Preuniversity Students' Perceptions and Attitudes About an Anatomy and Physiology Outreach Program: Survey Study and Inductive Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Background Science and health outreach activities are aimed at motivating and sparking interest among prospective students to pursue careers in these fields; however, research studies supporting this hypothesis are limited. Objective The aim of our study was to organize an integrated Anatomy and Physiology outreach to examine preuniversity students’ learning experiences (learning tools, activities, and facilitators) and motivation to pursue a career in health care and to gather evidence on their attitudes and perceptions of such activities. Methods A 2-day course on cardiorespiratory and gastrointestinal anatomical systems was presented at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore using its key pedagogies, that is, multimodal practical and team-based learning. Ninety preuniversity students from 21 preuniversity institutions in Singapore participated in this 2-day course, and their experiences were evaluated using a 4-point Likert scale and open-ended survey questions. Free-text comments were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results The survey using the 4-point Likert scale was completed by 81 (92%) of the 88 participants. Most students felt that the course materials were adequate (mean 3.57, SD 0.57) and met the learning objectives (mean 3.73, SD 0.52). The students felt that the instructors were clear (mean 3.73, SD 0.52) and effective (mean 3.70, SD 0.53). They liked the organization of the outreach session (mean 3.64, SD 0.48) and were highly motivated to study medicine or allied/biomedical sciences (mean 3.69, SD 0.54). Practical and team-based learning were regarded as exceedingly satisfactory (mean 3.63, SD 0.53 and mean 3.58, SD 0.54, respectively). All the respondents said that they would recommend this course to peers. Thematic analysis revealed that the participants gained a new perspective of the human body structure and function, they liked the unique learning settings, they were motivated to pursue a career in health care, they were satisfied with the sessions, and interactions with the facilitators increased their understanding of the human anatomy and physiology. Conclusions Structured health outreach activities provide students with unique opportunities to experience a preclinical learning environment in a medical school, deepen their understanding of human body structure and function, and increase their motivation and interest in science. Further, outreach programs may lay the foundations for potential students aiming to pursue health profession education.