Holden Lynne, Berger Wallace, Zingarelli Rebecca, Siegel Elliot
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA ; Mentoring in Medicine, Inc., Bronx, NY, USA.
LightShift Associates, LLC, Viera, FL, USA.
Inf Serv Use. 2015;35(1-2):141-160. doi: 10.3233/ISU-150773.
Mentoring in Medicine (MIM) addresses an urgent national need for minority health professionals and promotes careers in health care for urban youth. The MIM After School Program (ASP or The Course) has as its primary objectives to provide academic enrichment in human biology and motivate disadvantaged youth to pursue a career in the health professions. Secondary objectives of The Course, although not evaluated here, are to improve students' health literacy and knowledge of healthy living behaviors. Since 2009, over 1500 middle and high school students have completed the New York City based Course, which is offered once a week over a 10 week semester in an out-of-school venue. This study assesses the success of The Course in achieving its primary objectives with 84 students at five New York City high schools during the fall 2014 semester. The Course curriculum was created especially for MIM, comprises the body's 11 organ systems, and is presented in discrete modules (one each semester), along with complementary educational activities, including field trips and class projects. This study reports on a formal evaluation using quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative evaluation found that the students significantly increased their knowledge of the Gastrointestinal System. Students across the academic spectrum appeared to have learned the MIM ASP Course content - high school GPA was not a predictor of knowledge acquisition. The students also reported that The Course significantly increased their self-confidence in their ability to succeed (self-efficacy). The students expressed a significant increase in five health care related attitudes and an additional increase in their ability to overcome personal issues to succeed in their career and significantly improving their feeling toward, and likely pursuit of, a health career. The students stated that The Course significantly increased their interest and intent to seek out more information about health care, participate in health care activities, and take more health care courses in high school. The qualitative evaluation found that the students and their parents were pleased with the MIM ASP Course's composition, presentation, and effectiveness. With a large majority of the parents stating that their child got out of The Course what they had hoped for and that The Course made it more likely that they would recommend a health career for their child. The students and instructional staff also identified The Course elements that they felt were most and least effective. Best practices that were used in designing and conducting The Course were identified. The MIM ASP Course appears to have achieved its principal educational objectives of providing academic enrichment in human biology and improving attitudes towards a health career for a self-selected population of disadvantaged, underrepresented minority high school students in an urban setting.
医学指导项目（MIM）满足了国家对少数族裔健康专业人员的迫切需求，并促进城市青年投身医疗保健事业。MIM课后项目（ASP或该课程）的主要目标是在人类生物学方面提供学术拓展，并激励处境不利的青年投身健康专业领域。该课程的次要目标（尽管此处未作评估）是提高学生的健康素养以及对健康生活行为的认识。自2009年以来，已有1500多名初高中学生完成了以纽约市为基地的该课程，该课程在10周的学期内每周一次，在课外场地授课。本研究评估了2014年秋季学期纽约市五所高中的84名学生在实现该课程主要目标方面的成效。该课程的课程内容是专门为MIM创建的，涵盖人体的11个器官系统，并以离散模块（每学期一个）的形式呈现，同时还有包括实地考察和课堂项目在内的补充教育活动。本研究报告了一项使用定量和定性方法的正式评估。定量评估发现，学生们对胃肠道系统的知识有了显著增加。各个学术水平的学生似乎都学到了MIM ASP课程的内容——高中平均绩点并不是知识获取的预测指标。学生们还报告说，该课程显著增强了他们对自身成功能力的自信心（自我效能感）。学生们在与医疗保健相关的五种态度上有了显著提升，并且在克服个人问题以在职业生涯中取得成功以及显著改善他们对健康职业的看法和可能从事健康职业的意愿方面也有了进一步提升。学生们表示，该课程显著提高了他们对寻求更多医疗保健信息、参与医疗保健活动以及在高中选修更多医疗保健课程的兴趣和意愿。定性评估发现，学生及其家长对MIM ASP课程的内容、呈现方式和效果感到满意。绝大多数家长表示，他们的孩子从该课程中得到了他们所期望的东西，并且该课程使他们更有可能为孩子推荐健康职业。学生和教学人员还指出了他们认为最有效和最无效的课程元素。确定了在设计和实施该课程时所采用的最佳实践方法。MIM ASP课程似乎实现了其主要教育目标，即在人类生物学方面提供学术拓展，并改善城市环境中自我选择的处境不利、代表性不足的少数族裔高中生对健康职业的态度。
