2013; 35: S90–S96

Assessing the learning environment at Jazan

medical school of Saudi Arabia
TABINDA HASAN1 & PUNEET GUPTA1
1
Jazan University, Saudi Arabia, 2College of Dentistry, India

Abstract
Background: Student’s perceptions of educational environment significantly impacts their academic progress and sense of well-
being. In the backdrop of changing medical education trends in Saudi-Arabia, with a shift from traditional to innovative curricula
and federal emphasis on women in higher education; we wished to objectively assess whether the learning environment of a
newly established ‘all female’ medical section was of acceptable standards according to perceptions of students.
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Aim: To assess pedagogical environment using DREEM’s inventory in order to elucidate program strengths/weaknesses and
promote conductive learning.
Results: Our Mean DREEM score (96.57/200) was lower than scores of most medical institutions in Saudi-Arabia as well as other
countries. Seniors were more stressed than juniors, with poor social support systems. Teachers were generally viewed
as knowledgeable but authoritarian. Significant differences ( p 5 0.05) existed in teaching and social domains among 2nd and
3rd level students.
Conclusion: Undeniably, educational lapses exist in our female medical section. Reflective analysis of significant DREEM
sub-domains can provide insights into problem areas for understanding behaviors and designing remedial strategies. Poor scores
despite excellent physical infrastructure and facilities hint that we need to focus on our human resources and policy models if we
hope to achieve quality in environments and uniformity in standards.
For personal use only.

Introduction in colleges following varied innovative curricula ranging

Learning environment in any medical school is an important
determinant of students’ academic success. Curriculum trans-
action’s most significant paradigm is the pedagogical environ-
ment, which embraces everything that is happening in the
medical school; including not only ‘‘what’’ is being taught;
but also ‘‘when’’, ‘‘where’’ and ‘‘how’’ it is being taught.
The learning environment has its own impact on learning
behaviors. The importance of this correlation is recognized by
students, teachers and educational psychologists alike.
The World Federation for Medical Education has singled
out educational environment as the most important target
for medical education evaluation which is exemplified by
Roff ’s quote, ‘‘Considerations of medical school climate, along
lines of continuous quality improvement and innovation, are
from vertically integrated to problem-based to community-
oriented programs. Jazan University was established in 2001
under the government sector and reformed its curriculum in
2005 from classic discipline-based, teacher-centered program
to integrated, community-oriented, problem-based curriculum.
In 2010, a new ‘‘All-female’’ section was launched and enrolled
its first batch of medical students. Based on concerns relating
to the impact of ‘‘new curriculum changes’’ on a ‘‘newly
established’’ woman’s medical college in the backdrop of an
ongoing quality assurance and accreditation process by the
NCAAA (National Commission for Academic Assessment
and Accreditation); we wished to objectively assess whether
the educational environment perceived by our female students
was at an acceptable standard.
Such an endeavor would aid in identifying our academic
13

likely to further the medical school as a learning organization strengths and weaknesses and designing remedial measures
20

with true attendant benefits’’ (Roff et al. 1997). Motivated
learners in supportive environments demonstrate high levels
of performance, self-efficacy and sense of well being; the
educational environment is therefore crucial in determining
the success of education in any medical school.
Medical education trends are changing rapidly in Saudi
Arabia and within a decade, the number of medical colleges
following traditional disciplined-based curricula have progres-
sively decreased. Conversely, there has been an increase
for establishing a conductive pedagogical ethos in the
institution to enhance students’ learning experiences.
Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM)
was used to assess student’s perceptions about their learning
environment. We chose DREEM as an investigative tool to
appraise our institutions’ educational climate because the
validity and reliability of DREEM’s inventory is well established
in literature since more than a decade. It is unequivocally
claimed as a ‘‘cultural-free tool’’ to measure educational

Correspondence: Dr Tabinda Hasan, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of medicine, Jazan University, Post box 114, KSA. Tel: 00966532315920;
fax: +966-7-3211052; email: drtabindahasan@gmail.com

S90 ISSN 0142–159X print/ISSN 1466–187X online/13/S10090–7 ß 2013 Informa UK Ltd.

DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2013.765546

Practice points
. Learning environment in any medical school is an
important determinant of students’ academic success.
In wake of current Saudi educational trends with federal
emphasis on ‘‘women in higher education’’, diagnostic
inventories like DREEM can provide noteworthy find-
ings for educators to ensure quality in learning environ-
ments and uniformity in standards for females.
. Medical educators need to emerge from their stereotype
roles as linear transmitters of knowledge to fit into
higher roles of mentors, guides and counselors. Along
with ‘‘pure academics’’, teachers must also focus on
co-scholastic aspects of education in order to develop
medical students into creative thinkers, life-long lear-
ners, team workers and emotionally intelligent problem
solvers.
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. There are ‘‘other’’ factors beyond physical facilities that
frame the ethos of an institution. Undoubtedly, human
resources matter as much or perhaps even more than
material amenities in creating conductive learning
environments and ‘‘young institutions’’ like ours need
to focus on their ‘‘person power’’ and ‘‘policies’’ if they
hope to achieve desirable standards.
. Adequate social support systems and lucid orientation of
learning objectives can help to retain student interest,
motivation and proactive immersion in their course
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which will eventually contribute towards long term
retention of ‘‘core knowledge’’ and make better doctors.
climates at institutions of higher learning and is widely used
by medical and health educators across countries and
nationalities (Yousoff 2012). DREEM provides standardized
comparisons between medical schools on a local as well
as global stratum. Such a diagnostic inventory would serve
to ‘‘benchmark’’ our educational climate and locate areas of
concern experienced by students that might otherwise have
been neglected by educators.
Methods
DREEM’s questionnaire was administered to 76 female
students of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
program (MBBS-2012: 36 and 40 students from second and
third year respectively; representative of 100% student
population currently attending these levels). It consisted of
50 questions on five domains of perception: Students’
Perceptions of Learning (SPL), Teaching (SPT), Academic
Self-Perceptions (SASP), Perceptions of Atmosphere (SPA)
and Social Self-Perceptions (SSSP) with a total score of 200 for
all subscales.
Data was analyzed through basic descriptive statistics using
SPSS version-16 (statistical package for social sciences,
Bangaluru, India). t Test was used to check the difference in
response between 2nd and 3rd years. p Value less than 0.05
was considered a statistically significant difference.
Ethical approval was taken from the institutional review
board before commencement of the survey. Participants were
Jazan medical school’s learning environment
informed about the purpose of the study and the voluntary
nature of participation.
Results
This study benefited by obtaining 100% response rate because
the inventory was administered after end-of-module tests
and all students were available and willing to participate. The
overall mean DREEM score for the study group was 96.57/200
(Mean DREEM scores for second and third years were; 102.36/
200 and 91.36/200 respectively, p ¼ 0.947; non-significant
difference). Table 1 shows mean DREEM scores of students
across the five domains.
Overall, poorest scores were for learning and academic
domains while best scores were for teaching domains. An item
wise analysis of various sub domains (Table 2) revealed
uniformly low scoring by a majority of students in most areas
and significant differences across second and third years
in certain areas; junior students expressed keenness for
participation in class and a conductive ethos while senior
students complained of superfluous course, didactic teaching
styles and petulant, irritable tutors. Good scores were relatively
scant; most students acknowledged that teachers were knowl-
edgeable and competent in their respective fields, second year
students held high ratings for interpersonal cohesion and
healthy social life while third year students appreciated
learning vocational skills and professional empathy. General
problem areas included unclear learning objectives, inade-
quate support systems, tedious curricula, rigid timetables,
stress, boredom and general apathy.
Discussion
No objective consensus on an ‘acceptable DREEM score’ is
established in medical literature. Our scores are lower than
most other reports and come barely around the half way mark.
This depicts multiple lapses in the pedagogical environment
of the female medical section at Jazan University.
The global DREEM scores for medical schools of India,
Srilanka, Trinidad, Nepal, Nigeria and UK were reported to be
107/200, 108/200, 109.9/200, 130/200, 118/200 and 139/200,
respectively, (Varma et al. 2005; Abraham et al. 2008). It seems
interesting that Srilankan, Nepalese and Indian medical
schools had scores higher than ours, notwithstanding the
restricted economy of these resource limited nations which
managed to create reasonable pedagogical environments
in spite of not being at par with our affluent physical
infrastructure and ample logistics in the higher education
sector. This indicates that there are other factors ‘‘beyond
facilities’’ that frame the learning climate in an institution.
Our DREEM score of 96.57 closely resembles the DREEM
scores of King Saud medical college, Saudi Arabia [89.9/200]
(Al-Ayed & Sheik 2008) and Guilan Medical University,
Iran [98/200] (Taheri 2009). Considering that Jazan women’s
medical college is relatively new; (being established
recently in 2010), one might be tempted to assume that
‘‘young’’ institutions like ours are prone to such pedagogical
lapses owing to in-experience. However, the DREEM study
at our ‘‘well-settled neighbor’’; King Saud medical college,
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 T. Hasan & P. Gupta

Table 1. DREEM domain scores for female medical undergraduate students (N ¼ 76; 2nd year n ¼ 36; 3rd year n ¼ 40);
academic year 2012; faculty of medicine; Jazan University; KSA.

