Assessing the Quality of Academic Life of Medical and Dental Students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in the Corona Epidemic

Students are beneficiaries in higher education and low quality of their academic life disrupts their learning. This study endeavored to assess the quality of academic life of medical and dental students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in the Corona's epidemic.

This descriptive study is analytical cross-sectional. The population including193 clinical medical (N= 80) and dental students (N= 73) of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences were selected by cluster and random sampling. Students with a mean age of 23.67±1.65 years (20-25) participated. Maarefvand's et al. questionnaire was employed to collect data. Questionnaire information was collected and coded. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data and ANOVA as well as t-test analytical statistics were employed to analyze and compare fields of study, year of university entry, age, gender, residence status, employment, marriage and grade point average (α=0.05).

The mean and standard deviation of quality of life score of dental students was 2.73±0.48 and medical students were 2.47±0.51. In both groups, the highest mean belonged to education and educational services and the lowest to welfare services. Only in the field of research, the average quality of life score of dental students was significantly higher than that of medicine (p<0.001, t=5.51).

The quality of academic life of dental and medical students was moderate. It is suggested that university officials provide more services to students regarding the conditions.