Social Accountability Frameworks and Their Implications for Medical Education and Program Evaluation: A Narrative...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Health Professions Education
• Social Accountability Frameworks

Background:

• Medical schools face increasing pressure to demonstrate social accountability.
• Measuring the social accountability of medical education remains a global challenge.
• Operationalizing social accountability evaluation requires clear indicators and frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and document common themes and indicators across large-scale social accountability frameworks.
• To facilitate the development of initial operational constructs for evaluating social accountability in medical education.
• To provide a structured approach for assessing the social impact of medical schools.

Main Methods:

• A narrative review of 5 electronic databases and the World Wide Web was conducted.
• Included were English-language, peer-reviewed documents from 1990-2019 focusing on social accountability frameworks for medical schools.
• Thematic synthesis and the context-input-process-product (CIPP) evaluation model were used for analysis.

Main Results:

• Four key social accountability frameworks were analyzed, revealing six common themes.
• Themes included shared values (relevance, quality, effectiveness, equity, professionalism, autonomy).
• Five indicators aligned with the CIPP model were identified across context, inputs, processes, products, and impacts.

Conclusions:

• There is a need to shift focus from educational inputs/processes to products and impacts for social accountability.
• The context-input-process-product (CIPP) evaluation model can help link educational efforts to outcomes.
• Developing operational constructs using identified themes and indicators is crucial for effective evaluation.