Domain/Maximum Second year Third year Total (both groups)

score Mean  SD Mean  SD Mean  SD p Value Interpretation**
SPL/48 21.94  6.02 19.28  6.11 20.54  6.17 0.079 Learning is viewed negatively
SPT/44 26.67  4.39 22.80  5.64 24.63  5.41 0.005* Moving in the right direction
SASP/32 16.14  7.00 16.35  6.95 16.25  6.92 0.743 Many negative aspects
SPA/48 21.47  4.71 19.83  7.16 20.61  6.14 0.132 There are many issues whichneed changing
SSSP/28 16.14  4.15 13.10  5.11 14.54  4.89 0.007* Not a nice place

Notes: *p Value significant.

**Interpretation guide adapted from Lai (2009).
Medline open access. Available at http://www.educationforhealth.net/

Table 2. DREEM ‘‘item scores’’ for second (n ¼ 36) and third year (n ¼ 40); female medical students; academic year 2012;
faculty of medicine; Jazan University; KSA.
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Item Second year Mean (SD) Third year Mean (SD) p Value
SPL
1 I am encouraged to participate in teaching sessions 2.03(1.21) 1.05(0.93) 0.000*
25 The teaching over emphasizes factual learning 1.31(0.83) 1.98(1.29) 0.018*
47 Long term learning is emphasized over short term learning 2.06(1.43) 1.38(1.17) 0.040*
SPT
6 The course organizers adopt a patient centered approach to discussions 2.47(0.81) 2.83(1.24) 0.043*
18 The course organizers appear to have effective communication skills 2.53(0.84) 1.73(1.18) 0.003*
37 The course organizers give clear examples 2.94(0.89) 2.25(1.28) 0.017*
39 The course organizers get angry in teaching sessions 2.50(0.88) 1.75(1.35) 0.013*
49 The learners irritate the course organizers 2.64(0.90) 1.73(1.22) 0.001*
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SASP
10 I am confident about passing this year 2.00(1.26) 2.75(1.26) 0.010*
31 I have learned a lot about empathy in my profession 2.89(1.04) 3.28(1.22) 0.020*
SPA
12 The course is well timetabled 1.94(1.31) 1.05(1.08) 0.002*
17 Cheating is a problem in this course 0.94(1.28) 1.78(1.58) 0.015*
23 The atmosphere is relaxed during lectures 1.81(1.06) 1.30(1.20) 0.034*
30 There are opportunities for me to develop interpersonal skills 1.83(1.13) 1.25(1.26) 0.027*
33 I feel comfortable in teaching sessions socially 2.06(1.06) 0.98(0.92) 0.000*
34 The atmosphere is relaxed during seminars/tutorials 1.83(1.03) 1.28(1.41) 0.025*
50 I feel un-able to ask the questions I want 1.83(1.30) 2.55(1.34) 0.020*
SSSP
3 There is a good support system for those who get stressed 1.28(1.09) 0.38(0.93) 0.000*
14 I am rarely bored during this course 1.58(1.18) 0.97(1.18) 0.017*

Note: *Inventory items where significant differences were observed between the 2nd and 3rd years.

