Evaluation of the Frequency of Academic Failure and its Influencing Factors in Medical Students of a Military Training Center

Abstract

Background: Students’ academic failure (AF) is one of the main problems of various universities. In the meantime, the academic decline of medical students is more critical because this field is related to society’s health with high occupational sensitivity. Objectives: The present study was conducted to evaluate the AF level of medical students and the factors affecting it in a military medical training center. Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on 184 medical students using a questionnaire. After collecting the data, the students were divided into three categories: students with at least one academic probation semester, students with a total average of basic sciences between 12 and 15, and students with a total average of basic sciences more than 15. Then, AF levels and factors that affect them were investigated. Results: The results showed that the frequency of students with AF was 25%. In addition, there was a significant relationship between AF and some variables, including marital status, residence status, date of entry into university, national entrance exam score, national entrance exam rank, diploma grade average, amount of daily study, content, and grouping (of internal university factors) and family problems (of extramural factors). In contrast, there was no significant correlation between AF and other variables, including gender, age of entry into university, father’s education level, mother’s education level, and other intra-university and extra-university factors. Conclusions: Based on the results, the officials and academic advisors in universities must pay attention to the issues and problems related to unmarried students with a longer duration of education in Universities to prevent AF among students. Students who live in the dormitory should also consider this issue. The level of education and learning of students can be increased by providing the necessary advice and training and a better standard of living in the dormitories, especially for single students.