence should be addressed to Yun Jin Kim; [email protected]

Received 12 December 2018; Revised 12 February 2019; Accepted 11 March 2019; Published 18 March 2019

Academic Editor: Jenny M. Wilkinson

Copyright © 2019 Yun Jin Kim.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, whichpermits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Aim. Although the problem-based learning (PBL) teaching method was introduced in 1969, its rapid and widespread applicationin Malaysia started in 1979. This study aimed to evaluate satisfaction with PBL compared to that of conventional learning, usingsatisfaction surveys and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scores, of students learning clinical acupuncture at the School of TraditionalChinese Medicine (TCM), Xiamen University Malaysia. Method. The participants of this study (N=36) were registered for abachelor’s degree program in TCM in 2016 and enrolled in the Science of Acupuncture and Moxibustion course beginning inSeptember 2018. The students were randomly allocated into two groups: PBL group and conventional group. A self-administeredlearning satisfaction survey and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scores were used for data collection. An independent sample t-test wasused to compare the results between the two groups. A p-value

2 Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Another field of medicine that has adopted PBL is clinicalacupuncture education. Acupuncture is a simple and effectiveprocedure, used worldwide, that has less adverse effects thanother forms of treatment, such as herbal medicine [6]. PBLis an appropriate tool for teaching the subspecializations ofclinical acupuncture, since most of the PBL scenarios arebased on the systematic teaching method. Also, in contrastto conventional clinical acupuncture education and clinicalskills training methods, PBL is a student-centred teach-ing approach, in which students develop clinical reasoningskills, identify their learning needs in an interactive groupdiscussion, apply newly gained knowledge to problems,and summarize what they learn with the group. There aremany advantages to the integration of PBL using clinicalcase scenarios in acupuncture education and clinical skillstraining. In this way, students learn the topic by experiencinga clinical case and discussing it in a tutor-guided smallgroup. This method also helps students with the use of self-evaluations. Additionally, PBL allows students to acquirebasic knowledge of acupuncture and the Meridian Theoryand to learn clinical skills. PBL is helpful for cultivatingclinical thinking skills and enhancing continued medicalprofessional learning programmes.

Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate learn-ing satisfaction from the students’ points of view, using asatisfaction survey and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Score, ofPBL compared with that of conventional learning for clinicalacupuncture.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Design. The participants of this study (N=36) wereenrolled in a bachelor’s degree program in Traditional Chi-nese Medicine (TCM) in 2016, and the study was conductedin the Science of Acupuncture and Moxibustion course(Course Code: TCM303) beginning in September 2018 at theSchool of TCM, Xiamen University Malaysia.

According to the local and national ethical instructionsfor research (National Committee for Clinical Research:http://www.nccr.gov.my/index.cfm) guidelines, this studydid not require ethical approval. The human biologicaltissues, good clinical practice (GCP), and clinical trialresearch subjects were respected. All students were ade-quately informed about the purpose and granted anonymityand confidentiality regarding their data. We obtained writteninformed consent from all students prior to study participa-tion.

We randomly allocated the participants into two groups,the PBL group and the conventional group, each containing18 students. The PBL group was further subdivided intothree groups, with six students in each group. The PBLcourse included Phase A modules that were designed tomeasure the student’s clinical knowledge of acupuncturetreatment strategies, using case reports, and Phase Bmodulesthat were designed to discuss decision-making regardingmedical ethics and cultural dimensions of traditional andcomplementary medical care in Malaysia, China, and othercountries. Both phases aimed to teach students the ability to

integrate their knowledge of acupuncture in learning clinicalpractice skills and discussing medical ethics. Each group ofsix students worked together to collect information, discusspossible mechanisms and causes, develop hypotheses andstrategies to test the hypotheses, andprepare for presentationsand discussions in class.

The conventional group was taught with teacher-centredlearning, involving lecturers and short discussions.While theproblem-solving element was presented by and/or discussedwith the lecturer in class, the teaching plan and materialswere determined by the lecturer and conveyed to the studentsduring lecture.

2.2. Study Procedure. The PBL and conventional teachingplans were created by the School of TCM, Xiamen UniversityMalaysia’s expert panel, consisting of an external examinerand an industrial advisor. Each teaching plan included learn-ing outcomes, clinical case reports exhibiting medical ethicaldilemmas, and guidelines for lecturers, and expert externalpanels. The assessments used by both groups consisted ofthe following: (a) the learning satisfaction survey and (b)the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. At the end of six sessions,the lecturer was instructed to leave the lecture hall, andall students completed the learning satisfaction survey andRosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The forms were then collectedin a ballot box.

