Effectiveness of Peer Assisted Learning for medical undergraduates Faculty of Medicine, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background Peer Assisted Learning (PAL), is defined as a formal relationship in which people who are not professional teachers help others to learn, and learn themselves by teaching. PAL as a method of learning during undergraduate medical studies has been in practice for many generations. Methods An experimental non-randomized cohort study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the PAL method in teaching medical undergraduates. The method was applied to the students who were underperforming in the mid and end semester examinations of the first batch of students, Faculty of Medicine, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. Recently passed out medical graduates were enrolled as near peer teachers. Students’ improvement in the examination was analysed. Results and conclusion A group of 16 students who failed the examination was included into the exposed group and another group of randomly selected 16 students of the same batch who passed the same examination was included into the control group. Improvement of the exposed group (mean = -4.76, SD±3.02) was highly significant (p = 0.028) than the improvement of the control group (mean = -7.21, SD±2.07). In conclusion, PAL is an effective method of teaching in medical undergraduate course.