Browsing by Author "Al-Kuwaiti, Ahmed"

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The future of the curriculum of allied (applied) health sciences in Saudi Arabia
(2002) Al-Mulhim, Abdulaziz; Al-Kuwaiti, Ahmed
Background : Despite the dearth of allied health professionals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the demand for them has increased. Like any other geographic location, KSA, has its own pattern of diseases. Therefore, the curriculum of the health professionals should be appropriately designed to meet the health needs of hospitals and clinics. Objectives: To demonstrate that changes in the curriculum of Allied (Applied) Health Sciences in KSA are necessary, and how these changes should be implemented. This paper also recommends that these changes must: (1) be based on the current needs of the community, (2) satisfy the health requirements of the Saudi community as well as the realities of its health practices. The Allied Health Colleges must: (1) undertake a long-term review of the curriculum, (2) ensure that the curriculum reform is continuous, (3) target faculty development, (4) target student evaluation.
Health science students' attitude towards research training programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Reliability and validity of the questionnaire instrument
(2014) Al-Kuwaiti, Ahmed
Objective: The aim of this paper was to determine the validity and reliability of a questionnaire tool for measuring students' attitudes toward components relevant to research training programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: The paper reports the responses of 564 Saudi Arabian students from seven government universities to the questionnaire comprising 16 items on 3 conceptual subscales, which measured students' attitude to research activities in the college; students' opinion of faculty involvement in research; and infrastructural facilities in the college. The results of this study provide the final scale, with all the 16 items of the initial Likert scale, for which strong evidence was obtained. Results: Results indicated that the students' attitude toward the research (SAR) scale had three latent factors, which explained 62% of the variance: The three subscales measured includes: (i) Research activities offered in the college, (ii) students' opinion of faculty involvement in research, and (iii) infrastructural facilities offered in the college for research. The full scale including three subscales had good internal consistency (rs = 0.72 and α = 0.77 for full scale; and α between 0.71 and 0.79 for three subscales). Conclusion: This study provides evidence of reliability and validity of the SAR scale for the measurement of students' attitudes toward research training programs in Saudi Arabian Universities. The research findings will provide the basis for further research on health science students.
Students evaluating teaching effectiveness process in saudi arabian medical colleges: A comparative study of students' and faculty members perception*
(2014) Al-Kuwaiti, Ahmed
Students evaluating teaching effectiveness (SETE) is highly topical world-wide, including Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The literature review highlighted the focus of this study, namely, students' and instructors' perception of the SETE process, not SETE data as such. Setting: Medical colleges in seven Governmental universities in KSA. A group of randomly drawn final year students and a group of their teaching faculties were studied. Materials and Methods: A researcher-constructed 26 items questionnaire on 5-point Likert- type scale was used to generate data. Proportion test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used to compare the differences between the perceptions of the two groups. Results: A total of 600 completed questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed. There were statistically significant differences between instructors' and students' perception of SETE. Whereas, students registered disapproval in three of the four areas studied, the pattern of instructors' response was a mirror image of the students'. It showed disapproval in one of four areas. Conclusion: Sample size was satisfactorily fair as compared with other articles with similar research focus. Evidence of objectivity and data authenticity was demonstrated. The differences and similarities between the opinions in the two groups, as well as in the literature, were identified. It can be safely concluded that the findings in this study agreed broadly with others. Future research was also signposted.