Abstract

GIANFRANCO ARIOLA, Humberto Alterio  and  PEREZ LOYO, Henry Alejandro. Hábitos de lectura en estudiantes universitarios. Educ Med Super [online]. 2004, vol.18, n.1, pp. 0-0. ISSN 0864-2141.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the reading habits of university students from the medical faculty of the Central Western University "Lisandro Alvarado" in July,2001. Of a universe of 687 students from the basic area of the medical career, a sample of 200 students were randomly selected, who were applied a questionnaire-type evaluative instrument. 72.5 % of the sample was females, the average age was 19,8 years. 50 % of the sample expressed that they liked reading and only read medical books, generic journals and newspapers. 58 % pointed out that they read also other books in addition to those referred to medical subjects; 40 % of this percentage preferred literature (novels, biographies, etc) and 14 % read poetry. 100 % of the sample said they were reading a book at that moment, 64% was reading a book related to the career or some medical subject whereas 36 % read another kind of book and those referred to the subjects. The average amount of hours devoted to reading was 4,3 hours a day. 78 % of surveyed students stated that they had a general library in their own house with an average quantity of 55,5 books, but only 22 % declared the reading of an specific book at the time of the survey, so little relationship was inferred between these two variables. Finally, based on a graphical representation of the taste for reading and the reading of a book at the time, according to the age of the studied sample, a linear tendency of relationship among the variables was observed. It is recommended to encourage even more the reading habits in the university students, particularly in the medical students as a way of cultivating the development of comprehensive objective human beings

Keywords : ESTUDENTS, MEDICAL; UNIVERSITIES; LEARNING; HABITS; CULTUREA; KNOWLEDGE.