Comparison of the students’ satisfaction about the performance of academic advisors before and after the Advisor Project in Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Inappropriate advice interferes with the students’ achievementof educational and professional goals and they may fail to use proper resourcesfor their educational needs. The present study was carried out to compare thestudents’ satisfaction about the performance of academic advisors before andafter the advisor project in Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This longitudinal study was carried out using census report on 244students in different courses at Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences intwo stages at the first semester of 2010-2011 and first semester of 2011-2012. Tocollect the data, we used a self-designed questionnaire including individual andeducational information and 10 multiple-choice questions with Likert scaleto assess the students’ satisfaction about the advisors’ performance. Data wereanalyzed in SPSS 14 using paired t-test, qui-square test. P<0.05 was consideredsignificant.Results: Of the ten items of satisfaction, there was only a significant differencein “accessibility to an advisor before and after the advisor project in studentsof nursing and midwifery school” (p=0.010), and the difference was notsignificant in other items in these students. No significant difference was foundin ten items of satisfaction in students at other schools before and after theadvisor project (p=0.010).Conclusion: It seems that the implementation of advisor project could notprovide a satisfactory position for students. Adequate supervision of universityofficials on proper implementation of the advisor project, supporting facultyadvisors and strengthening their position can help to improve the process.