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PubMed1998

Use of an objective structured clinical examination in evaluating student performance.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) is increasingly being used to evaluate student clinical performance. However, scant literature exists pertinent to this approach in evaluating family medicine clerkship performance. In this study, we assess 8 years' experience with a family medicine clerkship OSCE. METHODS: Eight annual clerkship OSCEs and the performance of 696 students are described. Comparisons of faculty evaluation, written exam, and OSCE performance are made for 335 students. Post-OSCE student and faculty feedback regarding OSCE validity and utility is also presented. RESULTS: Student performance is highest in medical history taking and physical examination and lowest in information-sharing stations. OSCE results appear to be relatively consistent on a year-to-year basis. OSCE, faculty evaluation, and written exam results have low overall levels of correlation, particularly in assessing performance that differs substantially from the mean. Students and faculty agree that the OSCE experience reflects skills that students should possess, but there is less agreement that the OSCE reflects clerkship-related learning and actual student performance. Both students and faculty derive insight from the OSCE regarding the definition of specific learning needs. CONCLUSIONS: The family medicine clerkship OSCE we describe appears to provide consistent measures of student performance. Although content validity is high, further assessment is needed to assure construct validity. The OSCE experience provides students with a rich resource for defining clerkship-related learning needs. Study results strongly suggest that OSCEs, faculty evaluations, and written exams provide differing measures of student performance. The reasons for these differences merit further exploration.

Clinical Clerkship↗
PubMed1995

Motivation for hepatitis B vaccine acceptance among medical and physician assistant students.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the acceptance rate and motivation for acceptance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine among preclinical medical and physician assistant (PA) students in comparison with similar data obtained from resident and staff physicians. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of all second-year medical and PA students (n = 170) at the University of Iowa College of Medicine was conducted in Spring 1992, requesting demographic data, preventive health measure use, and reasons for HBV vaccine acceptance. Responses were compared with data obtained from resident and staff physicians during a concurrent hospital-wide survey. Rates of vaccine acceptance and use of other preventive health measures were compared across the physician groups. Factor analysis was performed to examine reasons for vaccine acceptance among the students. RESULTS: The questionnaire was completed by 162 of the 170 students (95%). Nearly all (99%) of the eligible students had received at least one dose of the HBV vaccine. Vaccine acceptance rates were significantly higher among the students than among either the resident or the staff physicians (p = 0.003, p < 0.0001, respectively). Influenza vaccine acceptance and seat belt use were significantly higher among the resident and staff physicians than they were among the students. The students attributed their high HBV vaccine acceptance rate to the recommendations of authority figures. Threat of illness and issues of vaccine safety and efficacy were relatively unimportant among the students, though the residents and staff physicians reported threat of illness to be an important motivator for vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Excellent HBV vaccine acceptance rates may be achieved among preclinical medical and PA students. Recommendations of authority figures are important motivators for HBV vaccine acceptance among students.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nursing students assess nursing education.

This study assessed the characteristics of nursing students currently enrolled in nursing education programs, how students finance their nursing education, their plans for clinical practice and graduate education, and the rewards and difficulties of being a nursing student. Data are from a survey administered to a national sample of 496 nursing students. The students relied on financial aid and personal savings and earnings to finance their education. Parents, institutional scholarships, and government loans are also important sources, but less than 15% of the students took out bank loans. Nearly one quarter of the students, particularly younger and minority students, plan to enroll in graduate school immediately after graduation and most want to become advanced nursing practitioners. Most of the nursing students (88%) are satisfied with their nursing education and nearly all (95%) provided written answers to two open-ended questions. Comments collapsed into three major categories reflecting the rewards (helping others, status, and job security) and three categories reflecting the difficulties (problems with balancing demands, quality of nursing education, and the admissions process) of being a nursing student. Implications for public policymaking center on expanding the capacity of nursing education programs, whereas schools themselves should focus on addressing the financial needs of students, helping them strike a balance among their school, work, and personal/family responsibilities and modifying certain aspects of the curriculum.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Comparison of women pharmacy and nursing students.

