Dutta Nina, Scott Katie, Horsburgh Jo, Jamil Farahnaz, Chandauka Rumbidzai, Meiring Samantha J, Kumar Sonia
Medical Education Innovation and Research Centre (Medic), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Educ Prim Care. 2022 Mar;33(2):102-108. doi: 10.1080/14739879.2021.1994886. Epub 2021 Nov 8.
Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are underrepresented in higher education and healthcare careers. Whilst most healthcare-related widening participation schemes focus on one healthcare profession, the Widening Access to Careers in Community Healthcare (WATCCH) programme at Imperial College London supports participation in a range of community healthcare careers. We aim to evaluate the impact of WATCCH on students' perceptions and aspirations towards community healthcare careers.
WATCCH provides educational and application support to 16-18 year-old students interested in a variety of community healthcare careers via work experience, educational workshops and mentoring. The programme was evaluated by focus groups using semi-structured questions to explore the impact of WATCCH on students' healthcare career perceptions and aspirations.
Five themes were identified from the focus groups: increased awareness and understanding of a range of community healthcare careers; improved insight into the realities of healthcare careers enabling reflection on career aspirations; altered perceptions of healthcare professionals and acquisition of new role models; increased confidence in achieving a career in healthcare; and valued access to previously inaccessible work experience.
WATCCH is a multi-professional widening participation programme that has supported students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds interested in entering healthcare careers by increasing insights into varied healthcare careers, provision of role models, and increasing students' confidence of ability to enter healthcare careers. Similar programmes in other institutions could support large numbers of aspiring students to enter varied community healthcare careers in the future.
社会经济背景较低的学生在高等教育和医疗保健职业领域的代表性不足。虽然大多数与医疗保健相关的扩大参与计划都专注于某一个医疗保健专业，但伦敦帝国理工学院的社区医疗保健职业拓宽准入计划（WATCCH）支持学生参与一系列社区医疗保健职业。我们旨在评估WATCCH对学生对社区医疗保健职业的认知和志向的影响。
WATCCH通过工作经验、教育工作坊和指导，为对各种社区医疗保健职业感兴趣的16至18岁学生提供教育和申请支持。该计划通过焦点小组进行评估，使用半结构化问题来探讨WATCCH对学生医疗保健职业认知和志向的影响。
从焦点小组中确定了五个主题：对一系列社区医疗保健职业的认识和理解增加；对医疗保健职业现实的洞察力提高，从而能够反思职业志向；对医疗保健专业人员的看法改变，并获得了新的榜样；对从事医疗保健职业的信心增强；以及重视获得以前无法获得的工作经验。
WATCCH是一个多专业的扩大参与计划，通过增加对各种医疗保健职业的了解、提供榜样以及增强学生进入医疗保健职业的能力信心，支持了来自社会经济背景较低、对进入医疗保健职业感兴趣的学生。其他机构的类似计划未来可能会支持大量有抱负的学生进入各种社区医疗保健职业。
