An exploration of professionalism and its assessment in Arab culture
Creators: name: Alotaibi, Wafa
name: Hart, Jo
name: Byrne-Davis, Lucie
Publisher: name: F1000 Research Limited
Year: 2023

description: <b>Background: </b><br> Assessment of students’ professional behaviour is becoming a more prominent part of the medical school curriculum. Students and residents are usually assessed on professionalism, such as in problem-based learning sessions or seminars. However, some professional concepts and best practices are debatable<sup>1</sup>. As part of this qualitative study, a focus group and semi-structured interviews were conducted with medical students and residents regarding the following questions: What assessment methods were used during medical practice to assess professionalism among various cultural groups? Is culture relevant to defining and classifying professionalism differently? <br> <br> <b>Summary of work: </b><br> This study was conducted using a focus group and semi-structured interviews. In the focus group, five medical education experts participated, and 27 participants were interviewed individually. The semi-structured interviews included seven basic-year medical students, fourteen clinical-year medical students, two interns, and five medicine residents. The interview topics include the definition of professionalism and whether it works in different cultural spheres, assessment practices that participants used to assess professionalism and whether peer assessments were helpful. It also explores general professional classifications to understand if they apply to a wide cultural range. The focus group and the Interviews lasted up to an hour and were audio-recorded and transcribed within two weeks.<br> <br> <b>Summary of results: </b><br> The focus group and the 27 interviews were thematically analysed using Braun and Clark's analysis method<sup>2</sup>. Seven main themes were identified. The themes were subjectivity of professionalism in the Arab region, variety of peer assessment experience, professionalism as essential competency, Arab culture shapes professionalism differently, students need assistance to be professional, determining what is considered professional and unprofessional is complex, and the presence of misrepresentative cultural norms.<br> <br> <b>Discussion and Conclusion: </b><br> This qualitative study identifies the effect of multicultural attitudes on assessing professionalism in the health field. Twenty-seven participants were individually interviewed, and five experts participated in a focus group. Interviews and the focus group focused on identifying the definition of professionalism, peer assessment and other ways of assessing and classifying professionalism values and how multi-cultural attitudes influence them. Analysis and coding occur using the Bran and Clark <sup>2</sup> method and with themes generated to answer the research question.<br> <br> Abdel-Razig S, Ibrahim H, Alameri H, Hamdy H, Haleeqa KA, Qayed KI, et al. Creating a Framework for Medical Professionalism: An Initial Consensus Statement From an Arab Nation. Journal of graduate medical education. 2016;8(2):165-72.<br> <br> Braun V, Clarke V. Thematic analysis: a practical guide. London ;: SAGE Publications; 2022.