Advocacy in community-based service learning: perspectives of community partner organizations

Abstract

Background: Health advocacy is a core competency for physicians, which can be developed through community-based service-learning (CBSL). This exploratory study investigated the experiences of community partner organizations (CPOs) participating in CBSL in the context of health advocacy. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted. Nine CPOs at a medical school participated in interviews on topics pertaining to CBSL and health advocacy. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Major themes were identified. Results: CPOs perceived a positive impact from CBSL through student activities and connecting with the medical community. There was no unifying definition of health advocacy. Advocacy activities varied depending on the individual’s role (i.e., CPO, physician, and student), which encompassed providing patient care or services, raising awareness of healthcare issues, and influencing policy changes. CPOs had different perceptions of their role in CBSL from facilitating service-learning opportunities to teaching students in CBSL, while a few desired to be involved in curriculum development. Conclusion: This study provides further insight into health advocacy from the lens of CPOs, which may inform changes to health advocacy training and the CanMEDS Health Advocate Role to better align with the values of community organizations. Engaging CPOs in the broader medical education system may improve health advocacy training and ensure a positive bidirectional impact.

“A life-changing experience and the beginning of a lifelong commitment”: Experiences and Impact of Global Health Community Service-Learning in Undergraduate Dental Curriculum

“…Angelopoulou & Kavvadia, 2018;Sng et al, 2023;Khiatani et al, 2023;Bahammam & Bahammam, 2023). As such,Truong et al (2023) suggests that this experience may foster a broader perspective on global oral health disparities among the learners, encouraging them to advocate for oral health equity and gain a desire to seek solutions that address these disparities throughout their careers as oral health providers(Truong et al, 2023).Emphasis was placed by the learners on their emerging understanding of the nature and challenges presented by culturally diverse patient populations as they integrated themselves socially in both the local language and culture. Previous studies have recognized CSL as an excellent pedagogy for providing learners with the opportunity to not only gain awareness of cultural and healthcare issues but also encourages the development of cultural competence through social integration(Amerson, 2010;Klenner et al, 2022;de Leon, 2014;Garcia et al, 2008).…”

The future of the CanMEDS physician competency framework

“… describe how virtual visiting electives 24 and community-based service learning projects 25 can be used to teach CanMEDS competencies. demonstrate how benchmarking can improve the delivery of scholar competencies within training programs, 2 6 and CanMEDS-based criterion can structure an initiative to improve learner feedback 27 map competencies within global health 28 and Area of Focused Competence 29 programs to the CanMEDS Framework.…”

“…describe how virtual visiting electives 24 and community-based service learning projects 25 can be used to teach CanMEDS competencies.…”