The increasing number of women in pharmacy schools has had an impact on pharmacy manpower estimates. The nursing shortage has been used as an example of what may happen when women health professionals choose not to practice in their field. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the women students in these two health professions were similar with respect to demographics, career choice, career plans, and career commitment. A survey was distributed to undergraduate pharmacy students and baccalaureate nursing students at the University of Texas. The 168 women pharmacy students and 67 nursing students responding to the survey were included in the analyses. On average, the pharmacy students were younger, were more likely to be single, and had fathers of a higher socioeconomic status. When asked to indicate their primary reason for choosing their profession, the pharmacy students most often chose "want a career in the health field," whereas the nursing students chose "desire to help people" most often. When future plans of the two groups were compared, a higher percentage of the pharmacy students planned to work full time for the majority of their careers. Responses to Blau's Career Commitment Scale indicated that the women pharmacy students were more committed to their profession than were women nursing students. Although some may assume these groups are similar, results indicate that there are significant differences between them. Comparison of manpower issues between the two groups may not be justified.

Career Choice↗
PubMed1989

College students' knowledge and health beliefs about AIDS: implications for education and prevention.

A questionnaire designed to measure the application of the dimensions of the Health Belief Model (HBM) to AIDS prevention and to practicing safer sex was administered to 139 undergraduates aged 22 years and under. Students generally had good knowledge about the facts of AIDS, which was consistent with other studies. We found an important difference between students' beliefs about practicing safer sex to prevent AIDS depending on whether their level of knowledge was high or low. The HBM posits that all of its dimensions must be present in order for belief to be followed by action. However, students with low knowledge indicated that the perceived barriers to practicing safer sex were higher than did students with high knowledge about AIDS. These results suggest that special efforts need to be made to teach students with low knowledge more about AIDS and that the barriers to safer sex can and should be overcome. There were no differences between students known to be sexually active compared with those who may or may not have been sexually active. One explanation was a possibly high number of students in the group identified as "perhaps sexually active" who actually were sexually active. Similarly, there were no differences between college students who did or did not know someone with AIDS, but this may have been due to the small number of students who did know such a person. Students' preferences for the format and methodology of AIDS education also were presented. In general, the students preferred small-group discussions and formats such as movies or panel discussions where they could remain "anonymous."(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2004

A comparison of smoking behaviors among medical and other college students in China.

A survey of students' smoking in China (n = 1896), comparing medical students with college students in non-medical majors, was carried out to determine whether a medical education has a preventive effect on smoking uptake. The survey, sampling students from 12 universities in three cities, found no significant differences between medical and non-medical students in smoking prevalence (40.7% versus 45.1% for males, 4.4% versus 6.0% for females), in 'ever smoked' groups, in 'ever smoked 100 cigarettes' groups or in years of smoking. For both student groups, smoking prevalence increased with age and with years of college. However, one significant difference was found among the smokers: medical students were more likely to be occasional smokers than were non-medical students (75.3% occasional smokers among medical students who smoked versus 60.6% among non-medical students). These results suggest that a medical education had little effect on these students' decisions to smoke, but that it may have modified their consumption level. Future studies are needed to ascertain factors affecting the decision to smoke and to identify possible early adopters of a non-smoking culture in China. Action on a societal level is urgently needed to change Chinese social norms regarding smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Medical and dental students' attitudes about the AIDS epidemic.

This study investigated changes, over a one-year period, in medical and dental students' attitudes toward various issues related to contact with AIDS patients. In 1988 and 1989, the authors surveyed second- and third-year medical and dental students at one medical school both before and after they completed a year of required clinical training. The dental students remained consistently more anxious and more restrictive in their attitudes toward treating patients with AIDS than did their medical student counterparts, and became more conservative (fearful) in their attitudes after working with AIDS patients, whereas the medical students became more liberal. Overall, both groups were more concerned about contracting AIDS in their professional lives than in their personal lives. Over one-third of the medical students and two-thirds of the dental students indicated that they did not wish to train in a specialty or hospital with a high percentage of AIDS patients, and a substantial minority of the students in both groups did not feel that they were responsible for treating all patients whom they were qualified to treat. These and related results suggest that AIDS-related anxiety may influence students' career choices and behaviors and the quality of care patients receive. Suggestions for educational strategies to address students' fears--both warranted and unwarranted--and the differences in attitudes between students of different health-care professions are discussed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2003

Students' opinion of tobacco control policies recommended for US colleges: a national survey.

