The Impact of Same-Level or Near Peer Assisted Learning Program (NPAP) on Academic Performance of Students in CMH Lahore, Pakistan.

Objectives: To determine the improvement in academic performance of undergraduate medical students by comparing pre- and post- Near Peer Assisted Learning programs (NPAP) academic scores in the subject of Otorhinolaryngology.

Methods: Our study was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study and it was carried out at CMH Lahore Medical College, Lahore during the 2022-2023 academic year. We worked with 72 fourth-year MBBS students, 24 students took on the role of NPAL tutors, while 48 were tutees. The NPAP included regular sessions that emphasized crucial Otorhinolaryngology topics. We gauged academic performance by comparing pretest scores from the 2nd Module Examination with posttest scores from the Send Up and Annual Examinations. Our data analysis, done through IBM SPSS Statistics, focused on both overall and gender-based performance improvements.

Results: Our study demonstrated that NPAP significantly improved academic scores in Otorhinolaryngology, with NPAL tutors showing higher overall improvements in scores. Gender based comparison showed that in both groups of NPAL Tutors and NPAL Tutees, female students scored slightly better than males. The P-value less than 0.001 validated the improvement in academic scores of both NPAP groups of Tutors and Tutees displaying the effectiveness of NPAP as an educational intervention at undergraduate level in the subject of Otorhinolaryngology.

Conclusions: NPAP has shown significant impact on improvement of Academic Performance in undergraduate medical students in the subject of Otorhinolatngology at CMH Lahore Medical College.