Exploring Optometry Students' Perspectives on Satisfaction within the Clinical Learning Environment

Abstract

Creating an optimal clinical learning environment for health sciences students is crucial to fostering effective learning and skill acquisition. This study investigated optometry students' perceptions of their clinical learning environment and explored the relationship between these perceptions and their satisfaction with the clinical learning environment. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 33 optometry students engaged in clinical training. To assess their perspectives, students completed the Clinical Learning Environment Inventory (CLEI), which comprises six sub-scales: personalisation, student involvement, task orientation, teaching innovation, individualisation, and satisfaction. Using an online survey, students rated their responses on a Likert scale ranging from "strongly agree" (5) to "strongly disagree" (1). The mean CLEI scores were as follows: personalisation (20.58±2.60), student involvement (23.97±2.23), task orientation (22.76±2.22), teaching innovation (23.03±3.14), individualisation (21.61±2.99), and satisfaction (21.52±2.00). Moderate, statistically significant correlations were found between clinical learning satisfaction and the sub-scales of task orientation (r=0.464, p=0.006), teaching innovation (r=0.475, p=0.005), and individualisation (r=0.416, p=0.016). In conclusion, appropriate clinical activities, innovative clinical teaching, and consideration of student perspectives lead to higher satisfaction in optometry clinical learning. These findings highlight the importance of establishing an optimal clinical learning environment to improve the clinical skill development of students.