title: Effectiveness of training intervention to improve medical student's information literacy skills.
abstract: This study aimed to assess the efficiency of delivering a 4-month course of "effective literature search" among medical postgraduate students for improving information literacy skills. This was a cross-sectional study in which 90 postgraduate students were randomly selected and participated in 12 training sessions. Effective search strategies were presented and the students' attitude and competency concerning online search were measured by a pre- and post-questionnaires and skill tests. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 using t-test. There was a significant improvement (p=0.00), in student's attitude. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) was 2.9 (0.8) before intervention versus the mean (SD) 3.9 (0.7) after intervention. Students' familiarity with medical resources and databases improved significantly. The data showed a significant increase (p=0.03), in students' competency score concerning search strategy design and conducting a search. The mean (SD) was 2.04 (0.7) before intervention versus the mean (SD) 3.07 (0.8) after intervention. Also, students' ability in applying search and meta search engine improved significantly. This study clearly acknowledges that the training intervention provides considerable opportunity to improve medical student's information literacy skills.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Library and Information Sciences, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.|Iranian Center of Excellence in Health Management, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammadhiwa
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9874-3045
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdekhoda
authors.affiliation: Department of Foreign Language, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Afsaneh
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5731-8894
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dehnad
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Health Services, School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmood
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3406-5040
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yousefi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D058980:Information Literacy; D008297:Male; D011361:Professional Competence; D057386:Search Engine; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Education; Health services; Information literacy; Medical students; Online search