Riyadh yielded similar low results which indicates that
grandeur or seniority status are not the sole determinants of
favorable climates.
Second year students in this study scored better than third
year students which is comparable to Al-Ayed’s (Saudi
students) and Taheri’s (Iranian students)findings and indicated
that juniors were more satisfied with their learning environ-
ment as compared to seniors (Ayed & Sheik 2008; Taheri
2009). This might simply mean that basic year students were
not ‘‘yet’’ too stressed by their educational program or that
junior students were not as judgmental as their seniors
regarding their educational environment. In a contrasting
report from a Thai nursing school, generally the scores
decreased from first to second year and then increased from
second to third year, on all five sub-scales (Pimparyon 2000).
Another study on Nepalese and Nigerian students reported a
trend towards improved perceptions in second and third years
over first year (Roff 2001). These contradicting patterns of
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student opinions nullify the impression of certain researchers
that perhaps basic year students are ‘‘not experienced enough
to give a valid report of their educational process’’ or that
‘‘seniors are more critical than juniors’’ (Taheri 2009).
An item-wise analysis of different domains of perception
exposed certain key areas that needed contemplation.
Significant differences in SPT and SSSP domains of the two
groups reflected that second year teachers were moving more
or less in the right direction, were model course organizers and
the students felt satisfied with their social and institutional life.
Conversely, the social domain was among the poorest scoring
areas for third year, reflecting student’s dissatisfaction regard-
ing social self and institutional support system. Likewise, SSSP
was the poorest contributing DREEM domain in a Birmingham
Teaching Hospital of UK (Varma et al. 2005). This could be
due to stress, tiredness, boredom, over-busy or uninvolved
teachers and poor interpersonal relationships stemming
from an overburdened teaching-learning system trying to

cover ‘‘too much in too little a time’’ during senior years. There
seems to be a certain degree of ill adjustment and lack of
cohesiveness amongst the majorly cosmopolitan community
of scholars that typifies Saudi medical education. Similar
increased stress levels were found among senior year under-
graduates of Manipal Medical College, India (Abraham et al.
2008) and Medical faculty, Colombo University, Sri Lanka
(Menaka et al. 2010) as their schedule demanded more
promptness and endeavor during clinical years. Curricular
mapping, judicious limitation of the number of judgmental
formative assessments and psycho-social counseling could
reduce performance related stress levels among students and
work pressure among teachers.
The other two poor scoring domains for both second and
third levels of our study group were SPL and SPA; indicating
that the learning atmosphere did not adequately involve,
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motivate or relax students and the teaching was viewed
somewhat negatively by most students. Being ‘‘unclear about
learning objectives’’ and ‘‘not being able to memorize all they
need’’ was a general problem in our study population.
This calls for focused efforts in tracking entry level knowledge,
outlining core information, surplus content tailoring, and
modifying instructional strategy and existing teaching models
into student centered and immersive approaches.
In the SPL domain, we observed that second year/junior
students ‘‘felt encouraged to participate during teaching
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sessions’’, indicative of a proactive learning environment
while third year/senior students complained of an over-
emphasis on factual, superfluous and teacher-centered learn-
ing. This contrasts the views of Malaysian medical students
(Abraham et al. 2008) and corroborates the views of Iranian
(Taheri 2009) and Sri-Lankan students (Menaka et al. 2010)
from similar studies. Al-Hazimi et al. (2004) documented
that students in traditional medical curricula often perceived
learning as being too teacher centered, dogmatic and over
emphasizing on ‘‘rote memorization’’. They also observed that
students in such environments were more likely to feel tired
and less likely to enjoy the course. However, the Jazan
University medical curriculum is not a traditional curriculum;
rather it is integrated, problem based and innovative; hence,
such deviation from presumed learner behavior trends needs
to be further explored. A comparable analysis of perceptions
of a wider group of students during early/middle phase course
would enable better understanding of student’s insights and
its actual impact on the curriculum. We propose a need for
continued professional development training for our teachers
(who are mostly products of archaic, traditional medical
curricula) in order to enable them for a better transaction of
an innovative-, integrated- and problem-based curriculum.
In the SPT domain, the difference in item scores was
statistically significant for the two groups. Third year students
agreed that course organizers conducted patient centered,
community-oriented discussions and second year students
corroborated teacher’s effective communication skills.
However, third year criticized the irritable, impatient attitude
of teachers which may explain their lower scores than second
year regarding student’s perception of teaching. Mayya found
significant differences in perceptions of academic achievers
and under-achievers; compared to under-achievers, academic
Jazan medical school’s learning environment
achievers had more positive perceptions regarding teachers,
academic atmosphere and social self (Mayya & Roff 2004).
Complaints about authoritarian and sarcastic teachers have
also surfaced in other medical schools (Abraham et al. 2008;
Menaka et al. 2010). Could work pressure stemming from a
dual-mode ‘‘academic with clinical teaching’’ be responsible
for volatile attitudes among senior year teachers? Teaching
hours (actual as well as credit hours) need to be analyzed and
work load needs to be logically distributed among faculty
members to even tempers and create congenial and compa-
tible environments. Synchronized teacher student relationships
might go a long way towards nurturing medical students into
better doctors. On a positive note, most of our students agreed
that the teachers were knowledgeable, came well prepared for
classes and provided constructive feedback. Likewise, favor-
able perception of teacher’s competence has been observed
in an inventory of diploma trainees at the Family Medicine
Postgraduate Centre of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Khan et al. 2010).
In the SASP domain, third year students were more
confident than second year of their scholarly status and
passing with good grades. They also felt that they had gained
relevant knowledge and professional empathy. This confi-
dence might spring from their growing seniority and maturity
in the medical field and has been observed among clinical year
students in other studies (Abraham et al. 2008; Taheri 2009;
Menaka et al. 2010).
In the SPA domain, second year had significantly higher
ratings than third year about a conductive learning climate,
well-designed curriculum transaction, positive interpersonal
relationships and a socially secure, participative class-room
ethos. On the other hand, third year students expressed social
discomfort, inability to clarify doubts, cheating problems and
lack of interpersonal cohesiveness. Such problems of social
support systems are not an unknown phenomenon and have
characteristically shadowed senior year students in previous
studies (Hassan et al. 2010). This needs further probing to
detect underlying reasons; some of which could be attributed
to inadequate socio-emotional bonding patterns amongst an
increasingly heterogeneous group of students, low confidence
levels and reduced learner involvement emerging from poor
entry level knowledge or hectic schedule induced student
burn-out and authoritarian or uninvolved teaching styles.
Under such circumstances, well directed training/counseling
sessions could enhance social skills, group interaction, positive
interdependence and mutual accountability. In the SSSP
domain, most second level students evidenced a good support
system during stressful times and a sustained interest and
immersion in their course. On the contrary, third year were
identified as ‘‘being too tired and bored’’ to enjoy the course.
This statistically significant difference is indicative of a
healthier social life and fulfilling relationships in second year
as compared to third year. Again, the underlying reasons for
existing contrasts in the social and emotional ethos of two
levels belonging to the same institution need diligent explora-
tion so that feasible and practicable solutions can be devised.
Tension, cumbersome academic with clinical workload and
demanding schedules might be major contributors towards
socio-emotional problems of senior medical students and
these very factors must be targeted in remedial measures.
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T. Hasan & P. Gupta

