Background: Though underestimated, intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in Ethiopia is among the highest in the world. The overall aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and forms of intimate partner violence during pregnancy, associated factors, and recommendations to reduce the act. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 25 to February 15, 2018 in government health facilities, North West Ethiopia. Married women who seek antenatal care service were participated in the study. Ethical clearance and approval was obtained from Amhara Regional Health Bureau research and publication committee. Informed consent was obtained from women and facility managers before collecting the data. Odds ratio (OR) with 95%CI was computed to determine the presence and strength of association between the outcome of interest and key independent variables. Results: Nearly half (46.4%) of the study participants were victims of at least one episodes of intimate partner violence in the recent pregnancy. Psychological violence 141 (44.2%) was the most common form of violence encountered followed by sexual violence 137 (42.9%). Significant proportion of women were insulted, forced to have sex, pushed/shoved, kicked/beaten, and slapped/thrown something at them (30.1 - 39.4 %) in the recent pregnancy. Lack of formal education, arranged marriages, lack of decision-making autonomy in household matters and wider spousal age difference were significantly associated with intimate partner violence. Conclusions: Higher proportion of pregnant women experienced intimate partner violence. Sociodemographic factors were associated with intimate partner violence. We suggest interventions focusing on education for raising community awareness through different strategies. Strengthening health facilities is also important to early identify and manage pregnant women with intimate partner violence, and prevent adverse birth outcomes of the act.

Background Assessment of cognitive competence is a major element of the internship qualification exam in undergraduate medical education in Ethiopia. Assessing the quality of exam items can help to improve the validity of assessments and assure stakeholders about the accuracy of the go/no decision to the internship. However, we know little about the quality of exam items utilized to ascertain fitness to join the medical internship. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the quality of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) of the qualification exam administered to final-year medical students at Debre Tabor University (DTU), Ethiopia. Methods A psychometric study was conducted to assess the qualities of 120 randomly selected MCQs and 407 distractors. Item characteristics were estimated using the item response theory (IRT) model. T-test, one-way ANOVA, and chi-square tests were run to analyze the univariate association between factors. Pearson’s correlation test was done to determine the predictive validity of the qualification examination. Result Overall, 16, 51, and 33% of the items had high, moderate, and low distractor efficiency, respectively. About two-thirds (65.8%) of the items had two or more functioning distractors and 42.5% exhibited a desirable difficulty index. However, 77.8% of items administered in the qualification examination had a negative or poor discrimination index. Four and five option items didn’t show significant differences in psychometric qualities. The qualification exam showed a positive predictive value of success in the national licensing examination (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.5). Conclusions The psychometric properties of the medical qualification exam were inadequate for making valid decisions. Five option MCQs were not better than four options in terms of psychometric qualities. The qualification examination had a positive predictive validity of future performance. High-stakes examination items must be properly created and reviewed before being administered.

Introduction: Competency assessment has a substantial impact on both the quality of education and the quality of care. Debre Tabor University has been administering pre-internship qualification exams to ensure clinical competence and readiness for internship practice. A variety of assessment methods, including MCQs, objective structured clinical exams, and external exams were used. The reliability of results can be determined by how consistently students perform across different assessment formats. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the scores obtained on the different assessment formats used in the pre-internship qualification examination. Methods: A correlational study was conducted at the College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia from November to December 2019. Participants of the study were medical students who completed their fifth-year medical education. All 46 fifth-year medical students who took the qualifying exam were included in the analysis. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentage and mean as well as inferential statistics like Pearson's correlation. The analysis was done with STATA software. Results: The mean performance score ranged from 67.9 on multiple-choice questions to 77.2 on viva. Relatively, students performed better on the viva test and poorly on the OSCE. There was no significant difference in the overall performance of male and female students, however, female students were better in long- and short-case exams. For female students, the correlation between performance scores was stronger. When compared to their written exam results, female students performed much better on the long-case, short-case, and oral exams, but men did not show such a difference. Conclusions: Students performed better on the oral examination. The study demonstrated a disparity between female and male students on the level of performance in the clinical skills exams. Among female students, there was a substantial correlation between cognitive ability and clinical performance. Gender was an effect modifier for the correlation between cognitive ability and clinical skill performance in the medical qualification examination.

Background: Assessment of cognitive competence is a major element of the internship qualification exam in undergraduate medical education in Ethiopia. Assessing the quality of exam items can help to improve the validity of assessments and assure stakeholders about the accuracy of the go/no decision to the internship. However, we know little about the quality of exam items utilized to ascertain fitness to join the medical internship. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the quality of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) of the qualification exam administered to final-year medical students at DTU, Ethiopia. Methods: A mixed-method cross-sectional study design was employed to assess the psychometric qualities of 120 randomly selected MCQs and 407 distractors. Item characteristics were estimated using the item response theory (IRT) model. T-test, one-way ANOVA, and chi-square tests were run to analyze the univariate association between factors. Spearman correlation test was done to determine the predictive validity of the qualification examination. Result: Overall, 16%, 51%, and 33% of the items had high, moderate, and low distractor efficiency, respectively. About two-thirds (65.8%) of the items had two or more functioning distractors and 42.5% exhibited a desirable difficulty index. However, 77.8% of items administered in the qualification examination had a negative or poor discrimination index. Four and five option items didn’t show significant differences in psychometric qualities. The qualification exam showed a positive predictive value of success in the national licensing examination (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.5).Conclusions: The difficulty index, functionality of distractors, and item reliability were acceptable, while the discrimination index was poor. Five option items didn’t have better psychometric qualities than the four options. Student performance in the qualification examination had a positive predictive validity. Items used for high-stake examinations need to be designed carefully and reviewed before administration.