title: Communities' awareness, perception and participation in the Community-Based Medical Education of the University of Maiduguri.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Community-based medical education (CBME) is no longer a new innovation in medical education since the establishment of The Network: Towards Unity for Health (The Network: TUFH) 25 years ago. The CBME of the University of Maiduguri medical college is 14 years old and has never been assessed in terms of the population it serves. The study was conducted to determine the level of awareness, perception, and participation of the communities in CBME.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 11 village units of three Local Government Areas (LGAs) using a 14-item structured questionnaire administered to adults in randomly selected households. The questionnaire was based on guide questions used for focus group discussions held earlier with community leaders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Awareness of students' visits among respondents was 73.7%. Knowledge of the frequency of presence of the students in the communities was 72.2%. "To examine and treat" (33.6%) and "to ask questions" (16.6%) were the most prominent reasons given for the visits. The majority of respondents perceived the visits as beneficial (72.2%). More frequent visits were requested by 54.4% of the respondents. The communities were willing to be more accessible and felt that the LGAs should provide more logistic support to the program.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed that communities were aware of students' visits and knew reasons for the visits, thought visits were beneficial, and were willing to provide more support for these visits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria. atunjeba@yahoo.com
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Omotara
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yahya
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Shehu
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Bello
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Bassi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D003154:Community Medicine / Q000193:education*; D003256:Community Participation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D010465:Perception; D015397:Program Evaluation; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires