Abstract
This article reports on a community-based service-learning program that aligned occupational therapy and speech pathology student learning with service provision in order to address the unmet developmental needs of children residing in rural New South Wales, Australia. The article describes academy outcomes for participating allied health students and academics. A pragmatic qualitative research study was undertaken and data collected through focus groups with students and individual interviews with academics. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative analysis method. Broad codes were developed and then collapsed into two themes: catalysts for program participation and civic impacts of participation. Based on the study findings, the authors argue for the need to ensure the development of communityliterate health students, academics, and practicing professionals if colleges and universities are to create a rural-ready and responsive health workforce. This community-literate approach must inform how Australian higher education institutions engage with rural communities in community-based service-learning innovation.
Highlights
International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Volume 4 Issue 1 | 2016 | ISSN: 2374-9466 | http://journals.sfu.ca/iarslce
A number of factors have led to the emergence of rural community-based service-learning including: increased demand for traditional and non-traditional placements to meet the educational requirements of greater numbers of health students responding to national health workforce shortages (Health Workforce Australia [HWA], 2013b; Jones et al, 2015; Mason, 2013); the exploration of alternative models that promote positive learning experiences in regional community-based primary healthcare settings (HWA, 2013a) to promote student intent to practice in rural settings post-graduation (Deaville & Grant, 2011; O’Brien, Phillips, & Hubbard, 2010); and the need for better alignment between health education and contemporary rural healthcare practices and community expectations (HWA, 2013a; Standing Council on Health [SCoH], 2013)
Participants selected for this study included occupational therapy (n = 4) and speech pathology (n = 6) students, who represented one student cohort undertaking its placement in one school term in 2014, and allied health academics—one in a rural setting who had over three years of responsibility for the direct education and supervision of students engaged in the service-learning program, and one in metropolitan setting who had contributed to the development of the program and had a continuing strategic partnership and programmatic role
Summary
International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Volume 4 Issue 1 | 2016 | ISSN: 2374-9466 | http://journals.sfu.ca/iarslce. Based on the study findings, the authors argue for the need to ensure the development of communityliterate health students, academics, and practicing professionals if colleges and universities are to create a rural-ready and responsive health workforce. This community-literate approach must inform how Australian higher education institutions engage with rural communities in community-based servicelearning innovation. In rural and remote (referred to as rural throughout this paper) Australia, communitybased service-learning models, including community-based interprofessional service-learning models, are being developed by University Departments of Rural Health as an additional approach to hospital-based education for health students (Jones et al, 2015; Mason, 2013). A diversity of service-learning definitions have been proposed within the literature (e.g., see Cipolle, 2010; Jacoby, 1996). Bringle and Hatcher (2009) defined service-learning as:
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