Effects of sleep deprivation on students' learning: a study of medical students in University of Cape Coast

Abstract

This study set out to answer six research questions as to whether University of Cape Coast School of Medical Sciences (UCCSMS) students were truly sleep deprived and whether there was a significant difference in the sleepiness scale score among the three levels of medical students in UCCSMS. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (Johns, 1991) and a self-administered questionnaire adopted from Nojomi, Bandi, Mir, Kaffashi & Siyamak (2009) were used. A total of 125 UCCSMS medical students were conveniently selected to take part in the study. One -Way ANOVA, Descriptive statistics and Post Hoc comparisons using the Turkey HSD test, were used to analyse the data. The results: majority of the students were not generally sleep deprived in most times of the semester except during the frequent examination times when the majority reported sleep deprivation. There were differences between levels 200 and 400 in amount of sleep and in hours of sleep that were statistically significant at the p < 0.05 level of significance. There were no significant statistical differences between levels 200 and 300. The average of 5 hours of sleep experienced by level 400 students and 6 hours of sleep reported by level 200 and 300 students, were below the reported hours of sleep that is adequate for adults. Despite this amount of inadequate quantity of sleep that UCCSMS students had at the time of their training, they did not experience physical symptoms of sleep deprivation. The major effect of sleep deprivation reported was concentration difficulties. The findings have group and personal counselling, curriculum and pedagogical implications.