The Social Representations (SR) of Graduate Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) Students about Parasitology: a comparative analysis between pre and post-instruction.

Abstract

Parasitology is part of the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) program curriculum. A long list of parasites of medical importance need to be covered in a short amount of time to prepare these students for their professional practice. Social representations (SR) constitute commonsense knowledge, created daily under the influence of communicative processes, and constructed while we play our roles in our social contexts. In a student-centered course, it’s paramount to understand students’ prior knowledge to effectively teach them new skills. In this study, we aimed at describing the SR of MLS students related to “Parasitology” before and after instruction. Fourteen MLS students were surveyed, and their SR related to parasitology was assessed using a free evocation test and the IRAMUTEQ software. Results showed that in pre instruction, students used words more related to general biological aspects of parasites to describe parasitology. After instruction, well in line with the content and objectives of the course, students used words more closely related to medical parasitology as those related to the morphology and diagnosis of parasites. This indicates that the course was able to change the students’ SR related to parasitology.