The Relationship between Erciyes, Selçuk, and Akdeniz Medical School Third-Year Students’ Learning Approaches and Their Non-attendance Attitude and Tendencies

Background: Non-attendance is an undesirable student behavior. Although some studies about the factors for non-attendance behavior have been carried out at medical schools, the learning approach of a student has not been studied and it can also be a factor for non-attendance. We aimed to assess the relationship between learning approaches and non-attendance attitude and tendency. Methods: This is a correlational study. 644 students registered in three medical schools were enrolled. Data were collected during May 2015. “The Revised Two Factor Learning Approach Scale”, “Non-attendance Attitude Scale” and “Non-attendance Tendency Scale” were used as data collection tools. Results: Out of 478 studied students, 10.3% mentioned that they never missed theoretical classes and 71.3% mentioned that they never missed practical classes. Sleeplessness was the most common reason for non-attendance. 45.6% of all students thought that non-attendance affected student success. The students’ mean score for deep learning was 29.5±6.1 and for superficial learning was 30.5±5.6. The mean score for non-attendance attitude scale was 54.4±12.8 and from non-attendance tendency scale was 90.5±19.6. Conclusion: Learning approach is an effective factor for attendance. As deep learning approach is adopted, tendency for non-attendance decreases and the attitude becomes positive. Keywords: LEARNING, STUDENTS, MEDICAL, ATTENDANCE, ATTITUDE