Comparison of attitudes toward the medical student-led community health education service to support chronic disease self-management among students, faculty and patients

BACKGROUND: Shortage of health professionals is one of the most important barriers for community health centers to provide quality primary care for chronic disease patients especially after the outbreak of COVID-19. Under such condition, medical students have been well-accepted as a force multiplier for community-based health service. Community service learning (CSL) based on medical student-led community health education service to support chronic disease self-management might be a valuable interactive learning tool in medical education. This study compared the attitudes toward medical student-led community health education service to support chronic disease self-management among three stakeholder roles in CSL, including medical students, faculty and patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional comparative survey was conducted using a self-developed questionnaire among the convenience samples of undergraduate students and faculty members from the Medical College, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, as well as patient volunteers with chronic diseases recruited from a free on-site clinic offered by a community health center. Attitudes toward medical student-led community health education service to support chronic disease self-management were compared among students, faculty and patients. RESULTS: A total of 515 valid questionnaires were obtained (342 were collected from medical students, 54 from faculty respondents, and 119 from patients). Overall positive attitudes toward medical student-led community health education service to support chronic disease self-management were positive. Among the three stakeholder roles, faculty and patients were more supportive of the current inadequate level of primary care provision within the community. However, patient respondents showed more negative attitudes towards using resources in higher medical education system to provide support for primary care practice, and participating in the medical student-led community health education service to support chronic disease self-management, and were most skeptical about the medical students’ competency in supporting chronic disease self-management with their professional knowledge and skills. The educational value of CSL for medical undergraduates and the role of faculty instructors were most appreciated by faculty respondents. Additionally, > 62 years old and > 2 kinds of chronic diseases per patient exhibited significant correlations with positive patients’ attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students, faculty and patients had overall positive attitudes towards CSL based on medical student-led community health education service to support chronic disease self-management. However, more should be done to create higher expectations and enthusiasm of patients about CSL.