The research process consisted of three steps as follows:

Step 1(1) Setting up the curriculum for peer lecturers for

the PBL and conventional teaching methods. Theteaching components of the curriculum includedacupuncture basic theories and clinical case studies,the acupuncturist-patient relationship, and rights andresponsibilities of patients and acupuncturists. Eachteaching plan was designed with learning objectives,learning outcomes, clinical case studies, and courseguidelines for the lecturer. For the PBL method, thecourse guidelines included details of the PBL stepsand potential ethical problems for the clinical casestudies.

(2) Setting up the learning satisfaction questions. Exter-nal panels for content validity provided 10 questions,which were measured on a 5-point scale. Learningsatisfaction was measured by the students’ subjectivefeelings. Students’ satisfaction/feelings were coded ona 4-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to4 (strongly agree).

(3) Adopting the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. TheRosenberg Self-Esteem Scale assesses a student’s over-all evaluation of personal worthiness as a humanbeing.The scale consisted of 10 Likert-type scale itemsdesigned to assess positive and negative evaluationsof self. Students’ responses were coded on a 4-pointscale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (stronglyagree). Thus, a possible total score ranged from 10to 40, with higher scores reflecting more positiveevaluations of self-esteem [7].

http://www.nccr.gov.my/index.cfm

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 3

Assessed for eligibility (N=36)

Excluded (N=0)

Completed the study (N=18)Lost to follow-up (N=0)

Allocated to PBL (N=18) Allocated to Conventional (N=18)

Randomized (N=36)

Data analysed (N=18)Exclusion analysis (N=0)

Completed the study (N=18)Lost to follow-up (N=0)

Data analysed (N=18)Exclusion analysis (N=0)

Figure 1: The flow of the research design.

Step 2(1) Pretest using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. All

students were tested and scored on this scale beforeclasses began.

(2) Conducting the education. Each group was assigneda separate classroom. The courses were taught orsupervised by the same lecturer for six sessions.The teaching in the conventional group was teacher-centred, although there was some discussion after thelecture. Both groups received an introduction to thecourse in the first session.

Step 3(1) Posttest using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. All

students were tested and scored on this scale after thecourse ended.

(2) Learning satisfaction survey. All students answeredthe learning satisfaction questions after the courseended, and the answers were scored.

2.3. Statistical Analysis. Data collection and statistical analy-sis were performed using SPSS software (version 16.0; IBM,USA) for data analysis. All data are shown as mean ±standard deviation (SD). An independent sample t-test wasused to compare results between the PBL and the conven-tional groups. A p-value of


Table 1: Sociodemographic comparison between participants in thePBL and conventional groups.

Index PBL Conventional p-valueGendern (%)

Male 10 (55.5%) 9 (50%) 0.328Female 8 (44.5%) 9 (50%)

Nationalityn (%)

Malaysia 12 (66.7%) 13 (72.2%)0.167China 6 (33.3%) 5 (27.8%)

Others 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Previous degreen (%)

STPM 6 (33.3%) 9 (50%)

0.381UEC 9 (50%) 7 (39%)A Level 1 (5.7%) 0 (0%)

Foundation 2 (11%) 2 (11%)Scholarshipn (%)

Y 6 (33.3%) 7 (39%) 0.513N 12 (66.7%) 11 (61%)

Financial stressn (%)

Y 2 (11%) 1 (5.7%) 0.512N 16 (89%) 17 (94.3%)

Physical problemn (%)

Y 2 (11%) 1 (5.7%) 0.316N 16 (89%) 17 (94.3%)

Mental healthn (%)

Y 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0.258N 18 (100%) 18 (100%)

First languagen (%)

Chinese 17 (94.3%) 16 (89%)0.552English 1 (5.7%) 2 (11%)

Bahasa Malay 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

on item 1 (p=0.025), item 3 (p=0.017), and item 7 (p=0.023),as shown in Table 3.

