Survey of German medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: attitudes toward volunteering versus compulsory service and associated factors

Enhancing the continuing willingness of Chinese college students to engage in volunteer services for older adults

Background

The ageing population presents a substantial challenge to conventional care services for older adults in China. College students' voluntary service constitutes an integral component of youth volunteerism, and investigating their continuing willingness to engage in volunteer services to benefit older adults holds immense importance for fostering a stable and enduring framework for China's older adults' care team.

Method

Drawing on the extended theory of reasoned action, this study establishes an analytical framework to examine the willingness of Chinese college students to engage in volunteer services for older adults. Using micro-survey data, we employ structural equation modelling and the bootstrap mediation effect test method to empirically investigate the influencing mechanism behind this willingness.

Results

(1) Attitude has the strongest influence on the continuing willingness of Chinese college students to engage in volunteer services for older adults, and plays a mediating role between subjective norms and continuing willingness to engage in volunteer services, which reveals the special role of attitude in the continuing engagement of Chinese college students in volunteer services for older adults. (2) Personality trait has a substantial positive impact on Chinese college students' willingness to engage continuously in volunteer service for older adults, and subjective norms and attitudes have a chain mediating effect in this influence relationship. (3) The theoretical model constructed in this study is reasonable, reliable and robust.

Conclusion

This study elucidates the potential relationship between attitude, subjective norms, personality traits and the willingness to engage in volunteer services, offering a novel perspective for understanding the continuing willingness of Chinese college students to engage in volunteer services for older adults. Furthermore, it highlights the value of incorporating the extended theory of reasoned action into the policy design of college students' engagement in such services.

Global Rate of Willingness to Volunteer Among Medical and Health Students During Pandemic: Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

During health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages of health care workers often occur. Recruiting students as volunteers could be an option, but it is uncertain whether the idea is well-accepted.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to estimate the global rate of willingness to volunteer among medical and health students in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar for studies reporting the number of health students willing to volunteer during COVID-19 from 2019 to November 17, 2023. The meta-analysis was performed using a restricted maximum-likelihood model with logit transformation.

RESULTS

A total of 21 studies involving 26,056 health students were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled estimate of the willingness-to-volunteer rate among health students across multiple countries was 66.13%, with an I2 of 98.99% and P value of heterogeneity (P-Het)<.001. Removing a study with the highest influence led to the rate being 64.34%. Our stratified analyses indicated that those with older age, being first-year students, and being female were more willing to volunteer (P<.001). From highest to lowest, the rates were 77.38%, 77.03%, 65.48%, 64.11%, 62.71%, and 55.23% in Africa, Western Europe, East and Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Eastern Europe, respectively. Because of the high heterogeneity, the evidence from this study has moderate strength.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of students are willing to volunteer during COVID-19, suggesting that volunteer recruitment is well-accepted.

The impact of health volunteering of radiology students on improving their self-skills and practical capabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background

Volunteering is a beneficial activity with a wide range of positive outcomes, from the individual to the communal level. In many ways, volunteering has a positive impact on the development of a volunteer's personality and experience. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of health volunteering on improving the self-skills and practical capacities of students in the western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Materials and methods

The study was a descriptive cross-sectional electronic web-based survey that was submitted on a web-based questionnaire; 183 students answered the survey, and then, the data were analyzed using SPSS.

Results

This study shows that 95.6% of participants agree and strongly agree that the health volunteering experience was useful, 2.7% of the participants neither agree nor disagree, and 1.6% disagree and strongly disagree. Regarding the distribution of the participants on skills learned from volunteering experience, the largest proportion of student (36.1%) volunteers in the health sector acquired communication skills and the smallest proportion of student (14.8%) volunteers in the acquired time management skills. Regarding the disadvantages, 81.4% of the participants do not think there were any disadvantages to their previous health volunteering experience, while only 18.6% of them think there were any disadvantages to their previous health volunteering experience. Additionally, the study found that the type of the sector affects the skills acquired from health volunteering.

Conclusion

Research revealed that the majority considered volunteering a great experience. Volunteering increased the self-skills and practical capacities of radiology students, which proved the hypothesis.

Health professional student’s volunteering activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic literature review

Background

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has forced health and education services to use additional human resources, such as health professional students. Students in the health professions, particularly those in the medical field, can participate in a variety of voluntary activities, both directly and indirectly in health services. The aim of this review was to determine the affecting factors, types of activity, and benefits of undertaking a volunteering role by the health professional student.

Methods

A systematic review of health professional student volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted using seven databases: Epistemonikos, ProQuest, Scopus, EBSCOhost, JSTOR, Cochrane Library, and PubMed. This literature search included published articles from March 2020 through to December 2021 using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines.