OBJECTIVE: Comprehensive tobacco control policies for US colleges and universities have been proposed by several groups in order to counter the rising use of tobacco by students enrolled in these institutions. Student opinion of these policies is not known, and concern about student opposition is one barrier that deters administrators from adopting the policies. This study measured student support for recommended college tobacco control policies. DESIGN: Mailed survey of US college students (2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study). SETTING: 119 nationally representative, four-year colleges and universities in the USA. PARTICIPANTS: 10,904 randomly selected undergraduate students enrolled at participating schools. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Students' opinion of 7 proposed tobacco control policies. RESULTS: A majority of students supported each policy. Over three quarters of students favoured smoke-free policies for all college buildings, residences, and dining areas, while 71% supported prohibiting tobacco advertising and sponsorship of campus social events, 59% favoured prohibiting tobacco sales on campus, and 51% supported smoke-free campus bars. All policies had more support among non-smokers than smokers (p < 0.001). Among smokers, support for policies was inversely related to intention to quit and intensity of tobacco consumption. Because college students' tobacco consumption is low, a majority of smokers favoured banning smoking in college buildings and dining areas and prohibiting tobacco marketing on campus. CONCLUSIONS: Student support for proposed campus tobacco control policies is strong, even among smokers, and broadly based across demographic subgroups. These findings should provide reassurance to college administrators who are considering adopting these policies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Recruitment and retention: the development of an action plan for African-American health professions students.

This article presents results of a survey of African-American students enrolled in the colleges of medicine, dentistry, allied health, pharmacy, and nursing at the University of Kentucky. The survey was designed to determine the students' perceptions of factors that affect recruitment, enrollment, and academic progress of African-American students. Fifty-three of seventy students responded to survey questions addressing recruitment; admissions; and financial, social, personal, and academic support. Over 50% of medical students decided by junior high to enter a health career; only 15% of other students decided that early. The influence of a family member was more important in student decisions to enter nursing or medicine than in decisions by other students. Only 17% of medical students reported difficulty in locating sources of financial aid compared to 48% of those from other colleges. Perceptions regarding lack of social outlets were consistent among respondents from all colleges. Findings emphasize the importance of early exposure to the health professions, early outreach strategies, ongoing financial assistance, and the importance of establishing social networks for African-American students enrolled in a majority institution. The survey results were used to develop an action plan for the offices of minority affairs, student services, and academic affairs to address identified problems and concerns.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

[Hygiene during leisure time among third year students from the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences].

