The Effect of Participation in Empowerment Workshops on the Quality of Teaching and Professional Commitment of Faculty Members of Isfahan Medical School

Empowerment workshops are mandatory for faculty in various fields of education, research and culture. The effectiveness of the workshops increases the level of professional commitment and improves the quality of teaching, and ultimately improves the medical and diagnostic services of patients. Despite holding these workshops for many years, less feedback has been reflected on their consequences. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of participating in the mentioned workshops on the quality of teaching and the commitment of the faculty.

A cross-sectional analytical study was performed in 2016 at Isfahan Medical School. The statistical population consisted of 538 faculty members working in Isfahan Medical School and sampling included the selected professors (433 people). The scores of teaching quality, professional commitment, evaluation and participation in faculty empowerment workshops in the last five years were obtained. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, t-test and Pearson correlation through SPSS.

Of the total faculty, 80% had an evaluation score above 85 (out of 100) and a professional commitment score above 17 (out of 20). The mean scores of teaching quality and professional commitment were 8.85± 0.65, 19.30± 0.85 and direct and significant correlations (r = 0.33 and P <0.001), respectively. The mean evaluation score was 93.07 ± 4.23 out of 100 and had a direct and significant correlation with the empowerment score (r = 0.12 and P = 0.012). Results show that Mean empowerment score was 1.4±1.5 out of 5 and had no significant correlation with professional commitment or teaching quality.

The findings showed on the one hand the high scores of the faculty in the quality of teaching, professional commitment and evaluation and on the other hand the low acceptance of the faculty to participate in the workshops and the weak correlation between the two. Given that high face-to-face scores in evaluation can lead to misconceptions about self-efficacy and consequently reduced self-efficacy. Therefore, it is recommended that faculty be empowered in self-assessment.