The Beyond the Books Program: Improving Medical Student Attitudes Toward the Underserved

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Socioeconomic Disparities

Background:

• Medical student attitudes towards underserved populations are crucial for equitable healthcare.
• Short-term interventions may influence attitudes but require rigorous evaluation.
• The Beyond the Books (BTB) program is a pre-clinical intervention designed to impact these attitudes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of the Beyond the Books (BTB) program on medical student attitudes toward the underserved (MSATU).
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a short-term, pre-clinical intervention in shaping attitudes.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cohort study design was employed.
• The validated Medical Student Attitudes Toward the Underserved (MSATU) questionnaire was used for data collection.
• Comparison between BTB program participants and a control group of students.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in MSATU scores was observed between groups at baseline.
• BTB program participants demonstrated significantly higher MSATU total scores post-intervention compared to controls (p<0.001).
• The intervention showed a statistically significant positive effect on attitudes.

Conclusions:

• Short-term pre-clinical interventions, like BTB, can effectively enhance medical student attitudes toward underserved communities.
• Despite limitations in selection methods, the findings support the value of such programs.
• Further research with diverse selection methods is warranted to confirm these positive impacts.