The aim of the study was the assessment of hygiene of leisure time among third year students from Faculty of Nursing and Health Science of Lublin Medical Academy. It analysed passive and active ways of spending free time. The study involved 106 students (55 stationary and 51 extramural) and it was conducted by means of questionnaire. The study revealed that students prefer passive types of spending their leisure time. The most popular activity was listening to the radio, to which they devoted average 2.9 hours a day (listening to music mainly). Extramural students listened to the radio shorter than stationary ones (the difference was statistically significant). Students spent also a lot of their time watching television (average 1.5 hours a day), reading books and newspapers (average 1.85 hours a day) and doing housework, which is an active way of rest (average 2.7 hours a day), mainly preparing meals and shopping. Students devoted the least of their free time to sleep during the day in spite of the fact it is an excellent way of rest. The study found also that physical activity was not a favourite type of spending free time. Every third student did not do any sport. Stationary students did sport 4 times longer than extramural (the difference was statistically significant). Only 31% practiced taking a daily walk and only 44% of students made tourist trips. 81.9% of them went away during summer holidays, but only 31% of them during the winter break. Undoubtedly, the way of spending free time by the students under examination was not hygienic as it did not give them a sense of relaxation and rest; also the students themselves were not satisfied with it.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Anorexic behaviour and attitudes among female medical and nursing students at a private university hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To study the anorexic behaviour and attitude among female medical and nursing students in a tertiary care hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey to determine the proportion of anorexic behaviour among female medical and nursing students at The Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi was conducted. A multistaged sampling technique was utilized in which our study population was first divided according to field of enrollment (medical or nursing school) and then stratified by class. Within each stratum, we used convenience sampling due to time and availability constraints. We utilized a modified Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) to collect data. The Eating Attitude Test is probably the most widely used standardized measure of symptoms characteristic of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa. RESULTS: A total of 180 female students were interviewed. Ninety-four (52.2%) were medical students and 86 (47.8%) were nursing students. Among the 94 medical students, 26 (27.7%) were from first year, 14 (14.9%) from second year, 15 (16.0%) from third year, 20 (21.3%) from fourth year and 19 (20.2%) from the final year of medical college. Among the 86 nursing students 34 (39.5%) were from first year, 23 (26.7%) from second year, 27 (31.4%) from third year and 2 (2.4%) from fourth year. The proportion of anorexic behaviour among medical students was 8.0%, 7.1% and 20.0% in first, third and fourth years respectively. No individuals with anorexic behaviour were found in second and fifth years. The total proportion of anorexic behaviour among female health care students was 21.7%. CONCLUSION: Results showed a 21.7% prevalence of anorexic behaviour, a figure much higher than that reported in similar studies conducted in Asia. We also found that the proportion was much higher among female nursing students as compared to female medical students. A previous visit to a psychiatrist for reasons other than eating disorders was found to be associated with anorexic behaviour.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Awareness of hepatitis B virus among undergraduate medical and non-medical students.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the awareness of Omani medical and non-medical students of hepatitis-B virus (HBV) infection. METHODS: A structured questionnaire of 31 different statements concerning basic knowledge of HBV, its modes of transmission, diagnosis, risk behaviors, prevention, treatment, beliefs as well as attitudes towards patients with HBV infection were distributed to 280 students (154 females and 126 males). Of these 138 were pre-clinical medical students and 142 were non-medical students. The study was conducted at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman during the period of 2001 to 2003. RESULTS: The majority of the students (75%) were aware that HBV is a common cause of hepatitis and 50.7% of them think that HBV infection is preventable. Availability of vaccine is a fact appreciated more by medical (65.2%) than by non-medical (35.2%) students (p<0.05). Approximately 70% of the cohort believed that screening blood for HBV renders blood safe for transfusion. Hepatitis B virus infected student or colleague in the same classroom or working place was accepted by 58% of medical and 46.5% of non-medical students. However, the majority of students (63.2%) hesitate to take care of a HBV infected patient. CONCLUSION: The majority of students showed some knowledge regarding HBV transmission, risk behaviors and prevention. However, there are still misconceptions regarding the attitudes, which reflect a false perception of the disease among students. This calls for well-structured health education programs stressing on such misconceptions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Validating dental and medical students' evaluations of faculty teaching in an integrated, multi-instructor course.

As more students from various health professions are combined into integrated courses, evaluating the teaching quality of individual faculty in these typically large, multi-instructor contexts becomes increasingly difficult. Indeed, students who lack sufficient recall of a given faculty member or are not committed to the evaluation process may respond by marking identical responses to all evaluation items (e.g., 3-3-3-3-3), regardless of the specific content of the items on the faculty evaluation questionnaire. These "straight-lining" behaviors-more formally referred to as monotonic response patterns (MRPs)-often reflect students' inattention to the task at hand or lack of motivation to be discriminating, which may result in invalid data. This study examines the prevalence of MRP ratings in relation to indicators reflective of students' lack of attention to evaluating the quality of faculty teaching. Dental and medical students in a required, second-year (medicine) basic science course conducted by the medical school and taught primarily by medical school faculty completed seven-item faculty evaluation forms, along with an anonymous questionnaire measuring their need to evaluate, attitudes toward faculty evaluation, and recall of instructors. MRP ratings failed to correlate significantly with students' need to evaluate or their attitudes toward faculty evaluation. However, among medical students, MRP "straight-line" responses were more prevalent for raters who recalled faculty members "very well" (p=.04). For dental students, MRPs were associated with less accurate recall (p=.01). As such, the validity of faculty evaluations within integrated, multi-instructor courses may vary when students rate distinct aspects of a teacher's performance identically. In this case-in which medical students' greater recall of instructors coincides with MRPs-ratings may suffice as global, holistic assessments of an instructor's teaching. For dental students, similar ratings may be less viable. Individual item analysis is cautioned under any circumstances.

