[01] Syamim Akmal Bin Wahab, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia. [02] Nur Izzati Binti Mohd Zulkipli, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia. [03] Hollie Georgeny, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia. [04] Chew Thean Yew, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia.

Self-directed learning (SDL) is known as the process of learning on one’s own initiative, with or without the help of others during the planning, implementing and evaluating of one’s effort and has been used extensively in higher education especially in tertiary institutions as a method of instruction. The aim of conducting the research is to determine the readiness of self-directed learning among medical students in their clinical years in Melaka Manipal Medical College. This study also aimed to assess the association of variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, semester of study, and future career choice with the readiness of self-directed learning in medical students in their clinical years. An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted amongst undergraduate clinical year medical students from March to April 2020 in our college. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used to enrol students for this study and a validated questionnaire was distributed online via Google forms to the students of each semester. The questionnaire comprised two parts. The first part was on informed consent, the demographic details of the participants and the sector of choice in their future career (health or non-health, public or private). The second part was on the 42-item Fisher's SDLRS questionnaire which was further subdivided into three components, ‘self-management’, ‘desire for learning’ and ‘self-control’. A total of 179 participants enrolled in this study with 59.22% of the participants obtained an average level for SDL readiness, while 25.24% of the participants scored above average and the remaining 15.64% got below average level. Self-control, one of the subscales in our study, has a mean score of 58.74, desire for learning with 54.89 and then self-management with 47. The mean of the total score of SDL readiness is 160.63. There are significant associations between age, ethnicity, and current semester with the subscale of self-management of self-directed learning readiness. It is found that nationality is associated with the subscale of self-control of SDL readiness. The study also shows that there is a significant association between future career sector and self-directed learning readiness amongst undergraduate clinical year medical students.

Self-directed Learning Readiness, Medical Students, Survey

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