Health Career Knowledge Outcomes Among Rural High School Students: A Multi-Year Evaluation of a Regional AHEC...

Area of Science:

• Health Workforce Development
• Medical Education Research
• Rural Health Initiatives

Background:

• Rural and underserved communities experience significant health workforce shortages.
• Limited early exposure to health careers hinders pipeline development.
• Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) implement workforce pipeline programs with limited long-term outcome data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the short-term educational outcomes of the Michigan AHEC Health Careers Pipeline Program (HCPP).
• To assess the impact of a nine-session curriculum on high school students' career awareness and confidence.

Main Methods:

• A multi-year, cross-sectional pre/post evaluation was conducted at two AHEC sites.
• Surveys assessed four outcomes (health career understanding, educational knowledge, resource awareness, professional outreach confidence) using a 1-5 Likert scale.
• Unpaired Mann-Whitney U tests with Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate adjustment were used due to non-linked individual responses.

Main Results:

• Participation in the HCPP was associated with significant improvements in health career understanding and educational pathway knowledge across cohorts.
• Awareness of school-based resources and confidence in reaching health professionals showed significant improvements in some cohorts.
• Program satisfaction was consistently high (mean ratings 4.6-5.0), with effect sizes ranging from r = 0.31 to 0.64.

Conclusions:

• The HCPP demonstrates effectiveness in enhancing health career knowledge and educational awareness among participating high school students.
• Findings indicate group-level improvements, but individual-level causal effects require further longitudinal investigation.
• Longitudinal follow-up is recommended to determine if HCPP participation translates into future health professions workforce entry.