Abstract
As criticism intensifies regarding healthcare disparities, the Liaison Committee for Medical Education has added accrediting standards mandating Service Learning (SL) in their curriculum. SL is a viable educational method to enhance social responsibility and other elements of professional identity. The problem of implementing highly effective SL projects in medical education was addressed in this study. Kiely’s model of transformational SL was used in this basic qualitative study to examine 10 medical students’ experiences during an SL project. The research question for the study was focused on the students’ descriptions of their experiences to understand how they perceived changes in themselves resulting from participation in SL. Findings from the data collected with semistructured interviews indicated that medical students described SL experiences as beneficial for community integration, educating others, and gratification. They expressed disappointment that they did not know the results of their projects. They related SL experiences that were eye-opening for them and stated that SL influenced their development of compassion as well as their intent to serve their community in their future practice of medicine. The resulting research study consisted of a curriculum plan for a required, credit-bearing SL project. The research contributes to positive social change by the intentional design of a transformative SL curriculum to foster social responsibility development.
Highlights
The site for this research was the School of Medicine (SOM) at a public university in the Midwestern United States (U.S.)
2.1 Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore, from the students’ perspective, their descriptions of Service Learning (SL) experiences that influenced their development of social responsibility
A comparative study of medical students who have and have not participated in a clerkship year SL project could be conducted to determine if the same level of transformative learning is occurring in all students. 4.1.1 Limitations One limitation includes the small sample size and that there was only one SOM and one SL project considered in the analysis
Summary
The site for this research was the School of Medicine (SOM) at a public university in the Midwestern United States (U.S.). The administration and faculty of the SOM developed mission, vision, and values statements as well as educational goals that support the cultivation of social responsibility in their medical students. The problem that was the focus of this study was the need to understand medical student perceptions about how the SOM’s voluntary SL project influenced the development of social responsibility. Exploring medical students’ perceptions and experiences of social responsibility during the SL project provided insight into the effectiveness of the educational method in this context and how to best allot scant time and resources in the future. The purpose of this study was to explore, from the students’ perspective, their descriptions of SL experiences that influenced the development of social responsibility. This research was guided by one research question: 1) How do medical students describe their experiences during an SL project?
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