Factors Disturbing Undergraduate Students’ Interaction during Lecture: A Gender-Based Study

Background: Effective student interaction during lectures is a key component of active learning, promoting critical thinking, deeper understanding, and long-term retention of knowledge. Objective: The purpose of the study was to identify the different factors affecting students’ interaction during lectures Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was carried out in a private medical college of Faisalabad. Sample size was 300 and those who gave consent were included. Lecture disturbance factors divided into four categories i.e. colleague, faculty, individual and environment related factors. A validated questionnaire was used and distributed via google forms. SPSS 25 was employed for assessing and analysing data. Means of disturbance factors were calculated. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the median scores of disturbance factors between male and female students, while the chi-square test was applied to examine associations between gender and specific categorical disturbance items. P value < 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Most common factors identified were faculty and environmental. Distribution of all 4 factors was same in both gender categories. For faculty, long lecture without break (Mean + S.D. = 3.57 + 0.59); for environmental, air – conditioning problem (Mean + S.D. = 3.12 + 1.04); for individual, fear of making mistake while asking question (Mean + S.D. = 2.98 + 0.99) and for colleague, gossiping during lecture (Mean + S.D. = 2.96 ­+ 1.06) were the most common identified factors causing lecture disturbance. Significant associations were found between faculty and MBBS classes (p = 0.03) and between environmental and permanent residence (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Males were more disturbed by colleague and faculty-related factors while females were disturbed more by individual and class environment factors. All stakeholders including administration, faculty, and students must overcome these factors to reduce disturbance during lectures leading to smooth learning for students.