Attitude↗
PubMed2005

The impact of depression on the academic productivity of university students.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a common disorder that impacts an individual's ability to perform life activities, including those required by the workplace. Academic performance can be viewed as a direct parallel to workforce performance, with students belonging to a unique set of individuals whose ability to perform can be measured on criteria applied by an observer and by self-report. While the prevalence of depression for this group is high and preparation for entry into the workplace is critical for these individuals, this relationship has not been adequately investigated. AIMS OF THE STUDY: This study investigates the relationship between depression and its treatments and the academic performance of undergraduate students. METHODS: Data regarding academics, health and productivity for students from Western Michigan University were obtained from the University's Registrar's Office, the campus Health Center and a survey delivered to the students. The primary outcomes of interest were the student's grade point average (GPA), an objective, observer generated measure of academic productivity, and the students' self-reported academic performance. RESULTS: Diagnosed depression was associated with a 0.49 point, or half a letter grade, decrease in student GPA, while treatment was associated with a protective effect of approximately 0.44 points. The self-reported data regarding the impact of depression on the performance of academic tasks was consistent with these findings. Depressed students reported a pattern of increasing interference of depression symptoms with academic performance peaking in the month of diagnosis and decreasing thereafter with the lowest levels reported in months 4 through 6 post-diagnosis, each of which is significantly less than the month of diagnosis. DISCUSSION: The finding of a significant relationship between depression and academic performance was robust to the variety of analyses employed within this study. However, interpretation of the findings must be tempered by a number of facts. The sample was drawn from a subset of students at a single university, those willing to complete a questionnaire regarding their health and productivity. Due to non-availability of the treatment data from other health care providers, the treatment variable used within the regression models represents an imprecise proxy for the totality of treatment methods received by depressed subjects from a variety of on-campus and off-campus health care providers. Another challenge to the interpretation of this data is the interrelatedness of depression and school performance. Because of this, it was not possible to evaluate the extent to which the association between depression and academic performance is driven by causality in either direction. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVISION AND USE: While depression and its effects have been studied in many different population groups and subgroups, the effect of this disease on college students has not been well documented. This research demonstrates the impact of depression and the effectiveness of its treatment on a student sample. From a public health perspective, this analysis highlights the importance of access to mental health treatment facilities among the college aged and the potential value of efforts to educate this population segment on the availability of that resource.

Achievement↗
PubMed2006

Understanding the role of the qualified professional: a comparison of medical and dental students' attitudes.

UNLABELLED: The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada developed a competency framework to assist future specialists in responding to challenges as health care providers. The CANMEDs project described 7 essential roles of Specialist Physicians include Health Advocate, Manager, Scholar, Medical Expert, Professional, Communicator and Collaborator (HMSEPC(2)). The object of the current study was to investigate whether medical students and dental students in Ireland recognised these responsibilities as essential to a qualified doctor/dentist. METHODS: Ninety-eight medical and forty-six dental students (year 1 and year 4) were asked to mind map the responsibilities of qualified doctors/dentists. The comments on the mind map were applied to one of the 7 CANMED roles. There were 484 comments from 128 students. Students had the greatest number of responses referring to the Medical and Dental Expert (257, 30.4%) and Professional (227, 26.9%) roles. This was followed by Communicator (130, 15.4%), Scholar (107, 12.7%) and Health Advocate (82, 9.7%) roles. There were relatively few responses relating to Manager (12, 1.4%) and Collaborator (i.e. teamwork) roles (30, 3.6%). There were no differences in responses between Dental Students and Medical Students and between 1 st year and 4th year students. Similarly there were no differences between the responses of Irish students (n =95; 68%) and International students (n =45; 32%) Students are aware of their responsibilities as Medical or Dental experts (diagnostic and therapeutic skills) for ethical and effective patient care (professional role). They are somewhat aware of the Communicator (therapeutic relationships and effective listening), Scholar (personal continuing education strategies) and Health Advocate (contribute to improved community health) roles. In general they have little concept of the importance of Management skills (utilising resources effectively), and of Collaboration (teamwork and consulting effectively with other physicians and health care professionals). Medical and Dental Educators and Curriculum Committees should address these important deficiencies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Needlestick injury in medical students.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of needlestick injuries and the prevalence of hepatitis B vaccination among medical students, dentistry students, and hospital staff. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: Anonymous survey of final year medical students and dentistry students enrolled at Sydney University in 1992, and nursing staff and doctors employed in the wards and emergency department of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. RESULTS: During their clinical training, 22% of medical students and 72% of dentistry students had received one or more contaminated, penetrating "sharps" injuries. Of hospital staff, 50% of ward nurses, 71% of ward doctors, and 50% of emergency staff had received this type of injury during the previous two years. Students were significantly more likely to be vaccinated against hepatitis B than hospital staff (P < 0.001)--98% of medical students and 95% of dentistry students had received a full course of vaccination. The rate of vaccination among hospital staff ranged from 79% in emergency staff to 85% in ward nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical students sustain needlestick injuries at a rate comparable with hospital personnel and therefore face a significant risk of exposure to transmissible pathogens, including hepatitis B virus, HIV, and hepatitis C virus. The rate of hepatitis B vaccination is high among clinical hospital staff and almost universal among medical and dentistry students.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

US college students' use of tobacco products: results of a national survey.

