Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Anatomy Academy (AA) is a service-learning program in which pre- and current
health professional students (Mentors) work in pairs to teach anatomy, physiology, and
nutrition to children in the community. The purpose of this study was to investigate the
short- and long-term Mentor outcomes in personal, social, civic, academic, and
professional domains. Former Mentors were invited to complete a survey of Likert-style
and free response questions evaluating the perceived impact of their AA experience on:
teaching skills, personal and interpersonal development, civic engagement, and academic
and professional development. Follow-up interviews with a subset of survey respondents
were performed. The survey was completed by 219 Mentors and 17 survey respondents
were interviewed. Over 50% of former Mentors reported moderate or major impact of
AA participation on elements of personal and interpersonal development (e.g., selfesteem
[57.6%], altruism [67.9%], communication skills [60.1%], and ability to work
with others [72.6%]) and community service participation (54.2%) that endures in the
years after the program. Mentors who worked with low-income or Special needs
populations reported unique impacts in personal, interpersonal, and civic domains. A
majority of former Mentors agreed that AA participation helped them learn practical
skills (76.3%) and factual knowledge (65.4%) relevant to the their careers, with several
current health professionals reported that they regularly employ teaching and
interpersonal skills learned while Mentors in their roles as physicians, nurses, or
physician’s assistants. A majority of former Mentors reported that AA validated their choice to either pursue a healthcare career or not (59.7%), increased their confidence in
performing professional tasks (64.7%), and helped shape their professional identity
(58.9%). These results indicate that a health education-based service-learning program
offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional students interested in or actively
pursuing a healthcare career benefits across personal, interpersonal, civic, and
professional domains that support their academic progress and preparation for
professional practice. This study contributes much-needed evidence of the long-term
student outcomes of service-learning to the literature, with a particular focus on how the
pedagogy can supplement the education and professional development of pre- and current
health professional students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:IUPUI/oai:scholarworks.iupui.edu:1805/30487 |
| Date | 10 1900 |
| Creators | Schmalz, Naomi Alexandra |
| Contributors | Byram, Jessica N., Hoffman, Leslie A., Organ, Jason M., Palmer, Megan M., Wisco, Jonathan J. |
| Source Sets | Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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