Implementation of Social Accountability Projects That Are Done According to The CARE Model in Medical Faculty Education Curriculum Influence Positively The Thoughts of Students About Medicine
Authors: Eker İbrahim , Kar Yeter Düzenli , Eroğlu Nilgün , Şen Hilal Susam , Şenol Yiğit , Çevik Ahmet Furkan , Akbaba Ayşe Bengisu , Güçlü Elif , Yayla Elif , Baysal Emin , Doğan Şevval Gunef 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Introduction:
Social responsibility projects have a prominent place in the education of the Faculty of Medicine. There are many different models of social responsibility projects in the literature. It has been determined that the most appropriate social responsibility project model for the needs of medical education is the 'CARE' model, which stands for Clinical Activities, Advocacy, Research, and Education. Therefore, social responsibility projects that designed and implemented in the form of clinical activities in which students communicate face-to-face with patients may contribute positively to the students' thoughts on the characteristics that a qualified physician should have and help them to perform their duties in this direction. This study aimed to test this hypothesis.
Materials and Method
A survey study model was planned to test the hypothesis and it was determined that a minimum of 27 participants should be included with 80% power and 5% error. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine at……………….., with 2nd and 3rd year students of the 2022–2023 academic year who were required to do a social responsibility project assignment. Among these students, 35 who had never participated in a social responsibility project in the type of clinical activities designed to be in face-to-face communication with patients were included in the study. After obtaining the necessary permissions and ethics committee approval, the students carried out face-to-face activities with hospitalized children in the pediatric hematology and oncology clinic in groups of 6, every Friday for 6 weeks between the hours of 13:30 − 15:30. The activities included paper folding, drawing pictures, face painting, dancing, singing, and doing puzzles. Before and after these activities, the students were administered a 30-question, 5-point Likert-type survey, validated and reliable in Türkiye, which assessed their opinions on the characteristics of a qualified physician. "Strongly disagree" was evaluated as 1 point, "Partially disagree" as 2 points, " Uncertain" as 3 points, "Partially agree" as 4 points and "Strongly agree" as 5 points. Statistical significance level was accepted at p = 0.05 and the SPSS 18.0 program was used to analyze the data.
Results
This study revealed that social responsibility projects designed and implemented in the form of clinical activities in face-to-face communication with patients had statistically significant positive effects on the opinions of medical students that a physician should be emotional, should love their chosen profession, should not make the pediatric patient feel their illness, should respect social values, should always be highly motivated, and should approach patients and their relatives with humility. In addition, it was determined that such an activity contributed positively to their views on medicine, positively affected their motivation to become a physician, they wanted to continue to take part in similar responsibility projects, and they thought that it would be beneficial for other medical students to take part in such projects.
Discussion
The results of the study show that social responsibility projects, which are designed as clinical activities to be carried out in the form of communication with patients from the first years of the Faculty of Medicine, can make valuable and positive contributions to the formation and development of students' ability to communicate with patients and to the students' view of the profession of medicine. This will ultimately help medical students to practice the craft of medicine in a much more successful and motivated way, making both themselves and their environment happier. For this reason, social responsibility projects, especially in accordance with the 'CARE' model, should not be an obligation in the education of the Faculty of Medicine, but should take their place as an educational tradition that should be practiced from the first years of the faculty and adopted by the students, educators, and faculty administration.