Table 3. Comparison of DREEM scores of female medical students of Jazan University, 2012 with other similar studies from Saudi Arabia.

Hasan & Gupta (Present

References Khan et al. (2009) Al-Ayed & Sheik (2008) Naeem et al. (2007) Al-Hazimi et al. (2004) Al Rukban et al. (2010) study) (2011)
Study population Post graduate Diploma Medical undergraduates Medical undergraduate Medical undergraduates Medical undergraduates Medical undergraduates
trainees (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th year) (4th, 5th, 6th year) (basic, clinical) (1st, 2nd, 3rd year) (2nd, 3rd year)
Number of participants (N) 13 222 196 200 137 76
Course name Post graduate course in family Bachelor of medicine and Bachelor of medicine and Bachelor of medicine and Bachelor of medicine and Bachelor of medicine and
medicine surgery surgery surgery surgery surgery
Institution Centre for Postgraduate Faculty of medicine, King College of Medicine, Taibah King Abdul Aziz medical King Fahad Medical city, Faculty of medicine, Jazan
Studies in Family Saud University, Ministry University, Ministry of University, Ministry of Ministry of higher education University, Ministry of
Medicine, Ministry of of higher education higher education higher education higher education
health
Study area Riyadh, KSA Riyadh, KSA AL-Madinah ALMunawarah, Jeddah, KSA Riyadh, KSA Jazan, KSA
KSA
SPL score Median DREEM score 2.08 40.7% 25.21/48(52.52%) 22/48(45.8%) 29/48(60.4%) 20.54/48(42.7%)
SPT score 2.86 48.2% 23.50/44(53.4%) 24/44(54.5%) 25.3/44(57.5%) 24.63/44(55.9%)
SASP score 2.25 46.3% 19.02/32(59.3%) 17/32(53%) 19.97/32(62.4%) 16.25/32(50.7%)
SPA score 2.50 44.4% 25.24/48(52.58%) 23/48(47.9%) 27.3/48(56.8%) 20.61/48(42.9%)
SSSP score 2.50 46.1% 16.97/28(60.6%) 15/28(53.5%) 16.6/28(59.28%) 14.54/28(51.9%)
Total DREEM score 118.5/200(59.25%)** 89.9/200(44.95%)* 109.92/200(54.96%)** 102/200(51%)** 118/200(59%)** 96.57/200(48.28%)

Notes: *Our score is superior.