Result

We included 41 studies that met the selection criteria that assessed the factors and specific programs related to health profession students’ volunteering involvement during the COVID-19 pandemic era. The most frequently observed supporting factor of the eagerness to be a volunteer was the feeling of moral responsibility (such as social dedication, sense of duty, and care), potential learning opportunities, personal interest, and financial compensation. Factors that contributed to a person’s refusal to participate in a volunteer position were the fear of COVID-19 itself (such as transmission, risk of being infected, and personal identification as a risk group).

Conclusion

The review of available literature has shown that understanding the motivation and barriers to the willingness of health professional students to volunteer and the impact of volunteering activities on their future lives is a key for supporting them.

The impact of COVID-19 on medical students' practical skills and hygiene behavior regarding venipuncture: a case control study

BACKGROUND

Despite their importance to current and future patient care, medical students' hygiene behaviors and acquisition of practical skills have rarely been studied in previous observational study. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student's hygiene and practical skills.

METHODS

This case-control study assessed the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on hygiene behavior by contrasting the practical skills and hygiene adherence of 371 medical students post the pandemic associated lockdown in March 2020 with that of 355 medical students prior to the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Students' skills were assessed using an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Their skills were then compared based on their results in hygienic venipuncture and the total OSCE score.

RESULTS

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, medical students demonstrated an increased level of compliance regarding hand hygiene before (prior COVID-19: 83.7%; during COVID-19: 94.9%; p < 0.001) and after patient contact (prior COVID-19: 19.4%; during COVID-19: 57.2%; p = 0.000) as well as disinfecting the puncture site correctly (prior COVID-19: 83.4%; during COVID-19: 92.7%; p < 0.001). Prior to the pandemic, students were more proficient in practical skills, such as initial venipuncture (prior COVID-19: 47.6%; during COVID-19: 38%; p < 0.041), patient communication (prior COVID-19: 85.9%; during COVID-19: 74.1%; p < 0.001) and structuring their work process (prior COVID-19: 74.4%; during COVID-19: 67.4%; p < 0.024).

CONCLUSION

Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic sensitized medical students' attention and adherence to hygiene requirements, while simultaneously reducing the amount of practice opportunities, thus negatively affecting their practical skills. The latter development may have to be addressed by providing additional practice opportunities for students as soon as the pandemic situation allows.

COVID-19 Pandemic Psychological Impact and Volunteering Experience Perceptions of Medical Students after 2 Years

Undergraduate healthcare students were mobilized to support healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we have scarce information regarding their experience and its impact on their wellbeing. An anonymous online survey was conducted among undergraduate students and recently graduated physicians of a medical university in Spain, regarding their symptoms and volunteering experience during the initial months of the Spanish COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents showed a high prevalence of perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, measured by the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. 14.5% reported healthcare-related volunteering tasks. Volunteering was a satisfactory experience for most of the respondents and the majority felt ready to do volunteering tasks (66.6%). Yet, 16.6% acknowledged not getting appropriate specific-task education before starting, 20.8% reported not having appropriate supervision, and 33.3% feel they did not have proper protective equipment. More than half of volunteers feared getting infected, more than 70% feared infecting their relatives or friends, and 54.2% reported stigmatization. Volunteers showed significantly higher stress, anxiety, and depression scores than the rest of the respondents, and 32% reported a highly traumatic event during volunteering, with high scores on the IES-R in the 16% of volunteers. Our results should help guide future potential volunteering processes in emergencies, enhance academic programs at medical schools and provide valuable data for psychological support services.

Assessment of medical students' preparedness and willingness for integration into a war-torn healthcare system: the example of COVID-19 pandemic scenario

In Syria, medical students were placed on call to provide sufficient human resources during COVID-19 pandemic. This research aimed to explore the ability and willingness of the final-year medical students to assist during COVID-19 in the Syrian war-torn and fragile health-system. Final-year Syrian medical students were approached between 9th-17th April 2020 through an online questionnaire. Students' COVID-19-related medical knowledge (5-point score), clinical judgement (5-point score), and preparedness and willingness to integrate in healthcare facilities were assessed. A 10-point score was created, and linear regression and Tukey's HSD test were conducted. 1673 valid responses were received, of which 1199 (71.66%) responses were from the final-year students. Of the latter, 728 (60.71%) scored 4 points or higher in the medical knowledge score (mean 3.69 points), while 298 (24.85%) scored 4 or higher in the clinical judgement score. Final-year students scored significantly higher than the fourth-year students in the clinical judgement score. Finally, 682 (56.88%) of the final-year students expressed willingness to volunteer with healthcare teams. Final-year medical students may provide medical aid, on voluntary basis, by working in fragile health systems during pandemics. However, this should be undertaken in cases of extreme need. Sufficient personal protective measures, intensive training, and adequate supervision should be guaranteed.