Materials and Methods
Surveys
Measures
adopted .
Previous studies indicate that while most students report a positive experience with cadaver dissection , some undergo psychological trauma and stress ( Dempster et al ., 2006 ; Evans and Fitzgibbon , 1992 ; Hancock et al ., 2004 ; Horne et al ., 1990 ; Houwink et al ., 2004 ). At times , distress can be observed in the dissection room , especially when students are new to the experience . Importantly , medical students who experience emotional turmoil related to dissection have difficulty completing dissection assignments and achieving proficiency . Thus , faculty must be able to identify , acknowledge , and validate the emotional reactions of students as important ; failure to do so may result in students using maladaptive coping techniques such as depersonalization and denial ( Hajj et al ., 2015 ; Tschernig et al ., 2000 ).
While some medical schools utilize a comparative passive learning modality for anatomy such as prosections , first-year medical students at Addis Ababa University are required to perform a complete dissection of the human body . It was also reported that the emotionally charged dissection experience might affect the lifestyle and learning outcomes of students taking the Anatomy course and that cultural and ethnic issues might play a role in this learning process . It would be of great relevance to understand such factors and try to take measures that will correct any deficiencies . Therefore , the main aim of this study is to assess and compare medical students ’ perceptions and emotional experiences associated with cadaveric dissection , and the impact of cultural attachment on these . The expected outcomes and impact of this study are extremely important in answering many questions raised , especially for the purpose of medical curricular reforms in terms of content and teaching methods . These findings will also assist faculty members to identify , acknowledge and validate the emotional distress of medical students and address the impact of culture on the emotional experiences of medical students .
Materials and Methods
Participants in this survey-based research were first-year medical students taking an Anatomy course at the Addis Ababa University School of medicine in the fall of 2018 . The entire first-year medical students ( n = 310 ) participated in the study . The average age of the student sample is 20.12
± 1.79 , however , this measure was bounded at < 20 as a lower response choice and > 30 as an upper response choice . The vast majority of the sample was approximately 20 years old , with over half being 18 or 19 . The sample was evenly split by self-reported gender ( 154 males , 155 females ).
Surveys
This study used a longitudinal survey to gather information on the perception , emotional experiences , cultural attachments , and coping strategies associated with cadaver dissection .
Data were collected at three time points ( TP ): a week before the initial exposure ( TP1 ), a week after their first encounter with cadaver dissection ( TP2 ), and at the end of the course or cadaver dissection ( TP3 ). The survey was modified from a previous study at Oakland University William Beaumont School of medicine ( Hajj et al ., 2015 ), and contains four sections : A ) general background information on , age , gender , religion , ethnicity , and previous experience with cadaver dissection ; B ) an appraisal of the dissection experience using a modified Appraisal of Life Events Scale ; C ) self-report of stress indicators , nausea , anxiety and insomnia ; and D ) appraisal of coping strategies using the brief COPE scale . The study was approved by the Institutional Review / Privacy Board at the School of Medicine ( SOM / CHS / Dean / 154 / 2006 ), Addis Ababa University , Ethiopia .
Measures
THE APPRAISAL OF LIFE EVENTS ( ALE ) SCALE
The ALE is a validated instrument that assesses the outcome of a potentially stressful situation in terms of threat , challenge , or loss ( Ferguson et al ., 1999 ). On the ALE participants use Likert scale response choices to rate their experiences on 14 different emotions , such as nauseating , scary , emotional , anxiety-provoking ( negative emotions ), or stimulating , exhilarating , interesting , and enjoyable ( positive emotions ). The three dimensions of the ALE scale have good psychometric properties , with high internal consistency estimates , and have been used previously to investigate the impact of cadaver dissection on first-year medical students ( Dempster et al ., 2006 ; O ’ Carroll et al ., 2002 ).