4. Discussion

Currently, the implementation of PBL in Malaysian medicalschools has been extensive. The major objectives of PBLevaluated in this study were the acquisition of relevant med-ical knowledge, clinical skills, medical interviewing skills,and medical ethics in a clinical acupuncture context, whichallows students to obtain information from a wide range ofviewpoints [8]. PBLmotivates students to think critically andgenerate ideas and to acquire the basic medical and clinicalknowledge, clinical skills, and behaviour required to becomecompetent clinical physicians [9]. Another study showed thatfor the PBL sessions were observed regarding the availabilityof enough learning resource [10].

PBL uses a “focus on the problem” approach.The startingpoint is realistic and helps students learn to contextualizeproblems within a scenario. PBL is a student-centred, smallgroup-based, learning approach and presents challengingproblems based upon realistic situations. Based on con-structivist epistemology, PBL begins with an unstructuredproblem that hasmultiple possible solutions [11].The studentsparticipate in self-directed learning and apply their newknowledge to the problem.They then reflect on their learningand the effectiveness of their chosen solution. PBL is a usefuleducational methodology for TCM students in that studentsare expected to understand basic medical concepts in the

Table 2: Results from the learning satisfaction surveys of studentsin the PBL and conventional groups.

Questions PBL Conventional p-value(1) Satisfaction of basicacupuncture knowledge 3.44±0.83 3.38±0.13 0.216

(2) Satisfaction of clinicalacupuncture knowledge 3.23±0.57

∗ 2.13±0.08 0.021

(3) Satisfaction ofpre-clinical to clinicalknowledge

3.89±0.35 3.78±0.12 0.191

(4) Satisfaction ofimprovement of hands-onskills

3.57±0.34 3.14±0.32 0.258

(5) Satisfaction ofimprovement of medicalinterviewing skills

3.98±0.13∗ 1.76±0.11 0.035

(6) Satisfaction of interestin the topic and enjoymentof learning

3.46±0.59∗ 1.03±0.45 0.017

(7) Satisfaction ofself-directed learning of thesubject matter

3.22±0.75∗ 1.32±0.50 0.019

(8) Satisfaction ofcollaboration in smallgroups

3.48±0.27∗ 1.64±0.36 0.015

(9) Satisfaction of learningoutcome 3.92±0.15

∗ 2.78±0.59 0.018

(10) Satisfaction ofunderstanding of patientevaluation andmanagement

3.23±0.21∗ 1.89±0.64 0.039

Values represent mean ± SD.A higher score indicates a better outcome.∗Indicates a statistical difference from the conventional group (p

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 5

Table 3: Results of the pre- and posteducation Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in the PBL and conventional groups.

Items PBL ConventionalPre- Post- p- value Pre- Post- p- value

(1) On the whole, I amsatisfied with myself 1.12±0.12 2.97±0.13

∗† 0.021 1.13±0.11 2.02±0.13† 0.025

(2) At times, I think I amno good at all 3.54±0.23 2.78±0.17 0.066 2.87±0.15 2.77±0.17 0.083

(3) I feel that I have anumber of good qualities 1.31±0.33 2.78±0.18

∗† 0.012 1.34±0.09 1.88±0.32† 0.017

(4) I am able to do things aswell as most other people 1.43±0.22 2.68±0.14

∗† 0.038 1.38±0.11 1.78±0.22 0.071

(5) I feel I do not havemuch to be proud of 2.57±0.37 1.67±0.15

∗† 0.036 2.52±0.12 2.43±0.13 0.088

(6) I certainly feel useless attimes 2.45±0.18 1.91±0.23 0.071 2.43±0.14 2.28±0.17 0.055

(7) I feel that I’m a personof worth, at least on anequal plane with others

1.54±0.05 3.01±0.18∗† 0.024 1.53±0.10 2.11±0.07† 0.023

(8) I wish I could havemore respect for myself 2.41±0.21 1.56±0.11

∗† 0.015 2.39±0.13 2.17±0.03 0.096

(9) All in all, I am inclinedto feel that I am a failure 2.73±0.20 1.31±0.12

∗† 0.025 2.70±0.12 2.48±0.04 0.082

(10) I take a positiveattitude toward myself 1.87±0.22 3.02±0.15

∗† 0.019 1.83±0.11 2.09±0.11 0.091

Values represent mean ± SD.Items 1, 3, 4, 7, and 10: A higher score indicates a better outcome; items 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9: A lower score indicates a better outcome.∗Indicates a significant difference from the conventional group (p


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