Cargando…
The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study
BACKGROUND: Medical schools are reported to be less accessible to students with non-traditional backgrounds. These students face barriers when applying for and transitioning to medical school, which may be reduced by offering free preparatory activities. By equalizing access to resources, these acti...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10053372/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36991413 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04191-7 |
_version_ | 1785015398245072896 |
---|---|
author | Fikrat-Wevers, S. De Leng, W. E. Van Den Broek, W. W. Woltman, A. M. Stegers-Jager, K. M. |
author_facet | Fikrat-Wevers, S. De Leng, W. E. Van Den Broek, W. W. Woltman, A. M. Stegers-Jager, K. M. |
author_sort | Fikrat-Wevers, S. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Medical schools are reported to be less accessible to students with non-traditional backgrounds. These students face barriers when applying for and transitioning to medical school, which may be reduced by offering free preparatory activities. By equalizing access to resources, these activities are expected to reduce disparities in selection outcomes and early academic performance. In the present study, four free institutionally-provided preparatory activities were evaluated by comparing the demographic composition of participating and non-participating applicants. Additionally, the association between participation and selection outcomes and early academic performance was investigated for subgroups (based on sex, migration background and parental education). METHODS: Participants were applicants to a Dutch medical school in 2016-2019 (N = 3592). Free preparatory activities included Summer School (N = 595), Coaching Day (N = 1794), Pre-Academic Program (N = 217), and Junior Med School (N = 81), supplemented with data on participation in commercial coaching (N = 65). Demographic compositions of participants and non-participants were compared using chi-squared tests. Regression analyses were performed to compare selection outcomes (curriculum vitae [CV], selection test score, probability of enrolment) and early academic performance (first-course grade) between participants and non-participants of demographic subgroups, controlling for pre-university grades and participation in other activities. RESULTS: Generally, no differences in sociodemographic compositions of participants and non-participants were found, but males participated less often in Summer School and Coaching Day. Applicants with a non-Western background participated less often in commercial coaching, but the overall participation rate was low and participation had negligible effects on selection outcomes. Participation in Summer School and Coaching Day were stronger related with selection outcomes. In some cases, this association was even stronger for males and candidates with a migration background. After controlling for pre-university grades, none of the preparatory activities were positively associated with early academic performance. CONCLUSIONS: Free institutionally-provided preparatory activities may contribute to student diversity in medical education, because usage was similar across sociodemographic subgroups, and participation was positively associated with selection outcomes of underrepresented and non-traditional students. However, since participation was not associated with early academic performance, adjustments to activities and/or curricula are needed to ensure inclusion and retention after selection. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-023-04191-7. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10053372 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-100533722023-03-30 The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study Fikrat-Wevers, S. De Leng, W. E. Van Den Broek, W. W. Woltman, A. M. Stegers-Jager, K. M. BMC Med Educ Research BACKGROUND: Medical schools are reported to be less accessible to students with non-traditional backgrounds. These students face barriers when applying for and transitioning to medical school, which may be reduced by offering free preparatory activities. By equalizing access to resources, these activities are expected to reduce disparities in selection outcomes and early academic performance. In the present study, four free institutionally-provided preparatory activities were evaluated by comparing the demographic composition of participating and non-participating applicants. Additionally, the association between participation and selection outcomes and early academic performance was investigated for subgroups (based on sex, migration background and parental education). METHODS: Participants were applicants to a Dutch medical school in 2016-2019 (N = 3592). Free preparatory activities included Summer School (N = 595), Coaching Day (N = 1794), Pre-Academic Program (N = 217), and Junior Med School (N = 81), supplemented with data on participation in commercial coaching (N = 65). Demographic compositions of participants and non-participants were compared using chi-squared tests. Regression analyses were performed to compare selection outcomes (curriculum vitae [CV], selection test score, probability of enrolment) and early academic performance (first-course grade) between participants and non-participants of demographic subgroups, controlling for pre-university grades and participation in other activities. RESULTS: Generally, no differences in sociodemographic compositions of participants and non-participants were found, but males participated less often in Summer School and Coaching Day. Applicants with a non-Western background participated less often in commercial coaching, but the overall participation rate was low and participation had negligible effects on selection outcomes. Participation in Summer School and Coaching Day were stronger related with selection outcomes. In some cases, this association was even stronger for males and candidates with a migration background. After controlling for pre-university grades, none of the preparatory activities were positively associated with early academic performance. CONCLUSIONS: Free institutionally-provided preparatory activities may contribute to student diversity in medical education, because usage was similar across sociodemographic subgroups, and participation was positively associated with selection outcomes of underrepresented and non-traditional students. However, since participation was not associated with early academic performance, adjustments to activities and/or curricula are needed to ensure inclusion and retention after selection. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-023-04191-7. BioMed Central 2023-03-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10053372/ /pubmed/36991413 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04191-7 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Fikrat-Wevers, S. De Leng, W. E. Van Den Broek, W. W. Woltman, A. M. Stegers-Jager, K. M. The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study |
title | The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study |
title_full | The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study |
title_fullStr | The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study |
title_full_unstemmed | The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study |
title_short | The added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study |
title_sort | added value of free preparatory activities for widening access to medical education: a multi-cohort study |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10053372/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36991413 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04191-7 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT fikratweverss theaddedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT delengwe theaddedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT vandenbroekww theaddedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT woltmanam theaddedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT stegersjagerkm theaddedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT fikratweverss addedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT delengwe addedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT vandenbroekww addedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT woltmanam addedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy AT stegersjagerkm addedvalueoffreepreparatoryactivitiesforwideningaccesstomedicaleducationamulticohortstudy |