Optimising the learning environment for undergraduate students in the Department of Family Medicine at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Figures & data

Table 1: The DREEM questionnaire domains

Domain	Number of items	Maximum score
Students’ perception of learning	12	48
Students’ perception of teachers	11	44
Students’ academic self-perception	8	32
Students’ perception of atmosphere	12	48
Students’ social self-perception	7	28
Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale from 0–4 where:
Strongly disagree =	0
Disagree =	1
Unsure =	2
Agree =	3
Strongly agree =	4
The five subscales (domains) are as follows:
Domain	Representing item numbers
Domain 1: Students’ perception of learning	1, 7, 3, 16, 20, 21, 24, 25, 38, 44, 47, 48
Domain 2: Students’ perception of course organisers	2, 6, 8, 9, 18, 29, 32, 37, 39, 40, 49
Domain 3: Students’ academic self-perception	5, 10, 22, 26, 27, 31, 41, 45
Domain 4: Students’ perceptions of atmosphere	11, 12, 17, 23, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 42, 43, 50
Domain 5: Students’ social self-perceptions	3, 4, 14, 15, 19, 28, 46
A guide to interpreting the subscales:
Students’ perception of learning: 0–12 Very poor Teaching is viewed negatively A more positive perception Teaching highly thought of
Students’ perception of course organisers: Very poor In need of some retraining Moving in the right direction Model course organisers
Students’ academic self-perceptions: Feelings of total failure Many negative aspects Feeling more on the positive side Confident
Students’ perception of atmosphere: A terrible environment There are many issues that need changing A more positive attitude A good feeling overall
Students’ social self-perceptions: Miserable Not a nice place Not too bad Very good socially

Table 2: Scores for the five subscales of the DREEM questionnaire

Score	Learning perceptions (max. 48)	Course organiser perceptions (max. 44)	Academic self- perceptions (max. 32)	Atmosphere perception (max. 48)	Social self- perceptions (max. 28)	Overall score (max. 200)
Mean	34 (72%)	32 (72%)	25 (77%)	34 (71%)	17 (60%)	142 (71%)
Standard deviation	6.9	8.0	4.0	7.3	4.1	26.7
Minimum	17 (35%)	4 (9%)	16 (50%)	20 (42%)	8 (29%)	83
Maximum	44 (92%)	44 (100%)	31 (97%)	48 (100%)	26 (93%)	183
Percentiles
25	30.00	29.00	22.00	28.00	14.00	123.00
50	34.00	31.00	25.00	33.00	17.00	139.00
75	39.00	36.00	28.00	39.00	20.00	164.00

Table 3: Comparison of male and female perceptions of the learning environment

Learning environment domains	Sex
	Male		Female
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	t-test
Learning perception	34.6 (72.1%)	7.3	34.0 (70.8%)	6.6	0.620
Organiser perception	32.6 (74.1%)	6.5	30.3 (68.9%)	9.6	0.217
Academic perception	25.0 (78.1%)	4.3	23.9 (74.7%)	3.7	0.845
Atmosphere perception	34.7 (72.3%)	6.6	33.6 (70.0%)	8.2	0.845
Social self-perception	17.2 (61.4%)	3.9	16.6 (59.3%)	4.4	0.556
Overall scores	144.1	25.2	138.4	28.7	–

Figure 1: Categorisation of DREEM overall scores.

Table 4: Health facility and learning environment

Health facility	No. of students per site	%		DREEM overall score for each facility
Phokeng Health Centre	2	5.1	Mean	161.0
			SD	31.1
Tlhabane CHC	4	10.3	Mean	148.3
			SD	36.9
Odi District Hospital	7	17.9	Mean	147.2
			SD	29.1
JST	4	10.3	Mean	145.3
			SD	25.6
Phedisong CHC	3	7.7	Mean	139.3
			SD	25.7
Jubilee District Hospital	5	12.8	Mean	139.2
			SD	38.5
Bapong CHC	3	7.7	Mean	137.3
			SD	32.3
Swartruggens Hospital	6	15.3	Mean	135.7
			SD	20.7
Soshanguve CHC	4	10.3	Mean	136.8
			SD	25.6
Brits District Hospital	1	2.6	Mean	135.0
			SD