**Our score is inferior.

The strong point of our study was that, it specifically
focused on perceptions of female students which is of
pivotal importance in the development and evaluation
of modern medical curricula in wake of current Saudi
educational trends with federal emphasis on ‘‘women in
higher education’’.
A drawback of the study was an ‘‘All female analysis’’ with
absence of simultaneous comparisons with male students
considering significant gender differences having been
observed in other studies (Taheri 2009). Conversely, some
researchers (Till 2004; Abraham et al. 2008; Ayed et al. 2008)
have reported negligible differences between male and female
perceptions; hence exploring gender specific impressions
of Saudi students would have been a worthwhile direction
to explore. The underlying reason for our team’s inability to
compare genders was the segregation between male and
female medical faculty that is characteristic of Saudi Islamic
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culture; consequently, our female data collectors could not
simultaneously administer the inventory to male students
without some degree of pre-planning and coordination with
volunteer male teachers. The researchers are planning to
tackle this issue in the near future through strategic DREEM
scoring of the counterpart male medical section to explore any
existing similarities or contrasts.
During the past decade, a limited number of DREEM
studies have been conducted in Saudi medical institutions and
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their ratings are average (around 60%); a score that seems
slightly foreboding in face of pompous federal investments
in the higher education sector. Our scores are even lower
than others, except for those of King Saud Medical College.
(Table 3) Certain common findings emerge from the research
literature that is available for Saudi Arabia; students here
are more critical of the general climate of the school, teaching
quality, especially in areas regarding class participation and
provision of clear learning objectives. Saudi students
also perceive their course as being boring, tutor centered,
rigidly timetabled and without any ‘‘comfort zones’’ of
flexibility in schedules. Learning atmosphere and teacher’s
overall performance have generally received relatively higher
ratings than other DREEM sub domains in most of the studies
conducted in Saudi Arabia (Al-Hazimi et al. 2004; Naeem
et al. 2009; Al-Ayed et al. 2008; Al Rukban et al. 2010; Khan
et al. 2010).
Conclusion
Despite assembling sophisticated educational tools and
resources, our scores are lower than most developing and
developed countries and our students perceive their learning
environment as relatively ‘‘more negative than positive’’.
This necessitates probing into underlying reasons; perhaps
scholastic overburden coupled with ‘‘Laissez-faire’’ attitudes
among key stake holders attributes to downbeat perceptions
and apathy amongst our community of scholars. Merely
accumulating physical amenities and affluent infrastructure is
not enough to build conductive pedagogical environments;
we need to develop our human resources and policy models
in order to promote learning and facilitate assimilation of
core knowledge for the future caretakers of health. Significant
Jazan medical school’s learning environment
differences in problem areas of DREEM sub-domains among
groups are noteworthy findings and must be conveyed to
tutors to ensure quality in educational environments and
maintain uniformity in standards. Remedial measures like
interactive and immersive teaching models, constructive feed-
back approach, personal and professional development
programs, or counseling sessions could nurture medical
students into lifelong learners, emotionally intelligent social
beings, team workers and practical problem solvers. Teachers
need to evolve from their ‘‘closed box roles’’ of linear
transmitters of knowledge into friends, mentors and guides
if we hope to achieve desirable standards. Further research on
the application of DREEM in comparing different programs
and student groups, repeated follow-up surveys and evaluat-
ing its construct validity and reliability among Saudi medical
students could yield ‘‘culturally tailored, best fit investigative
models’’ for educators to ensure premium quality pedagogical
environments in Saudi institutions.
The publication of this supplement has been made possible
with the generous financial support of the Dr Hamza Alkholi
Chair for Developing Medical Education in KSA.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no declarations
of interest.
Notes on contributors
Dr TABINDA HASAN (MBBS, MD, PGDHE) is affiliated to the Department
of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, KSA. She conceived
the basic idea, designed the study, drafted the manuscript and moderated
discussions.
Dr PUNEET GUPTA (BDS, MDS) is affiliated to the Department of
Community Dentistry College of Dentistry, Indore, India. He helped in
data analysis, discussion, editing the manuscript and approved its final
version.
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