Rea Samantha, Jarodiya Jay, Berschback Madeline, Levine Diane
Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
Department of Internal Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
J Med Educ Curric Dev. 2022 May 3;9:23821205221096286. doi: 10.1177/23821205221096286. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left more than 38% of households food insecure in the United States. Improved education of food security topics in medical school can improve screening for food insecurity and improve health outcomes. The first aim of this study was to address if participation in an experiential integrative service learning program improved medical students' understanding of food insecurity. The second aim was to compare knowledge of food insecurity between the general body of medical students and those who participated in the service learning program.
This was a cohort study at a large medical school in southeast Michigan in 2019-2020. We administered the Food Insecurity for Health Professionals (FISHP) survey to medical student participants; higher scores on the FISHP survey suggest higher knowledge and comfort with food security topics. We administered online Qualtrics surveys to the volunteer group before and after volunteering 12 hours at an urban farm. We also administered a one-time survey to a control group of medical students. We performed univariable and bivariable statistical analyses with StataSE 16. The study was exempted by the institutional IRB.
Medical students in the volunteer group (n = 18) and the control group (n = 66) completed online surveys. Participants in the volunteer group had increased knowledge of food security after volunteering in the service learning program (p = .03). There was a statistically significant difference between the mean FISHP scores for the control group and the volunteer group (p = .001).
Medical student participation in an experiential integrative service learning program improved knowledge of food security topics and increased comfort discussing food insecurity with patients, compared to students who did not participate. Experiential integrative service learning may improve holistic patient care through physician recognition of food insecurity and other social determinants of health.
新冠疫情导致美国超过38%的家庭面临粮食不安全问题。医学院校加强食品安全主题教育有助于改善对粮食不安全问题的筛查，并改善健康状况。本研究的首要目标是探讨参与体验式综合服务学习项目是否能提高医学生对粮食不安全问题的理解。第二个目标是比较全体医学生与参与服务学习项目的学生在粮食不安全知识方面的差异。
这是一项于2019 - 2020年在密歇根州东南部一所大型医学院进行的队列研究。我们对参与研究的医学生进行了“健康专业人员粮食不安全情况调查”（FISHP）；FISHP调查得分越高表明对食品安全主题的知识掌握程度越高且越熟悉。我们在志愿者小组于城市农场志愿服务12小时前后，通过Qualtrics在线调查对其进行了调查。我们还对一组医学生对照组进行了一次性调查。我们使用StataSE 16进行了单变量和双变量统计分析。该研究获得了机构审查委员会（IRB）的豁免。
志愿者组（n = 18）和对照组（n = 66）的医学生完成了在线调查。志愿者组的学生在参与服务学习项目志愿服务后，对粮食安全的了解有所增加（p = 0.03）。对照组和志愿者组的FISHP平均得分之间存在统计学显著差异（p = 0.001）。
与未参与的学生相比，医学生参与体验式综合服务学习项目提高了对食品安全主题的知识，并增强了与患者讨论粮食不安全问题的信心。体验式综合服务学习可能通过医生对粮食不安全及其他健康社会决定因素的认识，改善整体患者护理。
