Socioeconomic conditions of students from the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Central University of Ecuador, 2021 – 2023

Introduction: Socioeconomic conditions determine the quality of life of students, timely access to health, education and recreation; which is related to their academic performance. Objective: Describe the socioeconomic conditions of students of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Central University of Ecuador, 2021 – 2023. Material and methods: Observational, analytical study; characterization of socioeconomic conditions (INEC Socioeconomic Level Stratification Survey). The sample corresponds to students studying Medicine, Obstetrics, Radiology, Nursing, and Laboratory. Results: The Unmet Basic Needs Index (INBI) showed student households with positive results in medicine 8% (95% CI 6.2-9.5%), obstetrics 4% (95% CI 2.6-5%), radiology 3% (95% CI 2.5-4.8 %) and laboratory 3% (95% CI 2.1-4.3%). According to the socioeconomic level stratification survey (INEC), 18.6% (95% CI 16.3-21.2%) of households are in domains C (medium socioeconomic condition) and D (low socioeconomic condition). Regarding sex, female presented 74.14% (95% CI 71.3-76.8), male 25.8% (95% CI 23.2-28.7), the male/female ratio in obstetrics was 1/13, in contrast to medicine 1/2. Discussion: Education has been established as a transversal and indispensable axis for the population to have a participative, fair, and democratic viewpoint, which affects the economic situation of the community and the country. Therefore, international strategies such as the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 4, propose the implementation of intervention strategies to address this gap. The public university has the peculiarity of the social and economic diversity among its students. In theory, it represents the opportunity that the state offers to the population with limited resources to attain higher education. Conclusions: The majority of the students completed secondary school studies in fiscal (free) institutions, however, the stratification of the socioeconomic level in correlation with the index of unsatisfied basic needs, showed that the majority of the sample is at a medium socioeconomic level. typical, with a medium and high bias, which shows a socio-economic equity gap in access to a public university.

• Autore principale: Paz-Cevallos , Washington (author)
• Altri autori: Jaramillo-Pazmiño , Edison (author), Guamán-Gualpa , William (author), Vallejo-Espinoza , Javier (author), Basantes-Jimenez, Vicente (author), Montaluisa-Vivas, Fabian (author), Valverde-Armas , Zarela (author), García-Intriago , Kevin (author), Cuaspud-Taramuel , Michael (author)
• Natura: article
• Lingua: spa
• Pubblicazione: 2023
• Soggetti: clase social; estudiantes; estatus económico; social class; students; economic status
• Accesso online: https://revistadigital.uce.edu.ec/index.php/CIENCIAS_MEDICAS/article/view/5786