Comparison of the effect of two educational methods on academic advisor's knowledge, attitude and practice in Hamadan University of Medical Sciences

According to the educational policy and regulation, offering academic advising to the students is one of the essential faculty members’ responsibilities and medical universities must guide the students during their education in order to prevent any academic problems and barriers and improve academic achievement. To Compare the effect of two educational methods on academic advisors’ knowledge, attitude and practice. Eighty-seven advisors participated in this experimental study. The participants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group (N=43) receiving self-learning educational materials participated in a one-day workshop. The second group only received self-learning educational materials. A reliable and valid questionnaire was distributed to gather data. The findings indicated the knowledge of the advisors about advising and counselling in the first group (X =14.77, SD=3.1) was higher than the advisors in the second group (X =11.54, SD=2.76), so that a significant difference was observed between the two groups (P<0.001). But attitude and practice of the advisors in the two groups showed no significant difference. According to this study, holding planned workshops, role playing method and group discussion work will cause active and dynamic learning rather than receiving self-learning materials. This research findings can help plan advisors education.