Community Partners' Perceptions of the Benefits and Burdens of Participating in a Community Engagement Course with Medical Students

Background: Service-learning courses improve medical students' ability and willingness to participate in community engagement as future physicians. However, few studies examine the community partners' (CP) perceptions of the utility of these courses in accomplishing the goals of their organizations.

Objective: This qualitative study sought to understand the CPs' perspective of the benefits and burdens they face while participating in a university-affiliated medical school's Community Learning and Social Medicine (CLSM) course.

Design: This was a qualitative focus group study conducted with CPs participating in the CLSM course. A trained facilitator virtually conducted focus groups. The study team recorded and professionally transcribed these conversations. The team subsequently developed a code book, and two independent coders analyzed all materials. The team used reflective thematic analysis to identify prominent themes.

Participants: Fifteen out of 28 CPs participated in the study.

Main Measures: The study team organized themes from the analysis into three categories: benefits to participation, challenges to participation, and minor themes.

Key Results: CP-perceived benefits to participating in the CLSM course included help with organizational activities, dissemination of clinically relevant skills to medical students, and effective engagement with community members. Barriers to participation included course constraints and a lack of clarity on course content and student expectations. CPs also described their role in medical student education as an extension of faculty members. Finally, CPs offered solutions for improving course communication among site leads, students, and course instructors.

Conclusions: CPs acknowledged that this service-learning course provides collective benefit to students, community organizations, and community members. However, challenges such as navigating student schedules and understanding course expectations lead to additional work for CPs. Acting on suggestions for improvement will help secure this course's longevity and collective benefit to the community.