The impact of informed self-assessment on the development of medical students' learning goals

This study investigates the contributions of self-assessment (SA) and external feedback on the development of learning goals (LG) and the influence on LG recall and implementation in medical students.

Following a standardized patient (SP) assessment, 168 pre-clinical medical students completed a SA, received SP feedback and created a LG. LG were categorized by source. Two weeks later, students recalled LG and described implementation. Chi-squared analyses were used to test the associations.

SA influenced LG for 82.8% of students whereas SP feedback influenced LG for 45.9%. Students rarely generated LG based on SA when they received discordant feedback (5.4%), but sometimes incorporated feedback discordant from their SA into LG (14.9%). Students who created LG based on SP feedback were more likely to recall LG than those who created LG based on SA, 89.7 versus 67.6%, p < 0.05 and implement their LG, 72.4 versus 48.9%, χ²(1) = 5.3, p = 0.017. Students who reported receiving effective feedback were more likely to implement their LG than those reporting adequate feedback, 60.9 versus 37.9%, χ²(1) = 8.0, p = 0.01.

SA is an essential part of goal setting and subsequent action. Perception of feedback plays a crucial role in LG implementation.