ADDING PERSONALITY TO MEDICAL TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, JAMAICA

Tomlin J. Paul*, Elaine Williams*, Lauriann Young, Joseph M. Branday, Reginald Carpenter, Olga Gordon, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, JAMAICA

Purpose

To describe students’ responses to a workshop used to encourage team work and to identify learning styles among medical students at The University of the West Indies, Jamaica.

Methods

Second and third year medical students participated in a workshop to identify personality type and to gain insight into how personality affects learning style and working in groups.

The workshop was 3 hours long and used a “temperament sorter” tool from Kiersey’s – “Please Understand Me- II”.  All students completed the tool independently and were guided in the scoring to identify their “type”.  They then participated in a series of exercises to validate their assessed type.  Approaches to learning and team work were highlighted during the validation and discussion.  Students completed an evaluation questionnaire at the end of the workshop.

Results

Responses were obtained from both classes (57 and 98 students).  Excellent ratings were received for quality of the workshop (82% and 95%) and adequacy of content (84% and 74%).  All parameters to do with the workshop organisation were rated highly. The most useful outcomes, as assessed by students, were, first, ‘understanding others’ and, second, ‘understanding self’.

Conclusion/Future Directions

Personality-based workshops were rated highly and seen as having value by the participants.  Faculty should build on this approach to enhance learning and team building skills.