63 - ENTRY BEHAVIOUR AND PERCEPTION Of NEUROANATOMY COURSE AMONG MEDICAL AND ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

Poster Board Number: 63
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Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : In order to improve undergraduate medical and allied-health students' experiences with neuroscience and combat the stigma associated with it, medical schools have adopted initiatives to address neurophobia. In this research, we looked at the entry behaviour of undergraduate medical and health sciences towards their first class in neuroanatomy and how they perceived the subject of neuroanatomy, its alleged value in medical education and their opinion on the possible factors for neurophobia.

A total of 168 (Females: 122. Males:46) undergraduate students from the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Afe Babalola University, Nigeria participated in this cross-sectional study. The undergraduate students filled out an anonymous quantitative questionnaire distributed during their first calss on neuroanatomy. The responses were recorded and analyzed.

Majority of the participants (91%) had a good prior knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophobia(94.4%) with a sizable number of them (60%) expressing excitement to take the course. Although the participants agreed that the course would take time to comprehend, majority perceived that the course could be easy to recall despite the intriguing nature. The importance of the course was well appraised; however, some participants were undecided if they would further their education into neuro-related discipline. Furthermore, it was affirmed from the participants that insufficient teaching and teaching materials (55%), having a family member with neurological disease(63%), the prevailing fear of neuroanatomy among predecessors(72%) could promote neurophobia. With about half of the participants (50.6%) affirming that they possess the right attitude and aptitude to excel in neuroanatomy, they (60%) also believed that having a positive attitude towards learning in general would be beneficial in dealing with neurophobia.

Conclusion: Students see neuroanatomy as an interesting and significant subject in their medical education, but there are improvements that need to be made to make it more current, accessible, and student friendly. The question therefore becomes: How can we, as lecturers achieve this?