title: Perception of Learning Environment among Undergraduate Medical Students in Two Different Medical Schools through DREEM and JHLES Questionnaire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Assessment of learning environment is essential to assess the acceptability of the curriculum among students. Several tools are available to assess undergraduate medical students' perception of learning environment. Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire is the most commonly used tool. Here, we have used both the widely used DREEM questionnaire and a relatively new questionnaire Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale (JHLES).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Assessment of students' perception of learning environment of two eastern Indian medical schools using DREEM and JHLES questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional questionnaire based study, 200 students from Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College (NRSMC) and 78 students from College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital (CMSDH) of 5thsemester batch duly completed the two questionnaires, DREEM scale and JHLES tool. The DREEM questionnaire has 50 questions arranged in five domains. The JHLES questionnaire has 28 questions arranged in seven domains. Comparison of scores between the two colleges was done by unpaired t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were altogether 100 female and 178 male participants with mean age of 20.46±0.67. There were no significant difference between the overall DREEM score (p=0.81) and the JHLES scores (p=0.10) obtained from NRSMC and that obtained from CMSDH. Analysis of individual domain scores on DREEM scale revealed that there were no significant differences in domain scores for the two medical schools except for Students' Perception of Atmosphere (SPA) score (p=0.0086). JHLES revealed significant differences in terms of engagement, inclusion and safety, and physical space (p<0.001). The DREEM and JHLES results revealed positive correlation (r=0.59).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both DREEM and JHLES scores revealed comparable results from two schools with positive correlation between DREEM and JHLES tools, however some areas with low scores require modification especially the domain assessing Students' Academic Self-Perception (SASP) and Students' Social Self Perceptions (SSSP).
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Parama
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sengupta
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Das
keywords: Curriculum; Domains; Students’ Academic Self-Perception (SASP); Students’ Social Self-Perceptions (SSSP); Students’ perception of atmosphere