Abstract
BackgroundThe decrease in the number of adolescents showing genuine interest in the fields of healthcare has been one of the recent concerns worldwide. A plethora of studies have discussed the factors that influence career choices of high school students, including science educational pedagogies, gender, environment, the student’s cognitive capabilities, and social perceptions of occupations being gender-based. As reported in 2012, a majority of the Qatari high-school students have shown a greater interest in business, technological, and administrative careers and a lower interest in healthcare. Comprehensive national and institutional strategies have since been utilized to direct the interest of Qatari generation toward healthcare careers.ObjectiveThe primary objective of this case-control study is to assess the effect of schooling type on the enrollment in the Empower Generations (EG) career training in healthcare at the Qatar University. The secondary objectives are: (1) to describe the effect of initial career interest on the EG and healthcare majors composite’s enrollments and (2) assess the association between the history of enrollment in EG and university GPAs.MethodThis is a case-control study that utilized the Qatar University’s enrollment databases for the health professions majors, that is, Health Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry. The datasets were collected from the registration records between 2013 and 2020. The statistical analysis was performed on the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 26; the study used Chi-Square Test and Independence and logistic regression to assess the effect of schooling type and initial career interest on the enrollment in the EG training at the Qatar University. All statistics were tested for p = 0.05 and 95% CI.ResultsTotal QU-Health records of admissions from 2013 to 2020 involve 562 eligible students. A total of 180 students (32%) attended EG training before they were admitted to QU-Health, whereas a total of 382 (68%) were enrolled to QU-Health without attending EG training. The study revealed significant findings regarding the association between EG training and international schools (p < 0.001). Among the group who attended EG training, there were 63 students (75%) who reported that they did not have an initial career interest before they joined the EG training compared to 21 students (25%) reported that they did not have an initial career interest but enrolled immediately to healthcare majors. The findings indicate insignificant association between the history of EG training and the high school percentage p = 0.397. However, the association between a history of EG training and the university’s GPA is significant, with a p < 0.001, OR 5.016 (2.954–8.518).ConclusionThe study has shown significant association between the EG training enrollment and the type of school and the initial career interest of high school students. The EG training is perceived to direct the interest of high school students toward the careers of healthcare and is thought to enhance the performance of college students through their university’s GPAs.
Highlights
The present generations across the world face several challenges in keeping pace with the scientific innovations, industrial growth, and technological advancements that have taken place over the recent century, due to which greater attention is being directed toward the career choices of adolescents and their impact on the future of the individuals as well as society as a whole (Keshavarzi et al, 2019)
The second pillar includes field applications for the principles taught in the first stage, carried out at various healthcare and research centers including the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Al-Gannas Qatari Society, Sidra Medicine, Equine Veterinary Medical Center (EVMC), Qatar Biobank, and Qatar Genome
This study follows a case-control observational design in order to assess the effect of schooling type on the enrollment in the Empower Generations (EG) health career training at the Qatar University, which is one of the main strategies followed to enhance the enrollments in healthcare careers
Summary
The present generations across the world face several challenges in keeping pace with the scientific innovations, industrial growth, and technological advancements that have taken place over the recent century, due to which greater attention is being directed toward the career choices of adolescents and their impact on the future of the individuals as well as society as a whole (Keshavarzi et al, 2019). Efficient healthcare education focuses on the content and utilizes a scholastic approach to ensure the learning strategy has maximum relevance to the field applications especially for high school students (Javadi et al, 2018). Interactive teaching strategies such as active engagement with counselors, meeting of role models, stimulation of science inquiries, and learning based on problems and real-life applications, among others, are utilized to influence and direct adolescents’ interests toward healthcare and science-based careers in some regions of the world (Kozan et al, 2014). The fourth pillar includes a 1- or 2-week externship at one of the abovementioned research and healthcare institutes (see Figure 1)
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