33 - Students' Perception of the Use of Background Music During Cadaver Dissection and Its Prevalence in Sub-Saharan African Medical Schools: A Multicountry Study

Poster Board Number: 33
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Abstract Body : Introduction and objective: Cadaver dissection (CD) is a stressful and anxiety-triggering experience for some students. Studies show that background music (BM) reduces stress symptoms, helps medical students cope with their anxiety, and improves academic performance. A lot remains unknown about the use and acceptability of BM in CD despite being a cost-effective method for reducing stress and anxiety during CD. This study examined the prevalence of the use of BM during CD in medical schools in Sub-Saharan Africa and students' perceptions of the use of BM during CD.
Materials and methods: This study is a part of a multicountry study on 'cadaver dissection, stress, and background music' covering sixty-eight medical schools from nine Sub-Saharan African countries. This cross-sectional study systematically and proportionally surveyed and analyzed responses from 2968 medical students and graduates across nine sub-Saharan African countries (between 150 and 788 respondents from each country) using a self-administered questionnaire (https://forms.app/judennaka/BM-in-dissection). The survey featured questions focused on demographics, music, and CD administered online through email, Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. All respondents gave their consent before taking part in the survey. Target countries (Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) were scored and selected based on the four World Bank indices of development and education: population, literacy, human capital index (HCI), and human development index (HDI) to reach countries with more medical students and graduates maximally.
Results: Only a few respondents (1.73%) reported that their institution uses BM during CD. About half (47.13%) of the respondents agreed that BM would improve learning conditions during CD, while 37.67% were unsure about its effect. 59% of the study participants agreed that BM would make CD ‘interesting and lively', while a quarter (25.7%) think it would be a source of noise and distraction. All the participants who have experienced CD with BM agreed that using BM will make CD ‘interesting and lively' and help control noise during CD classes (p< 0.001). About 63% of the participants who love music to a 'very great extent' agreed that BM would be beneficial as a tool to enhance learning conditions during CD, while 63.96% of those who do not like music at all think otherwise (p< 0.001). About half (52%) of the participants think using BM should be encouraged in CD laboratories, while 29.61% are uncertain about this.
Conclusion: The use of BM during cadaver dissection is almost non-existent in Sub-Saharan medical schools. However, most medical students and graduates from Sub-Saharan Africa with CD experience perceive the use of BM during CD positively and believe that it would be a beneficial tool that will enhance anatomy learning.
Significance/implication: This is the first known study on the prevalence of the use of BM during CD in Africa. This study has amplified the need for rapid integration of BM in CD laboratories across medical schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, this should be done when more empirical evidence on its effectiveness in improving CD experience and anatomy learning.