CONTEXT: Adults aged 18 to 24 years, many of whom are in college, represent the youngest legal targets for tobacco industry marketing. Cigarette smoking has been described among college students, but little is known about non-cigarette tobacco use by college students or cigar use by adults of any age. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of all forms of tobacco use (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and smokeless tobacco) among US college students and to identify student- and college-level factors associated with use of each product. DESIGN: The Harvard College Alcohol Survey, a self-administered survey conducted in 1999. SETTING: One hundred nineteen nationally representative US 4-year colleges. SUBJECTS: A total of 14,138 randomly selected students (60% response rate). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-report of current (in the past 30 days), past-year, and lifetime use of cigarettes, cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco, and all tobacco products. RESULTS: Nearly half (45.7%) of respondents had used a tobacco product in the past year and one third (32.9%) currently used tobacco. Cigarettes accounted for most of the tobacco use (28.5% current prevalence), but cigar use was also substantial (37.1% lifetime prevalence, 23.0% past-year prevalence, and 8.5% current prevalence) and combinations of the 2 were common. Total tobacco use was higher in men than in women (37. 9% vs 29.7%; P<.001), despite nearly identical current cigarette smoking rates between the sexes (28.5% for women vs 28.4% for men), because of greater use of cigars (current prevalence, 15.7% vs 3.9%; P<.001) and smokeless tobacco (current prevalence, 8.7% vs 0.4%; P<. 001) by men. Tobacco use was significantly higher among white students (P<.001), users of other substances (alcohol and marijuana) (P<.001), and students whose priorities were social rather than educational or athletic (P<.05). Among students who had used both cigars and cigarettes, only 8.9% smoked cigars at an earlier age than they had smoked cigarettes. CONCLUSION: Our study indicates that tobacco use is common among college students and is not limited to cigarettes. College appears to be a time when many students are trying a range of tobacco products and are in danger of developing lifelong nicotine dependence. National efforts to monitor and reduce tobacco use of all types should expand to focus on college students and other young adults. JAMA. 2000;284:699-705

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Student voluntarism in transition.

The university student volunteer as a social change agent is in a period of transition. There is no returning to the idealism and activism of the 1960s if this and future generations of students continue to see self-preservation and individual advancement as their only viable option here in America. In view of the changing nature of today's students, the conventional definitions of volunteers, such as Shultz's (1972) altruist, average, and pseudo-volunteer, must be reconsidered. Does the acceptance of minimal pay or demand for academic credit preclude one's being a true altruist? Further, is altruism a necessary or sufficient condition of voluntarism? While we must attempt to answer these questions, the purpose here was to suggest viable first steps in reviving and enhancing student voluntarism. Some of the most salient points are: (1) Student volunteers provide critically needed services to the community, (2) Students are increasingly demanding tangible personal and educational gains for services through voluntarism, (3) Faculty support is vital to student voluntarism and they should be encouraged to actively design their classes to integrate classroom theory and practice through volunteering, and (4) The community agencies served should be active participants in the faculty, student, agency triad, and not merely passive recipients of services. The future of student voluntarism must be viewed in the larger context of changes occurring in the society-at-large, such as cynicism, mistrust of authority figures and leaders, and a move away from altruism and toward symbiosis and/or individualism. There is widespread disillusionment with "band-aid" approaches to solving enormous social problems, i.e., trying to help the few while some of society's most fundamental structures guarantee the perpetuation of poverty, crime, and general anomie. The rekindling of the ideology of cooperative altruism will take ingenuity and tireless effort. Meanwhile, if community psychology and related disciplines are to continue to utilize student volunteers, programs must be oriented toward new trends in student and faculty values and interests, and evolving community needs.

Altruism↗