South African podiatry students' perceptions of feedback given as part of clinical training

Abstract

BackgroundAs part of their clinical training podiatry students spend time in clinical settings treating patients under the supervision of qualified podiatrists. The role and purpose of feedback during such clinical training is to improve students’ knowledge, skills and behaviour. Feedback is an integral part of the learning process that should enhance students’ clinical learning experiences. However, there is no data on podiatry students’ satisfaction or lack thereof about feedback provided during clinical training. The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions of podiatry students on feedback given or received during clinical training.MethodsCross-sectional survey design study in which a four-section self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect data from podiatry students in their 2nd to 4th -year of study. Simple descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative responses with free text comments yielding qualitative data, which has been used to give more insight into the quantitative findings.ResultsAnalyses showed that 8% of students were satisfied, 52% were sometimes satisfied and 37% were not satisfied with the feedback. The majority (86%) of students indicated they would prefer to receive feedback in private. Seventy-three percent of students received positive (reinforcing) and negative (corrective) feedback at the same time.ConclusionStudents agree that feedback is an essential component of the clinical learning process and appreciate constructive regular feedback whether negative or positive in nature. Additionally, students understand that feedback regardless of its type has the potential to identify areas of development, reinforce good practice and motivate them to work toward their learning outcome expectations. However, there is a need to consider issues such as setting and timing when giving feedback.

Postgraduate EFL Students’ Response t o Feedback: What Feedback Do Students Prefer?

“…However, students were clear that feedback whether positive or negative should be constructive and meaningful. This finding denotes that quality feedback influence students" feedback reception, as previous studies revealed that the quality and accuracy of feedback would influence students acceptance of even negative feedback (Ntuli et al, 2018;Plakht et al, 2013).…”

“…However, the full range of students in this study see feedback not only in terms of content but also concerning its impacts on students" emotional being. Students felt that positive feedback encourage them to perform better while negative feedback provokes them to give up, as findings in previous studies revealed that negative feedback could cause demotivation and frustration (Li & De Luca, 2014;Ntuli et al, 2018). Recognizing the value of both feedbacks, students in this study expressed that they want to receive a balance between positive and negative feedback.…”

“…Effective feedback should also involve dialogic feedback with the instructors (Pitt & Norton, 2016;Yang & Carless, 2013) and facilitate students to move forward (Mulliner & Tucker, 2015;Pokorny & Pickford, 2010). In terms of preferences, studies reported students" preferences for written (Budge, 2011;Sprague, 2017), a combination of written and face to face (Dawson et al, 2019;Murphy & Cornell, 2010), and both positive and negative feedback (Ntuli, September, & Sithole, 2018;Pitt & Norton, 2016;Plakht, Shiyovich, Nusbaum, & Raizer, 2013). Specific to the EFL context, the majority of studies explored students" preferences for feedback in relation to specific language skills.…”

Percepções de docentes e discentes sobre feedback em estágios práticos no curso de medicina

“…Um local reservado facilita a comunicação entre o estudante e o preceptor sem receio de aquele ser ridicularizado pelos colegas 23 . Além disso, as mudanças comportamentais ocorrem mais quando há concordância do que foi falado pelo professor com o modo de pensar do estudante, e, adicionalmente, o grau de aceitação das devolutivas está associado ao poder de autoavaliação do discente 24 .…”

Teachers and students’ perceptions about feedback in clinical internships in medical school

“…In a private place, feedback can be given in a clear, timely and specific way, providing an increase in student learning, as it facilitates the communication between the student and the preceptor without fear of being ridiculed by the colleagues 23 .…”