The educational environment is an indicative of the effectiveness of educational programs.
The perceptions of medical students at the School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences
regarding their educational environment and the main factors influencing on it, are not
known. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the perceptions of medical
students at the School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences in The Gambia, regarding their
educational environment. The DREEM questionnaire was used for data collection and data
processing was done by using the SPSS statistical package. Ethics approval was obtained by
the school’s Review and Publications Committee. The response rate was that of 97.53%.
Mean total score was 121.03 points. Male students had significantly higher scores than
female students for their social self-perceptions (p=0.039). Pre-clinical students had
significantly higher scores than clinical students for the total score and for all DREEM
domains (p<0.03). The educational environment at the School of Medicine and Allied Health
Sciences is more positive than negative. The students’ sex is associated to their social selfperceptions,
and pre-clinical students have a more positive perception of the educational
environment than clinical students.