ArticleBMC medical education2016
Motivations, barriers and ethical understandings of healthcare student volunteers on a medical service trip: a mixed methods study.
Article in BMC medical education, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health professional student's volunteering activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic literature review.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- A Multidimensional Assessment of the Impact of Healthcare Volunteering in a War-Affected Setting.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- "We will get to…assist the staff of the hospital": comparatively exploring the motivations of pre-medical and medical students from Global North countries for seeking to participate in Ghanaian medical missions.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- The educational impact of medical students' participation in a short-term health expedition: The Iguape one health experience.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2025Article
- Seeing the invisible: extracurricular learning processes and learning outcome as experienced by student volunteers accompanying persons in a socially vulnerable situation to healthcare appointments-an ethnographic study.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2024Article
- Understanding volunteerism among dental students and professionals to reach Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 goals.PloS one · 2024Article
- Role of Dentistry in Humanitarian Projects: Knowledge and Perspective of Future Professionals on the World of Volunteering in Spain.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Willingness of Healthcare Students in Vietnam to Volunteer During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of community health · 2022Article
- Reliability of the Service Trip Audit Tool to assess the quality of short-term medical missions.International health · 2021Article
- Short-term medical service trips: what is the cost of patient care and student training?International health · 2021Article
- Article
- Improving Short-Term Medical Engagements with Low-to-Middle-Income Countries.NAM perspectives · 2021Review
- Article
- Short-term Experiences in Global Health: What is the Cost of Cultural Competence?Medical science educator · 2020Article
- Motivations and Barriers Associated With Physician Volunteerism for an International Telemedicine Organization.Frontiers in public health · 2019Article
- Characterizing the child passenger safety workforce in Michigan: A statewide survey in 2015.Traffic injury prevention · 2019Article
- Reflections on medical volunteerism: free medical days for refugees.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Article
- A model for a drug distribution system in remote Australia as a social determinant of health using event structure analysis.BMC health services research · 2017Article
- Recommendations for Planning and Managing International Short-term Pharmacy Service Trips.American journal of pharmaceutical education · 2017Review
- Short-term volunteer health trips: aligning host community preferences and organizer practices.Global health action · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe motivation to volunteer on a medical service trip (MST) may involve more than a simple desire for philanthropy. Some volunteers may be motivated by an intrinsic interest in volunteering in which the context of the volunteer activity is less important. Others may volunteer because the context of their volunteering is more important than their intrinsic interest in volunteering. Furthermore, MSTs may pose a variety of ethical problems that volunteers should consider prior to engaging in a trip. This study evaluated the motivations and barriers for graduate health care students volunteering for an MST to either the Dominican Republic or Mississippi. Volunteers' understanding of some of the ethical issues associated with MSTs was also assessed.
methodsThirty-five graduate health professions students who volunteered on an MST were asked to complete an online survey. Students' motivations and barriers for volunteering were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale and Fisher's exact test. Ethical understanding of issues in volunteering was assessed using thematic analysis.
resultsStudents' motivations for volunteering appeared to be related to the medical context of their service more than an inherent desire for volunteer work. Significant differences were seen in motivations and barriers for some student groups, especially those whose volunteer work had less opportunity for clinical service. Thematic analysis revealed two major themes and suggested that students had an empirical understanding that volunteer work could have both positive and negative effects.
conclusionsAn understanding of students' motivations for volunteering on an MST may allow faculty to design trips with activities that effectively address student motivations. Although students had a basic understanding of some of the ethical issues involved, they had not considered the impact of a service group on the in-country partners they work with.
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Registered trials
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